Scripture Readings: http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/050816-ascension.cfm

Seattle Archbishop J. Peter Sartain speaks at the 2016 Seattle Men's Catholic Conference at Mary Queen of Peace, parish. Here he focuses on 3 of the 8 Beatitudes (blessed sayings) from Matthew 5: "Blessed are the poor in spirit...the merciful...the meek"

Because God has designed us to be in union with Him, and to be in relationship with others -- nothing short of God's love poured into our lives can ever completely fulfill our deepest longing for happiness.

Scripture Readings: http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/042416.cfm

Summary: In the Gospel reading, Jesus reminds his disciples: "This is how all will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” Our love for one another, especially within The Church, will tell the world that we belong to Christ. The credibility of our evangelizing the "Good News" to the world must begin with our love for one another. It is the transformational power of being united to Christ that fills us with His love -- which then overflows into the lives of others.

Scripture Readings: http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/032716.cfm

"If then you were raised with Christ, seek what is above,

where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Think of what is above, not of what is on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ your life appears, then you too will appear with him in glory." - Colossians 3:1-4

Scripture Readings: http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/032516.cfm

"Yet it was our pain that he bore, our sufferings he endured. We thought of him as stricken, struck down by God and afflicted, But he was pierced for our sins, crushed for our iniquity. He bore the punishment that makes us whole, by his wounds we were healed." - Isaiah 53:4-5

Scripture Readings: http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/032016.cfm

Summary: Palm Sunday begins with a series of readings from the Gospel of Luke - beginning in Luke 19 with the procession of Jesus on a colt into the city of Jerusalem, and ending with His crucifixion in Luke 23.

Jesus comes as a sign of God's love for the whole human race. In coming down to meet us in our sin and brokenness, Christ not only experiences the physical sufferings of Roman-style crucifixion, but even the emotional suffering as he his rejected by those he has come to save.

During this Holy Week, we draw deeper into the darkness and sufferings of Christ, as we eagerly await the joy of the resurrection.

Scripture Readings: http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/031316-fifth-sunday-lent.cfm

Scripture Readings: http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/030616-fourth-sunday-lent.cfm

Scripture Readings: http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/022816-third-sunday-lent-scrutinies.cfm

Summary:

The Lenten season is a call to examine our lives in light of Christ's love for us. What this means is reflecting on the ways we sometimes keep Christ out -- by our attitudes or actions, and then to confess those things and accept his grace and mercy. Just as God creates a tree to bear fruit as it takes in water an nutrients from the soil, so our lives are designed to also produce fruit. We take Christ and his sacraments into our lives. But the fruit of that is supposed to flow OUT from our lives and into the world.

Scripture Readings: http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/022116.cfm

Summary: The account of the Transfiguration gives us a glimpse of the glory of Christ, and the fullness of life into which Christ wants to lift us up to. Too often, we come to mass, anxious to just get it over with so we can hurry up and get on with our own lives. But Christ wants so much more for us; He wants us to enter deeply into union with Him and experience his transforming power.