My favorite preacher is Bishop Robert Barron.  In Advent, he gave a particularly interesting sermon on purposefulness.  He pointed out that before the Annunciation, Mary chose her own purposes according to her best judgement.  At the moment of Annunciation, she had accepted a new purpose for her life.  The Gospel says she went “in haste” to visit her cousin Elizabeth, who had also received a new purpose in her life supporting Jesus with her son John.  When people accept a purpose to their life in Jesus, there is a who new order in the world.  We currently experience a whole myriad of people in our culture with many purposes, which are often divisive and counterproductive.  Bishop Barron points out that if we all repurpose ourselves in Jesus Christ, we would truly establish the Kingdom in this world.  He brought up the word “conspiracy”, which has come to have a negative meaning.  He said that Mary and Elizabeth conspired to bring about the promotion of Jesus.  Reviewing the Latin, the word comes from “con”, meaning “with” and “spiration” meaning to “breathe.  The original meaning of the word is to “breathe with” others of the same inspiration.

In keeping with my usual practice, please pray for our clergy at St. Joseph’s and the two seminarians Deacon Ramon Urbina and Hoa Binh Ha

Dennis