Posts by Fr Dino Vanin

…since I have indeed been taken possession of by Christ Jesus. (Philippians 3:12) What a wonderful statement uttered by St. Paul! It should become the template of our relationship with Christ. There are two basic ways of becoming somebody else’s possession: by being purchased as slaves or as the result of being smitten by love. On the Fifth Sunday of Lent, St. Paul tells us how he fell in love with Christ. (Philippians 3:8-14) Two people smitten by love desire intensely to…

Time is a very valuable gift given to us by the Lord. He is the owner of the vineyard where our “fig tree” is growing. It would be absurd to expect the fig tree to determine when its time is up. (Luke 13:1-9)  That right belongs to the owner of the vineyard. Similarly, we don’t decide when our time on earth is up. Regardless of our bearing good fruit or of our sterility; regardless of our preparedness, age, health condition, goodness or lack…

Already bruised by the skirmishes of life, we grown-ups let kids take refuge in a world of dreams, make-believes and incredible feats made easy by super-heroes. We do not want them to be scarred and traumatized by an early brush with the real world in which we must live. Alas, the world of grown-ups reserves many unpleasant surprises. At times, unceremoniously, we can be thrusted into surreal situations in which we would feel numb, disoriented, enveloped in darkness, trudging hesitantly…

We all sense that Lent is a special time of grace from God… but we might think that giving up a few little things for 40 days or so is all that it takes to get in spiritual shape and ready for Easter. Lent is perhaps the most intensely spiritual time of the year but must be so for a more comprehensive and radical reason; one that covers all aspects of life. It is our fundamental choice to be unconditionally…

Are these orders from Jesus (Luke 6: 27-37) a string of exaggerations designed to shock us? NO! We all know very well that Jesus means every single one of these statements, shocking and nearly impossible to implement as they truly are. We know him well enough to realize that these teachings are so “Christ-like,” so incredibly different from conventional wisdom, so radical that they must be divine; they must be filled with Life and designed to fill us with Life…

We are swamped with words. Some poisonous like gossip; some devastating like slander; others unsettling like rumors and criticism. Most of them, though, are empty and meaningless, hot air—precisely. How many millions of words have invaded our being this past week? Printed words, broadcast words, casual words from friends and passerby—words, words, and more words. Almost screaming, we take refuge in our churches and say: “No more words…we need facts!” There we get more words. But we do not mind…

But who will endure the day of his coming? For he is like the refiner’s fire, or like the fuller’s lye. …He will sit refining and purifying silver, and he will purify the sons of Levi… (from the first reading, Malachi 3:1-4) Isn’t it overkill, a pure exaggeration? We are talking about a 40-day-old baby, so cute, so charming. The 2nd reading (Hebrews 2:14-18) sheds light on this obvious discrepancy. It speaks of Jesus’ entire life as spent in obedience to…

The readings for the 3rd Sunday in Ordinary Time are about freedom.  From the first reading (Neh 8:2-4, 5-6, 8-10) we gather that, after returning from exile, for the first time, in a highly charged atmosphere of deep emotions, the Jews were free to celebrate God’s gift of the Torah (the Law). In the second reading (1 Cor 12:12-30), St. Paul tells us how Jesus freed us from sin through his blood on the cross, and how he has poured his Holy…

The importance of the Solemnity of the Epiphany is all in the contemplation of the mystery, hidden for millennia from past generations, and revealed in the fulness of time in Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God in human flesh. It is the desire of God the Father to save every one of his children and, at the end, to welcome all of them into his heavenly home, to share in his endless joy. The fulfillment of this grandiose…

The intensity of the Christmas’ solemnity should not dwarf the significance of the Feast of the Holy Family of Nazareth. And the reason is not an exaggeration but a simple reality check: our future as a Church and as a Nation hangs in the balance. The number of religious institutions that cling to this somber realization is dwindling. It consists of conservative Christian groups and the Catholic Church. That’s about it! For decades, we realized that there were covert efforts…

The most common word we hear during the Advent Season is “the coming of the Lord.” For example: And they will see the Son of Man coming upon the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. (Matthew 24:30) This phrase needs clarification. Since Jesus, the Son of Man, is God, we cannot speak of him as leaving point A (heaven) to get to point B (wherever we happen to be). As God, he is everywhere at the same time, in heaven, in the…

Let me paraphrase the gospel passage for the First Sunday of Advent: This world has ominous sings in the sun, the moon and the stars. There are many nations in dismay, perplexed by the roaring of the elements. People are dying of fright in anticipation of what is coming upon the world. Our world is indeed crisscrossed by heart-wrenching tragedies, by devastating calamities, by deadly, age-long feuds, barbaric, unspeakable acts of violence, deep divisions and prolonged wars. There might even be signs indicating…