Visitation of Our Lady

Who would have thought we would be in the situation that we find ourselves in? A virus spread around the world, countries in lock down or stay at home order, businesses closed. And to top it all off Masses are not open to the public. Its times like this that we need Jesus’ real presence in the Eucharist the most. I understand why we cannot come to Mass right now, but as a priest and pastor of souls it causes me great sadness. It is sad to not have my parish family with me at a time when the Mass and the Eucharist can bring such strength and consolation.

In today’s Gospel, Jesus invites us with Peter, James and John to witness a glimpse of His glory. They went up the mountain with Jesus to pray. While Jesus was praying, “his face changed in appearance and his clothing became dazzling white. And behold, two men were conversing with him, Moses and Elijah, who appeared in glory and spoke of his exodus that he was going to accomplish in Jerusalem.” We hear the Father’s voice. "This is my chosen Son: listen to him.” The Father reconfirms his love for his Son. This time it is addressed to all of us, as Jesus appears bathed in the light of glory. He stands between Moses and Elijah—two great leaders in Israel’s history.

Today is the first Sunday of the lenten season. We all know that Lent is all about crawfish boils, fish frys, and other seafood delights. I think we should be required to eat meat on Fridays during Lent, rather than to give it up. That would be more of a sacrifice for us in this part of the world.        Because of all of this we tend to lose focus on why we do these things. Why do we give up meat during Lent? Why do we fast on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday? For the sake of space I’ll provide two answers to why we do this.

As we enter into the Seventh week of Ordinary Time, our Gospel instructs us, “Be perfect, just as your Heavenly Father is perfect.” There are many lessons that we can learn from this week’s Gospel. Jesus calls us to love others, and to do good for one another. In our readings, we see that Jesus not only calls us be His disciples, but to draw us near to him. He is calling us to a deeper relationship with Him.

Mardi Gras is less than two weeks away. It’s a great time for family and friends to enjoy time together. Even if parades and costumes isn’t your thing it still provides us with an opportunity to pause from our usual routine.