On Monday, March 28, we will have a special presentation at Saint Rose on the Sacred Relics of the Saints. There will be two opportunities for experiencing the presentation and for veneration of the relics: one during the day and one in the evening on Monday. Please see the details in the Flocknote or bulletin, and please plan to come!

I have news to share with you and so I will get to the point. I have been given permission from Bishop Spalding to enter the formation program to become a monk of St. Bernard Abbey, a Benedictine monastery in Cullman, Alabama. I will be leaving St. Rose at the time of the summer assignments to pursue this call. For over two years, I have been discerning this call to become a monk. I was surprised by it, but it has persisted and seems to be bearing good fruit. The hardest part of this decision for me is parting from the parish because I continue to love serving you at St. Rose. I will continue serving as a priest at the monastery in the works assigned to me, and I will also be living a more structured and intentional life of prayer and community.

Just as the Gospel for the First Sunday of Lent shows the temptations of Christ, the Gospel for the Second Sunday of Lent presents the Transfiguration of Jesus. The focus this Sunday is on glory!

I had a teacher in high school who would try to inspire my class when we were not working very hard by saying: "You are not here to slug it out for mediocrity but to sprint for glory!" That was a funny thing to say about learning vocabulary, but it is true about our lives. We really are made for glory!

The Gospel for the First Sunday of Lent is always about the temptations that Jesus experienced during His 40 days of prayer and fasting in the desert after His baptism. These 40 days are the main scriptural basis for the 40 days of Lent.

It is interesting that the devil kept that first "Lent" with Jesus. In his temptations of Jesus, the devil seems to be trying to figure out just who Jesus is. This might seem like strange advice, but we should imitate the devil in remaining with Jesus in the desert for Lent and in trying to find out who Jesus is. Of course, the devil was doing this for bad reasons. He was foolishly trying to tempt Jesus.

In the readings today, there are many uses of the word "fruit."

Beautiful, rich fruit on a tree is used as an image for what our interior lives should produce that is observable on the outside. This is how we are to judge the quality of our discipleship: by the fruits!

"The measure with which you measure"

I have to say that I think that the Gospel for this weekend is one of the most challenging passages of scripture to put into practice in real life. Go look at it again: https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/022022.cfm

Jesus said to his disciples:

I have shared with you before this prayer of St. Teresa of Avila which is both a favorite of mine and also a challenge to me!

"Let nothing disturb you. Let nothing frighten you. All things pass away. God never changes. Patience obtains all things. They who love God lack nothing. God alone suffices."

I say that this prayer is a challenge because although I believe it, I have the hardest time actually living it. And yet it is supposed to be lived. It can be lived, even in circumstances far more difficult than I will ever face.

After Jesus tells Simon to set out into deep water and lower his nets for a catch, Simon catches more fish than he ever has. Jesus performs this miracle to awaken faith in Simon, and it works. When Simon comes before Jesus, he falls down before Him and acknowledges his sinfulness: "Depart from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man." (In Spanish: “¡Apártate de mí, Señor, porque soy un pecador!”) Then Jesus interprets the miraculous catch of fish for Simon by calling him to be an apostle and to go out to catch men, not fish. Repentance comes first, and then fruitful discipleship follows.

Don't worry, Lent is more than a month away. Nevertheless, I want to share with you a practice from the Church's treasury about getting ready for Lent. The disciplines of Lent are about conversion, that is, turning away from sin and following Jesus more closely.

I am writing this message on the Feast of the Conversion of St. Paul. St. Paul had a very dramatic conversion experience on the road to Damascus, but it did not end there but rather only began. St. Josemaria says: "Conversion is the matter of a moment. Sanctification is the work of a lifetime.”

When Jesus returned to his hometown of Nazareth and spoke in the synagogue, the people listened when he read this passage from Isaiah:

"The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
because he has anointed me to
bring glad tidings to the poor.

He has sent me to proclaim liberty to captives
and recovery of sight to the blind,
to let the oppressed go free,
and to proclaim a year acceptable to the Lord."

But they were offended when he said:
“Today this Scripture passage is fulfilled in your hearing.”

I know that it is a little late for New Year’s Resolutions technically speaking, but we are beginning the time of the year called Ordinary Time and so I think that it would be a good idea to reflect on what our lives of faith should look like ordinarily.

In looking at our church, it reminds me that Christmas is not a feeling or spirit but rather a fact of history. God became man at a particular time and in a particular place. Joseph and Mary were far from home at the time Jesus was born because of a government regulation. They were without a place to stay and took shelter in a cave with animals. Shepherds came to see them immediately, and mysterious magi from the East came later. Herod was disturbed to hear that a king had been born. He ordered the slaughter of babies in order to eliminate this king. Joseph, Mary, and Jesus fled to Egypt. This is the truth of Christmas.