Our Lady of Hope Blog

My Dear Friends,

I recently watched four movies that are centered on World War II. They are all classics: The Bridge on the River Kwai, The Guns of Navarone, From Here to Eternity, and The Caine Mutiny. It was the first time I watched The Guns of Navarone with Gregory Peck, but the other three movies I have seen several times. I do enjoy war movies or movies that have a war as a backdrop, especially World War II, but I also have a fondness for Vietnam War era movies as well.

My Dear Friends,

After the perennial long January, it is difficult to believe that we are already more than half way through February, which means we are also that much closer to the beginning of Lent. I have been reading the Eucharistic consecration book (33 Days to Eucharistic Glory) that I gave the parish for Christmas. Many parishioners have approached me to let me know how much they love the book. I will be offering a Lenten series on the book for the six weeks of Lent, the days and times to be determined.

My Dear Friends,

Today is my little Barley’s 12th birthday. I know that not everyone is a dog person. I myself was bit three times in my life by dogs, and I was terrified of other dogs in the neighborhood and in my parishes. But the dogs we had growing up in Watertown were very special, and many dogs that belonged to friends of mine were also wonderful to be around. For most of my life, I was a medium to large dog lover and was not really a fan of the little ones.

My Dear Friends,

When we read the letters of St. Paul, or truly listen to the words of Jesus Christ in the Gospels, or even listen intently to the prayers of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, we begin to notice that we are a theocentric religion; in other words, we praise and worship the Trinitarian God. But it goes deeper than just worshiping the Trinity. All of our prayers are, or should be, directed to the Father, through the Son and in the Holy Spirit. Jesus wants to bring us to the Father’s heart. In the second part of chapter three in Pope Francis’s encyclical, we see this more clearly. Francis writes, “Jesus wants to bring us to the Father. That is why, from the very beginning, the Church’s preaching does not end with Jesus, but with the Father. As source and fullness, the Father is ultimately the one to be glorified.” (paragraph 70). Francis quotes Pope St. John Paul II in paragraph 71, “the whole of the Christian life is like a great pilgrimage to the house of the Father.”