Tag: rejoice

On
Bishop Robert C. Morlino, Bishop of Madison

Believing and trusting in God’s plan for us

This column is the bishop’s communication with the faithful of the Diocese of Madison. Any wider circulation reaches beyond the intention of the bishop.

Dear Friends,

The timing of this column falls into one of those awkward periods that comes with the schedule of our weekly publication.

As I write, we are still at the height of preparation for Christmas, yet this will likely be the edition of the Catholic Herald that is in your homes on Christmas Day. As such, I’m going to look forward joyfully and reflect upon the goodness that is “already, but not yet.”

I suppose it’s appropriate to be stuck in this place of anticipation, as it does speak to our lives each and every day, and it’s made especially clear at Christmas.

Rejoice at Jesus’ coming

At Christmas we celebrate and rejoice in the reality of eternal life made possible for us by God’s coming into the world.

We celebrate that everything is now changed for humanity. We celebrate God with us, a light in the darkness, the Word made flesh, God’s Kingdom at hand.

And yet, we remain in a period of waiting and of laboring. The world is not right. We may be redeemed, with hope for forgiveness, but we still fail, and falter, and sin.

When Jesus came into the world, it meant redemption from sin and the hope of an eternity of joy, but it did not mean mankind would be unable to choose otherwise, it did not mean everything would be peachy for us at all times.

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On
Fr. Donald Lange

Encountering the risen Lord

Seeing with Jesus' Eyes, by Fr. Don Lange

Cecil DeMille, the famous movie director, was enjoying an overdue vacation at a Maine lake resort.

He was reading a book in a canoe, when he noticed a water beetle crawling up the boat’s side. When the beetle got halfway up, it stuck the talons of its legs to the canoe’s wood and died.

DeMille resumed reading. Three hours later he glanced again at the water beetle. What he saw amazed him. The beetle had dried up and its back began to crack open. First, a moist head, then wings, and finally a tail emerged. Out of apparent death, new life emerged in the form of a magnificent dragonfly.

As the dragonfly dazzled his eyes with its acrobatic flight, Cecil De Mille nudged the dried out beetle shell with his finger. It looked like a tomb.

From Good Friday to Easter

The water beetle’s amazing transformation reminds us of what happened to Jesus on Good Friday when he truly died on the cross and rose from the dead.

Jesus’ body that rose on Easter was different from the body buried on Good Friday. It was not a resuscitated body, restored to its original life like that of Lazarus or Jairus’ daughter. It was a risen glorified body.

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On
Bishop Robert C. Morlino, Bishop of Madison

Rejoice always — even in the desert

This column is adapted from Bishop Robert C. Morlino’s homily at St. Patrick Church, Sunday, Dec. 14.

under the gospel book

On the Second Sunday of Advent, we heard about John the Baptist as “a voice crying out in the desert” and we hear it again in this past Sunday’s readings. And we heard, during that second week of Advent, about our Blessed Mother. We heard how this woman who was clothed with the sun, the model of the Church, was sent into the desert, where a place had been prepared for her; the desert meaning, briefly, tough times.

A poll of Americans came out this past Sunday morning saying that 2008, largely for reasons of the economy, has been the worst year within their memory. The poll, in our terms, says that, largely because of the economy, 2008 has been, for most Americans, a desert. Those poll results surprise no one.

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