Our Lady of Hope Blog

My Dear Friends,

In the bulletin this weekend you will see an ad for a Lenten series that I will be offering on Scott Hahn’s book, A Father Who Keeps His Promises. It is a book about salvation history and God’s unchanging covenantal love, beginning with Adam and following Noah, Abraham, Moses, David and culminating with our Lord Jesus Christ.

My Dear Friends,

Today’s gospel is the call of the fishermen Peter and Andrew, and James and John. Jesus calls to them and says, “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.” We are told that immediately the four men left their fishing nets and their livelihood and began to follow Jesus. Everyone, of course, is called to follow Jesus.

My Dear Friends,

With last week’s weather, many of you did not hear about one of my favorite Christmas movies, The Three Godfathers, with John Wayne. It is a very underrated John Wayne western but one with much heart. The three rustlers, played by John Wayne, Harry Carey, Jr. and Pedro Armendariz, have an encounter with a newborn baby in the desert and promise the baby’s dying mother that they would be his godfathers and take care of the baby. This encounter changes the three men, just as our encounter with the Christ child is meant to change us.

My Dear Friends,

Today is Epiphany Sunday; Happy Epiphany, which is the twelfth day of Christmas. On this day we commemorate the visit of the three Magi to the Christ child, bringing with them the gifts of frankincense, gold, and myrrh. These are gifts fit for a priest, prophet and king. Many cultures would exchange Christmas gifts on this day and not on Christmas day. As important a day a Christmas is, Epiphany is the revelation of Jesus Christ not only to his parents and the shepherds, but he is revealed to all the nations. It is the first recorded instance of the divinity of Christ to non-Jews.