Posted by Fr Dennis Wieland
We continue on in our celebration of Easter. Today we see Peter in our First Reading showing great courage when he confronts the people with their part in the death of Jesus. However, he goes on to excuse them on the grounds that they acted out of ignorance. In ... Read More »
Posted by Fr Dennis Wieland
One of the most visible impacts of the teaching of Jesus on his followers was on their attitude towards possessions. We see this in our first reading today from the Acts of the Apostles. No one felt justified in keeping their possessions totally for their own use, when others ... Read More »
Posted by Fr Dennis Wieland
A blessed Easter! On this day is it customary to renew our baptismal promises. Today we celebrate Christ’s victory over death. The power of his resurrection enables us to live in the joy and freedom of the children of God. I invite you personally to renew your commitment to ... Read More »
Posted by Fr Dennis Wieland
Today we enter into the holiest week of the liturgical year. From the triumphal entry of Jesus into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, to the Upper Room in Jerusalem, and the institution of the Eucharist and the mandate to wash one another’s feet on Holy Thursday, to the Cross on ... Read More »
Posted by Fr Dennis Wieland
A beautiful sight to behold during the seasons of summer and autumn is a field of wheat. To watch the stalks swaying in the wind and dancing in the sun brings joy and hope to the human heart. However, the process by which these stalks come into existence is ... Read More »
Posted by Fr Dennis Wieland
We hear very beautiful words in today’s Gospel that fill us with joy and hope, “God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life.” Those words are an excellent summation of the Gospel!
The first thing we note is that it is God who took the initiative in saving us. Sometimes the impression has been given that God had first of all to be pacified before he would extend his forgiveness to us. We have a picture of God as being stern, angry, and unforgiving. Jesus, on the other hand, was presented as being kind, gentle and forgiving. It makes it sound like that by his sufferings and death, Jesus changed God’s attitude towards us. However, the passage shows that it was God who sent his Son to us. It was God who took the first step. A reminder of what I said in the homily on Ash Wednesday: it is not about us, but about what God is doing for ... Read More »
Posted by Fr Dennis Wieland
Today we see a side of Jesus that is important to reflect on. In the cleansing of the Temple, Jesus’ anger was a protest against the commercialization of religion and the desecration of the sacred space. But it went deeper. It was a symbolic action through which he passed ... Read More »
Posted by Fr Dennis Wieland
Today's Gospel account is about the transfiguration of Jesus on Mount Tabor. This event is what we call an epiphany story. Such stories are common in ancient writing about holy people. In these stories, the veil which separates the invisible from the visible world, and the future from the ... Read More »
Posted by Fr Dennis Wieland
This Monday, February 22, we will celebrate the Feast of the Chair of Peter. Now this might seem like a strange thing to celebrate, but the feast commemorates Jesus’ choosing of the Apostle Peter to sit in his place as the servant-leader of the universal Church.
After the heart-wrenching ... Read More »
Posted by Fr Dennis Wieland
Little gestures can give us better insight into a person’s character than big ones. We have a very good example of this in today’s Gospel as Jesus cured the man from leprosy. Jesus touched the leper before he cured him. Seems like a small thing in itself but when ... Read More »