In this month of May, we turn our hearts and minds towards Our Lady.  Like a good mother, she can teach us the most important of lessons.  Among these, how to prayer better is something we can learn from her example and her life with Jesus.  

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Reflections on Marian devotion and Our Lady of Fatima. 

"He who eats this bread will live forever."  "He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me and I in him."  In the Bread of Life Discourse, Jesus makes wonderful claims about Eucharistic Communion.  In Communion, we share in Jesus' resurrection and are intimately united with him.  This should change the way we think about Jesus.  He is not a merely figure from the past or a distant model to imitate, he is a spiritual force in our lives, a person who is always present with a mind, a will, power, and initiatives.  Faith unlocks Jesus' life in our lives, his activity in our activities.

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In St. John's Gospel, Jesus's third appearance happens after a night of fruitless fishing for the apostles.  Our Lord's intervention makes up abundantly for the lack of success they had that night.  Our lives too are often marked by apparent failure and frustration.  Like the apostles, this can be made right by a new encounter with the Risen Christ.  

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God's power is especially evident in his mercy.  There are no sins that he can't forgive and his mercy waits upon the smallest opening of repentance and sorrow for sin.  Receiving God's mercy is also the result of being merciful ourselves.  Forgiving others is a condition for being forgiven.  Our own forgiveness and mercy make us like our Father God: constant in love and invincible in goodness. 

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At the Easter Vigil, the Exultet tells us to rejoice with the joy of Christ's Victory.  Easter Joy is triumphant.  Christ is a victor and conqueror of sin and death.  We share in this victory in the sacraments and in charity.  Living a sincere Christian life, we become the resurrection for the world.

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How do we make the most of these Holy Days?  Keep Jesus company in his passion and death.  To get the most out of Easter, let's try to stay with Jesus from the Last Supper through his death, burial and Resurrection.  

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At the Last Supper Jesus opens his heart to the apostles and to us.  St. John shares Jesus' own description of the Father's love for us: it is the same love that he has for his only Son, Jesus.  If and when we truly believe this, it changes everything and serves as the foundation of our Christian life. 

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In today's Gospel Jesus saves the woman caught in adultery from a terrible fate.  We can imagine her joy, relief, and love after Jesus's intervention.  As sinners saved by Jesus, we are all in the same position.  Deep sorrow for sin precedes the great joy of forgiveness in Christ. 

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Almsgiving (charity) is one of the three traditional practices of Lent.  When preaching about almsgiving, Jesus focuses on purity of intention.  We should love others for their sake and for the glory of God.  St. Paul paints a portrait of the Christian heart in his letter to the Ephesians.  Christian charity is especially imbued with understanding of others and selflessness in service. 

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