Posts by Fr Dino Vanin

Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart. (Matthew 11:29) Contrast it with the opening statement of our gospel passage for this 20th Sunday in Ordinary Time: “I have come to set the earth on fire, and how I wish it were already blazing! (Luke 12:49) Or take “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give it to you. Do not let your…

One morning, the disciples must have gotten up earlier than usual and observed Jesus from a distance while he had been in intimate conversation with the Father. That sight must have been more magnificent and more awe-striking than any sight they had ever seen. Unable to contain their wonderment, they eagerly asked him: “Lord, teach us to pray just as John taught his disciples.” (Luke 11:1) Incredible as it sounds, due to our inability to pray, we have a lot to…

In Luke 10:42, the Lord tells us all: “There is need of only one thing…” Hence, let us attempt to find that ONE THING which we all need. For as long as we do not find that ONE THING, or we get sidetracked looking for many other things, inexorably, we can expect anxiety, restlessness, tension, agitation, in a word: a substandard type of life. By substandard I mean a way of life that is far from what Jesus died and rose from death to give us. We can…

At least once a year, we need to venture into the infinitude of God and to explore it rather than shy away from such impossibility. We wonder about this lure of the infinite that makes us feel so very small, so embarrassingly inept and yet so loved by the ultimate, most perfect Being, our Triune God from whom our very existence directly depends. As our faith grows over time, we were taught, correctly so, that we cannot probe God’s mystery. However,…

Even if it is incorrect because the earth is spherical, instinctively we look up in the sky whenever we think of heaven, and we look down into the bowels of the earth whenever we think of hell.  As always, the starting point should be the fundamental fact that we are living in Christ and with Christ as one, inseparable entity: Jesus the Head and we the members of the Body of Christ, i.e., the Church. So, the Ascension into heaven…

On the Fifth Sunday of Easter, here is a very important question: what is our reaction to what Paul and Barnabas tell us today? They tell us that it is necessary for us to undergo many hardships to enter the Kingdom of God.(Acts 14:22) Before we answer that question, and point out our reaction to those inspired words, let me remind all of us that our God is the God of the living. Being the God of the living, today, he uses…

Jesus introduces himself as our Shepherd. Perhaps the Psalm most familiar and dearest to us is Psalm 23: “the Lord is my Shepherd; there is nothing I shall want.” However, even in our familiarity with that Psalm we are in no way hardwired to appreciate the role of Christ as our Shepherd and, even less, to accept our role as his sheep. Hence, first, we ought to delve into the Hebrew psyche as evidenced in the Bible if we want…

While it is true that the Lord appreciates and counts on our contribution, symbolized by our Sunday collection and by the bread and wine we bring to the altar, what the Lord welcomes most of all is that part of our heart which can be dubbed “Doubting Thomas.” He wants our “Doubting Thomas” to reshape it according to the Father’s plan. This transformation is meant for all of God’s children, including those who have messed up as badly as Peter,…

While, historically, Jesus endured one horrific passion and death on a cross, we are blessed with four narratives of that same passion and death: Matthew’s, Mark’s, Luke’s and John’s. Today, on Palm Sunday, let me share with you six points of reflection which are Luke’s gift to us for our edification and for our spiritual growth. 1. Holy Communion is a call to joyous service of each other. As, at the Last Supper, he was serving us his flesh and blood for…

…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…