Adult Ministry

“Christ’s ascension marks the definitive entrance of Jesus’ humanity into God’s heavenly domain, whence he will come again...Jesus Christ, the head of the Church, precedes us into the Father’s glorious kingdom so that we, the members of his Body, may live in the hope of one day being with him forever... Jesus Christ, having entered the sanctuary of heaven once and for all, intercedes constantly for us as the mediator who assures us of the permanent outpouring of the Holy Spirit...Since the Ascension God’s plan has entered into its fulfillment. We are already at ‘the last hour.’ Already, the final age of the world is with us, and the renewal of the world is irrevocably under way...for the Church on earth is endowed already with a sanctity that is real but imperfect. Christ’s kingdom already manifests its presence through the miraculous signs that attend its proclamation by the Church.” - CCC 665-667, 670

The Ascension of Jesus gives us great hope that all of creation will be redeemed, restored, and united to Christ for all of Eternity! The Second Person of the Holy Trinity took on human nature, conquered sin and death, and is now uniting all of Earth to Heaven. Through the Church, His Mystical Bride, Jesus is fulfilling His promise, “Behold, I make all things new.” (Revelation 21:5) The glorified, physical body of Jesus has become the bridge to immortality, the passage which allows us to be fully united to the Most Holy Trinity through the fulfillment of our own bodily resurrection as the Body of Christ. ~Theresa

  
Jesus first established the Magisterium, the teaching authority of the Church, when He first called His Apostles to ‘come, follow me.’ At Pentecost, Jesus fulfills His promise to send the Holy Spirit as an Advocate and Helper to His Apostles to build the Kingdom of Heaven upon the Earth. As the Apostles laid hands upon their Successors, and so forth, the union of the Holy Spirit working in and through our Pope and Bishops through Christian history has kept our Church safely in the Arms of Christ. ~Theresa

Let us practice making the decision to choose love in our lives. Regardless of our ‘feelings,’ our free will is powerful and our God-given gift to make an offering of ourselves to God and to one another. The truest love is to freely become a gift to God and others whether we ‘feel like it, or really want to.’ Eventually, our emotions will catch up with our free will and we will experience the delight of love. ~Theresa

“As we continue our journey through the liturgical season of Easter, today we celebrate what is traditionally called ‘Good Shepherd Sunday’. Jesus applies to himself this image (cf. Jn 10:6), rooted in the Old Testament and very dear to Christian tradition. Christ is the Good Shepherd who, by dying on the Cross, lays down his life for his sheep. Thus a profound communion is established between the Good Shepherd and his flock. Jesus, according to the Evangelist, ‘calls his own sheep by name and leads them out ... and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice’ (Jn 10:3-4). Sheep and Shepherd are united by long familiarity, real knowledge and mutual attachment: he takes care of them; they trust him and follow him faithfully… God has, in fact, thought of us from eternity and has loved us as unique individuals. He has called every one of us by name, as the Good Shepherd ‘calls His sheep by name.’” St. John Paul II

“The moral life is spiritual worship. We ‘present [our] bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God,’ within the Body of Christ that we form and in communion with the offering of his Eucharist...The Church, the ‘pillar and bulwark of the truth,’ has received this solemn command of Christ from the apostles to announce the saving truth.’ ‘To the Church belongs the right always and everywhere to announce moral principles, including those pertaining to the social order, and to make judgments on any human affairs to the extent that they are required by the fundamental rights of the human person of the salvation of souls.’” - CCC 2031-2032

In Christianity today, faith and morals have been ‘divorced.’ It seems to be enough to ‘just believe’ that Jesus loves us and is our Savior. How we live our lives is our ‘own business,’ and we certainly do not want others correcting us regarding our choices and lifestyles. We have the so-called ’freedom’ to choose how to live. However, this way of existing actually brings about a form of ‘slavery’ instead. Why? Because Our Lord has invited us to ‘live abundantly’, and He provides the pathway and the support and power (grace) to do so - this is true obedience. It is a difficult path, because it means, ‘offering our bodies as a living sacrifice’. But isn’t that what Jesus does for us on a daily basis, at every Mass? Let us have the courage to choose the true path to ‘TRUE FREEDOM.’ ~Theresa

 “The works of mercy are charitable actions by which we come to the aid of our neighbor in his spiritual and bodily necessities. Instructing, advising, consoling, comforting are spiritual works of mercy, so are forgiving and bearing wrongs patiently. The corporal works of mercy consist especially in feeding the hungry,
sheltering the homeless, clothing the naked, visiting the sick and imprisoned, and burying the dead. Among all these, giving alms  to the poor is one of the chief witnesses to fraternal charity: it is also a work of justice pleasing to God.”  - CCC 2447

“The Paschal mystery has two aspects: by his death, Christ liberates us from sin; by his Resurrection, he opens for us the way to a new life. This new life is above all justification that reinstates us in God’s grace, ‘so that as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.’ Justification consists in both victory over the death caused by sin and a new participation in grace. It brings about filial adoption so that men become Christ’s brethren, as Jesus himself called his disciples after his Resurrection: ‘Go and tell my brethren.’ We are brethren not by nature, but by the gift of grace, because that adoptive filiation gains us a real share in the life of the only Son, which was fully revealed in his Resurrection.” - CCC 654

What is REDEMPTIVE SUFFERING? It is God’s way of allowing us to find meaning in all of the CROSSES in our lives—heavy or light. Do you remember Grandma saying, “Offer it up!?” She was exactly right! We can offer as a gift to Jesus on the Cross all of our burdens, and ask Him to send saving graces upon others in greater need than us, whether they are on Earth or Purgatory. This redemptive grace can also help us overcome sin and addictions that we would otherwise not be able to overcome. When we use our sufferings as a form of prayer, it encourages us to have
perseverance, endurance, and trust in the mercy of God, who will not leave us alone in our struggles and pain. Jesus IS ACTUALLY NEARER TO US when we are experiencing pain and suffering. His Mother, our Mother, along with St. Joseph, do not delay in supporting us with powerful grace. ~Theresa

“Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I complete what is lacking in Christ’s sufferings for the sake of his Body, that is, the Church.” - Colossians 1:24 “The Redeemer suffered in place of man and for man. Every man has his own share in the Redemption. Each
one is also called to share in that suffering through which the Redemption was accomplished. He is called to share in that suffering through which all human suffering has also been redeemed. In bringing about the Redemption through suffering, Christ has also raised human suffering to the level of the Redemption. Thus each man, in his suffering, can also become a sharer in the redemptive suffering of Christ.”   ~St. John Paul the Great

Jesus desires to — and can — make us a new creation...Let us ponder the wisdom of the Saints!    ~Theresa 
 
“Few souls understand what God would accomplish in them if they were to abandon themselves unreservedly to Him and if they were to allow His grace to mold them accordingly.”     ~St. Alphonsus Liguori
 
 
“Do not be afraid to be saints.  Follow Jesus Christ who is the source of freedom and light.  Be open to the Lord so that He may lighten all your ways.”    ~St. John Paul the Great

The Sacrament of Confession (which we also call Reconciliation and Penance) is the place that we experience the mercy of the Father shown to the Prodigal Son.  All of us have moments in our life when we follow our own path (that leads us away from God’s path), and we find ourselves in misery, experiencing the emptiness that results from living a life apart from God’s grace.  Fr. John calls this a ‘betrayal of our true selves.’  For we were made for much more—an abundant and rich life described when the Father robes his son in beauty and splendor!  ~Theresa

“The process of conversion and repentance was described by Jesus in the parable of the prodigal son, the center of which is the merciful father: the fascination of illusory freedom, the abandonment of the  father's house; the extreme misery in which the son finds himself after squandering his fortune; his deep humiliation at finding himself obliged to feed swine, and still worse, at wanting to feed on the husks the pigs ate; his reflection on all he has lost; his repentance and decision to declare himself guilty before his father; the journey back; the father's generous welcome; the father's joy - all these are characteristic of the process of conversion. The beautiful robe, the ring, and the festive banquet are symbols of that new life - pure worthy, and joyful - of anyone who returns to God and to the bosom of his family, which is the Church. Only the heart of Christ who knows the depths of his Father's love could reveal to us the abyss of his mercy in so simple and beautiful a way.”
 - CCC 1439
 
 

There is such beautiful mystery when we   contemplate ‘I AM.’  Jesus is the ‘Logos,’ or ’The Eternal Word.’  In John’s Gospel, “the Word became flesh and dwelt among us.” (Jn 1:14)  At the beginning of Creation, God ‘spoke’ everything into existence through His Word. “...through him all things came to be.” (Jn 1:3)  The Evangelist John clearly expresses and supports the Divinity of Jesus. When the Pharisees try to trip up Jesus, He replies, “Before Abraham was, I AM.”  Jesus is revealing Himself as the Great ‘I AM’ who has always existed.  So, ponder on the connection between the Word and the burning bush. 
~Theresa

“The divine name, ‘I Am’ or ‘He Is,’ expresses God's faithfulness: despite the faithlessness of men's sin and the punishment it deserves, he keeps ‘steadfast love for thousands’. By going so far as to give up his own Son for us, God reveals that he is ‘rich in mercy.’ By  giving his life to free us from sin, Jesus  reveals that he himself bears the divine name: ‘When you have lifted up the Son of man, then you will realize that 'I AM'… Over the centuries, Israel's faith was able to manifest and deepen realization of the riches contained in the revelation of the divine name. God is unique; there are no other gods besides him. He transcends the world and history. He made heaven and earth The revelation of the ineffable name ’I AM WHO AM’ contains then the truth that God alone IS. God is the fullness of Being and of every perfection, without origin and without end.  All creatures receive all that they are and have from him; but he alone is his very being, and he is of himself everything that he is.”       CCC 211-213
 
 

“The term ‘flesh’ refers to man in his state of weakness and mortality. The ‘resurrection of
the flesh’ (the literal formulation of the Apostles' Creed) means not only that the
immortal soul will live on after death, but that even our ‘mortal body’ will come to life
again… ‘The flesh is the hinge of salvation.’ (Tertullian, De res. 8, 2: PL 2, 852). We believe in God who is creator of the flesh; we believe in the Word made flesh in order to redeem the flesh; we believe in the resurrection of the flesh, the fulfillment of both the creation and the redemption of the flesh… ‘We believe in the true resurrection of this flesh that we now possess’ (Council of
Lyons II: DS 854). We sow a corruptible body in the tomb, but he raises up an incorruptible
body…’” (cf. 1 Cor 15:42-44).     -  CCC 990; 1015; 1017

When we go through episodes of temptation, it is crucial to remember how Jesus handled it Himself. If you pay close attention, every time the devil tries to trip up Jesus, He responds 
automatically with Scripture. God’s Word is so powerful, that it speaks not only for itself, but it speaks in our  defense against the Enemy. So, during this Lenten season, let’s attempt  to memorize some powerful verses that will defend and encourage us when we are weak and feel defeated. Let us take time in silence to ponder on the mystery of God’s Word and the Word Made Flesh.    ~Theresa