Lenten & Healing Reflections

You and I must turn away from ourselves and seek a new way to bring about the healing we need, not the healing we think we want. Until we’re ready to engage God openly and honestly as the imperfect creatures we are, we’ll never know just how close God is to us.

As we face the challenges of our lives, the need for healing, we accept that we are broken -- yes we are wounded but even then we, too, are called to heal: to be a wounded healer. Instead of "Why me, Lord?" we should be asking Him to ease our fears and help us accept our new role as a wounded disciple.

Healing Homily: to forgive we need to be forgiven; to be healed, we need to become God's vessels for healing. God works in us, but He also works through us.

We turn to the Holy Spirit for healing. He’s the giver of life, the fount of Truth and Wisdom, the sanctifier, the source of sacramental grace, the manifestation of God’s power in the world. Who better to ask for healing?

Homily for healing: The Holy Spirit as the Divine Healer; He is the healer of both body and soul; He knows your heart and helps you in your prayer.

Session 3 of the Morning of Reflection focuses on the LOVE of God and neighbor shown by Blessed Margaret of Castello (1207-1320), a remarkable woman who suffered much and yet shared God's love with all whom she encountered. This year, on April 13, 2020, we will celebrate the 700th anniversary of Blessed Margaret's death at the age of 33.

Session 2 of the Morning of Reflection focuses on the HOPE manifested by the "sinful woman" who approached Jesus at the home of Simon the Pharisee, bathes His feet with her tears, dries them with her hair, and anoints Him with precious nard, as described in the final verses of Luke 7.

This 3-session morning of reflection, conducted for the parish's Council of Catholic Women, looks at three women: one of the Old Testament, one of the New Testament, and one of the Church. Session 1: Faith, The Widow of Zarephath. This first session of the Morning of Reflection focuses on the FAITH of the Widow of Zarephath, who fed the prophet Elijah, as described in 1 Kings 17.

Session 3 of a Lenten Morning of Reflection for the parish CCW. This session is entitled: The Call to Serve Without Compromise. "...her many sins have been forgiven; hence she has shown great love" [Lk 7:47]. We turn to Luke's Gospel and Jesus' encounter with the sinful woman who washed His feet at the house of Simon the Pharisee. Yes, true repentance brings forgiveness, God's gift to those who turn to Him in recognition of their sins. In an act of thanksgiving, overwhelmed by this gift, ultimately the gift of salvation, she is filled with a joy that can only be expressed in her love for the Giver. She responds in love, ignoring the world and its threats, and showers her love on the divine Word.

Session 2 of a Lenten Morning of Reflection for the parish CCW. This session is entitled: The Call to Follow. "Go your way; your faith has saved you...he followed Jesus on the way" [Mk 10:52]. Faith saves, but true faith is a living faith, one that always brings forth new life, one that demands a response. Healed, the blind beggar, Bartimaeus, turns from his own way, leaving his old life behind, and follows Jesus on "The Way."

Session 1 of a Lenten Morning of Reflection for the parish CCW. This session is entitled, "The Call to Abandonment." In her desire for new life, for salvation, the Samaritan woman at the well is filled with hope, a hope she feels called to share. Driven by this hope she reaches out and shares the Good News. Like Mary, who carries the unborn Jesus, the Word, to Judea, the Samaritan woman becomes an evangelist, carrying the Word to others.