This Sunday’s readings invite us to think about how we talk to God. We are reminded that prayer is not just about saying words but, it is about trust, hope, and knowing that God is listening. Abraham speaks honestly with God. He asks questions and waits for answers. Jesus teaches his disciples how to pray, giving them the Lord’s Prayer. Each phrase of the prayer reflects a deep relationship with God, focusing on His holiness, His will, and our reliance on Him for daily needs, forgiveness, and guidance. Praying the Lord’s Prayer thoughtfully can help us grow closer to God. Reflecting on each part of the prayer encourages us to align our lives with its meaning.

The Our Father, given to us by Jesus himself, is a profound reminder as to how we are to understand our relationship with God. We are called to be perfect like our Heavenly Father is perfect. MT 5:48 Jesus when asked by the apostles to teach us how to pray, is a response enveloped principally in the love of God. Remember God is love, God is all about relationship and an encounter that by its very dynamic changes us to desire and to seek God at all times. This prayerful relationship also challenges us to become mature in the spiritual life, which many a churchgoer struggles with because of ego, or conjured up ideas of what is perceived as holy but is not.

The readings this Sunday reminds us to find a way to welcome God into our homes and our lives. If you paid attention to the readings, you would have heard who listened to what the Lord said and who did not. The readings show us both action and listening. Abraham serves the Lord with great care. Mary sits at Jesus’ feet and listens. Martha tries hard to serve, but she misses the quiet moment with Jesus.

In the first reading Abraham gave food and rest to three visitors. One visitor tells him that Sarah will have a son within the year, and it will be a blessing to Abraham. This reminds us that God keeps His promises. In the psalm we hear that those who live with truth and fairness will stay close to God. The second reading points to the mystery of Christ. Paul shares this mystery through his work and suffering. Understanding this mystery helps deepen our faith.

The story of Martha and Mary is a story ripened with time, that moves us to contemplate the depths and dimensions of our relationship with God.

Jesus in his public ministry is all about connection and choosing the better part of things. We find ourselves also caught in the balance of being aware of our choices and what consumes us. What draws us closer to God and what are the things that take us from God. People often spend time doing a lot of stuff being busy for the sake of busy.

You must love the Lord your God with all of your heart, with all of your mind, and with all of your strength, and love your neighbor as yourself.

These are the words to everlasting life. Jesus amazingly makes it clear when asked what is necessary, what is the basic requirement to get to heaven. Jesus never said one must be pious but said one must be perfect like the Heavenly Father is perfect. Jesus never said one must put on external practices of perceived holiness in order to look holy, instead he said take care to not be concerned with the outside of the cup, but clean first what is within (Mt 23).

The readings this Sunday are about living God’s Word in everyday life. The readings encourage faith in action, love for others, and seeing Christ as the center of all creation. Following God’s will is not beyond our reach. God is the foundation of creation and of our faith. Everything exists through Him and is united in Him. We should love others, especially those in need.

The story of the Good Samaritan challenges us to show kindness and mercy. Faith is not just about knowing God’s Word. Faith comes alive when we live it out through our actions. The story of the Good Samaritan shows what compassion looks like. True love for God means caring for people, even strangers or those we find hard to love. God’s Word is already in our hearts. We can live it out if we listen and choose to follow it.

This Sunday’s readings call us to rejoice, trust in God, and share His peace. They remind us of the blessings we receive and the mission we must live and to spread our faith. God’s blessings are not meant to keep within us but to be shared with others. In this Sunday’s readings we hear that God’s care is personal and comforting, we can trust Him in all things, like a loving mother. Through focusing on the Cross of Christ we learn what truly matters, because it reminds us to avoid being proud of worldly success and to rely on Christ alone for our hope. Jesus sends out His disciples to share the Good News. He tells them to bring peace wherever they go and to trust God to provide for them.

This weekend we celebrate our founding fathers, Saints Peter and Paul. It is through them that Jesus gave the Church the foundations that will help us to eternal salvation. The origins of a liturgy honoring both Peter and Paul dates back to mid-sixth century Rome. The prayers we use today are based on the same ones used in that early Mass. Peter and Paul were unique in the role they were called to play in the foundation of the Church, but they did not keep their formula for greatness a secret. The Lord invites all of us to the same greatness, whatever the specifics of our mission here on earth may be and to let go of ourselves and let Jesus live in us.

Today we honor St. Peter and St. Paul.

Both are apostles of the Lord Jesus Christ, but both came up in very different ways. St. Peter was a fisherman, most likely tough as nails, stubborn, profane, a gripe, and struggled with faith. St. Paul was a persecutor of Christians, proudly assailing them and dragging them off to prison. Both were Jewish, but St. Paul was a Hellenistic Jew raised in Greek culture. St. Peter personally knew Jesus, sat with Him at table, walked with Him and talked with Him. St. Peter demonstrated some of the most disappointing sides of human nature with his struggles with faith, trusting in Jesus, spirit of anger, complaining, and if that was not enough, he denied Jesus.

The Solemnity of Corpus Christi celebrates the gift of the Eucharist. It reminds us of God’s love and the unity of the Church through the Body and Blood of Christ. Corpus Christi is not merely a celebration of bread and wine. It is a proclamation that Christ has not left us hungry. He has chosen to remain with us, not as a symbol alone, but as a real presence. In every Eucharist, heaven reaches down to us as God places himself into our hands. Like those seated on the grass long ago, we too are fed by His generosity. The bread we receive is not just nourishment for the journey; it is love made touchable, a divine life shared freely.

Today marks the second of two Catechetical Sundays that occur on the tails of the Easter Season. Corpus Christi Sunday brings into focus the awe of the Blessed Sacrament, the Eucharist, the Body and Blood of Christ, or Holy Communion. Trinity Sunday last week, solidified the awe of the presence of God among His people through the Most Holy Trinity, as three distinct persons, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Corpus Christi Sunday brings to focus our love of the Lord present in the Most Holy Sacrament of the Altar. It’s interesting to note that the Church places these catechetical days within the calendar because it’s important to see the Holy Mass as an opportunity to unpack the rich meaning of our faith as it pertains to some of our most profound mysteries and treasures.

Coming off the heels of the Easter Season that culminated with Pentecost Sunday, the Church now gives us the first of two consecutive catechetical Sundays to instill in us a deeper love of our faith and the teachings of the Church. The Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity speaks to us at the heart of God, in knowing Him at His foundation given in the Most Holy Trinity, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Throughout the centuries great debates have taken place over God as Three Persons, and the reality that the Sacred Trinity is a mystery and has been a mystery since the Church began to articulate it.

Today we celebrate the Feast of the Holy Trinity which is a mystery difficult to comprehend. 5 In the readings for Trinity Sunday, Wisdom is described as being with God right from the beginning. This means that God’s wisdom was part of creating everything. God planned everything with great care and understanding and He even found delight in the human race. We can experience God’s joy by living according to His ways and enjoying what He has created because God wants us to be happy and find joy in life.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY…..have you wished your fellow parishioners or people from other Catholic Parishes a happy birthday? Today is the Birthday of Our Catholic Faith.

This is Pentecost Sunday, when the Holy Spirit came upon the apostles as tongues of fire and this event marked the birth of the Church and empowered the apostles to preach. During Pentecost, the disciples, filled with the Holy Spirit, spoke in diverse languages, astonishing a multinational crowd in Jerusalem as each heard God’s words in their own tongue.

Pentecost Sunday is the culmination of the Easter Season, when our fifty-day observance comes to an end, yet we still live out our inner essence as Easter People. This aspect of the Christian faith is the core of what we believe, as we have cherished the hope, the joy, and the promise of eternal life.

Let us pray that as the Holy Spirit falls upon us this Pentecost, as we prepare our inner dwelling to be the place of welcome, to take on the inner disposition required for the Holy Spirit to dwell within us and make us holier, more faithful, and desiring of the converted life.

Traditionally the Ascension of Our Lord was held 40 days after Easter, falling on a Thursday. However in most dioceses in the United States, the observance of the Solemnity of the Ascension is moved to the following Sunday, superseding the 7th Sunday of Easter. The Ascension of the Lord celebrates Jesus’ return to heaven after His resurrection. It highlights the completion of His mission on earth and the promise of His return.

The fifty days of Easter are dedicated to the contemplation of the profound meaning of the Paschal Mystery, the passion, death, and resurrection of Jesus. In these days we commemorate with vivid meaning the “pasche” derived from Greek and Hebrew the combined mystery of the Pache or Easter event in Jewish Passover and Christian Easter, which celebrates true freedom from the bonds of slavery, as the Jews were liberated and how Christians are freed from attachment to sin and death. It’s a victory celebration really of epic proportions that moves us toward the promise of eternal life.