Deacon Clark Goecker

One way to look at the readings throughout the Easter Season is to reflect on the word “relationship.” Our relationship to the Risen Jesus, our relationship to the Church, our relationship to our brothers and sisters. In these readings for the Easter Season, we witness the growth of a relationship we are all called to embrace. The readings speak of the meaning of discipleship both in our internal attitudes and in our relationships with other people.

Today’s Gospel and, to some extent, the Second Reading speak of recognizing the presence of God and of Jesus in our daily lives while the First Reading calls us to witness to our faith with consistency and courage. One flows from the other. To be a genuine disciple of Jesus, it is not enough just to be “holy”, to be good, but to have the courage, when the call comes, to do difficult things and perhaps even to suffer.

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3rd Sunday of EasterRead More »

You probably don’t realize it but we, as a parish community, are in the midst of one of those good news/bad news scenarios.  The bad news is that the parish this year has no catechumens or candidates entering the Church at Easter Vigil. Truly a sadness and a loss.  The good news is that because we don’t have any catechumens, we dispense with the scrutinies and their readings for the last three weeks of Lent.  What this means is that rather than proclaiming the account of the rising of Lazarus from John’s Gospel, we are proclaiming today from John’s account of the stoning of the adulterous woman.

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5th Sunday of LentRead More »

We have now entered the season of Lent.  For those of us old enough to remember, Lent in the past was not, in some respects, a time we looked forward to.  Easter was the goal and we looked forward to it with real anticipation.  Our attitudes about Lent tended to be on the gloomy and negative side.  Perhaps nowadays we have gone to the other extreme—Lent being only a passing moment!

Yet, Lent has always been one of the key times in the Church year and it would be a great pity if we were to forget its real meaning.  We used to pray at the beginning of  Mass for the First Sunday in Lent, “Father, through our observance of Lent, help us to understand the meaning of your Son’s death and resurrection and teach us to reflect it in our lives.”  Help us to understand the suffering, death and resurrection of Jesus and to live that out in our lives!!

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1st Sunday of LentRead More »

We are just two/three days into a new year.  New Year’s resolutions have been made and maybe, some, already broken. It is my hope and prayer that you will, with the guidance of the Holy Spirit, make new New Year’s resolutions today.

We enter the new year with readings expressing a time of hope. Our first reading from Isaiah was likely written at the time the Israelites were released from exile and returned to the promised land.  Truly a manifestation of a divine presence—by the mercy of God.  In the second reading, we are reminded that this divine presence, formerly hidden, is now revealed to the Gentiles–even to those from the east –the magi.

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EpiphanyRead More »

For me, Advent is more than a time of preparation and  anticipation of the birth of the baby Jesus.  It is the beginning of a new liturgical year—an exciting time when we move from one Gospel’s focus on Jesus to another focus or emphasis. 

As you may know, each of the gospels have a different emphasis—Mark is the gospel of the humanity of Jesus; Matthew of the mission of Jesus; Luke of social justice  and John’s gospel is one of contemplation. My favorite is Luke’s gospel, in part, because it is only in Luke’s gospel that we find the annuncition (the angel Gabriel’s announcement that Mary would conceive the Son of God) and the visitation (Mary’s visit to Elizabeth.).  

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4 Sunday of AdventRead More »