Posts by Fr Dino Vanin (Page 7)

What are the voices that scare us?  That’s easy! They are the harsh voices, the voices of condemnation, the menacing voices of impending doom. By contrast, let us think of the voices that have the power to soothe, to reassure, to calm our fears, to make us smile and face the world with a bit more courage. They are choice, selected voices. They are the voices of those people that have gained our trust with more than mere sound bites.…

Could it be that two thousand years ago, the Holy Spirit inspired St. Luke to write this event in the life of two of Jesus’ disciples in such a gripping way that we can see ourselves in many of its details? The geography has changed, of course; the issues are somewhat diverse; our concerns and fears are of a different nature; but the anguish, the worries, and the gloominess of the future ahead of us is so strikingly similar! The…

How long did the joy we wore on Easter Day last? Could it be that the grinding of daily life has reclaimed our heart and mind? The readings for the 2nd Sunday of Easter are purposely very down to earth, addressing accurately human weaknesses, sinful tendencies, and limitations. This could be the reason why St. John Paul II, established the formerly called Dominica in albis depositis (Sunday of the removed white garments) as “Divine Mercy Sunday.” In the early centuries of the Church’s…

We decry that, a long time ago, many in our society took Christ out of Christmas.  As believers, at Easter, our disappointment should be double!  A first disappointment: Easter bunnies have absolutely nothing to do with the risen Lord, while eggs and newly hatched chicks could be symbols of new life and, thus, be somewhat connected to Christ’s victory over death. There should be a second disappointment troubling true believers: so many fail to live viscerally and wholeheartedly in the supernatural reality…

There is something unique about Holy Week.  We know that, starting with Palm Sunday, we should be reliving the events which erased the wrongs of our past, give meaning to our present and shape our future with a promise of immortality and eternal glory. Today’s passion narrative (Matthew 26:14 – 27:66) has a particular significance amid all the mysteries we will be reliving in these days with a heavy heart. We experience shame for being the cause of what Jesus…

In my 50 years of ministerial priesthood, I found myself confronted by situations that elicited in me spontaneous, irrepressible pity.  As a priest, of course, I know, and I preach about the value of suffering in union with Christ. I maintain that euthanasia is a direct interference with God’s plan for a dying person.  But, in hopeless cases, marked by palpable, futile struggles, the prayer that, time and again, rises from my heart and floods my mind is a variation…

For true believers, spiritual blindness is much worse than physical blindness; it would disrupt our life in all its aspects, keep us from enjoying it fully and from bearing the fruits of the Spirit. Of course, the worst type of blindness is the self-inflicted variety, proper of those who refuse to see. Some of the Pharisees who were with him heard this and said to him, “Surely we are not also blind, are we?” Jesus said to them, “If you were…

In the Gospel of John, perhaps more than anywhere else in the Bible, every single word is laden with symbolism and chosen carefully to evoke other significant, grace-filled events. The mention of a well tells those familiar with Holy Scripture that, today, the Lord is looking for a romantic encounter with our soul. Rebekah was chosen as Isaac’s bride at a well (cf. Genesis 24:15-65) and Zipporah as Moses’ wife at a well in the land of Midian. (cf. Exodus…

The only way this narrative of the Transfiguration of Jesus becomes relevant to us is by considering ourselves as members of the Body of Christ, as one with him. If this were not also “our Transfiguration” it would be just a simple recollection of a wonderful, distant event that took place 2000 years ago. The preface of Holy Mass for the Second Sunday of Lent indicates clearly that any mention of the Transfiguration is done to help us overcome the…

At least once a year, we need to overhaul our relationship with Christ Jesus and make sure that we return to the right path to heaven if we had strayed and had become unheedful of the inspirations of the Holy Spirit. This spiritual overhaul is strictly the work of the Holy Spirit as it is the Holy Spirit the divine Agent of Baptism. The Holy Spirit descended in bodily form as a dove on Jesus after he was baptized by…

The Gospel passage (Mt 5:13-16) for the Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time offers two vivid images that Jesus must have picked up from his Mom, as well as from the simple, daily life of his village of Nazareth. Salt and light.  In ancient time, salt made life better, more livable, and oil lamps extended activities otherwise hindered at sundown. Mary, together with the other housewives of Nazareth used salt to preserve dried fish, sheep and goat meat, and olives. Naturally, they put…