LUCEM FERRE

TWENTY-SECOND SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME – A | AUGUST 30, 2026  Jeremiah 20:7-9 • Psalm 63:2, 3-4, 5-6, 8-9 • Romans 12:1-2• Matthew 16:21-27   TAKING UP THE CROSS: TRANSFORMING SACRIFICE INTO LOVE Have you ever said “yes” to something with total enthusiasm, only to realize later just how much that “yes” would actually cost you? Think of a young couple on their wedding day, glowing with joy, promising to love each other in good times and in bad, in sickness and in health. But years later, sitting in a hospital waiting room at 2:00 AM, holding hands through a serious illness, that promise takes on a radically different depth. Or think of parents who eagerly welcome a newborn child into the world, only to discover years down the road the relentless, exhaustion-filled sacrifices required to raise a child with integrity, patience, and truth in a complicated world. In our human experience, real love always costs something. It invites us beyond comfort. That is precisely wh...

TWENTY-FIRST SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME – A | AUGUST 23, 2026 Isaiah 22:19-23 • Psalm 138:1-2, 2-3, 6, 8 • Romans 11:33-36 • Matthew 16:13-20   THE TRUST OF THE KEYS AND THE HEART OF THE QUESTION If you have ever left home for an extended trip, you know the gravity of deciding who gets your house key. You don’t give your keys to just anyone. You give them to someone you trust implicitly, someone who will care for your home, feed your pets, and keep watch over what is most precious to you. Handing over a key is a deep act of trust and intimacy. It says: “I trust you with my home. I trust you with my life.” In today’s readings, God is in the business of handing over keys. In our First Reading from Isaiah, we hear of a transfer of authority. Shebna, a master of the royal palace who became prideful and self-serving, is stripped of his robe and sash. In his place, God appoints Eliakim, placing upon his shoulder “the key of the House of David.” When Eliakim opens, no one shal...

NINETEENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME – A | AUGUST 09, 2026 1Kings 19:9,11-13 • Psalm 84(85) • Romans 9:1-5 • Matthew 14:22-33 THE STORMS AND THE NOISE OF LIFE Our readings today speak directly to some of our human realities and experiences (An unexpected financial blow, a relational conflict that left you feeling drained and anxious, or perhaps, not a big crisis, but rather the overwhelming, relentless noise of daily life, etc. - In those moments, we often find ourselves asking: Where is God in all of this? Why does it feel so quiet when life is so loud?) They take us to two iconic places of spiritual encounter: a quiet cave on Mount Horeb, where the Prophet Elijah is said to have been, and a wind-tossed boat on the Sea of Galilee, where Peter and the Apostles are said to have been. In both places, God meets His people not in the way they expect, but in the exact way they need. In our first reading, Elijah is exhausted. He had just won a dramatic showdown on Mount Carmel against the ...

EIGHTEENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME – A | AUGUST 02, 2026 Isaiah 55:1-3 • Psalm 145:8-9, 15-16, 17-18 • Romans 8:35, 37-39 • Matthew 14:13-21   “BRING WHAT YOU HAVE”: FINDING ABUNDANCE IN GOD’S GENEROUS LOVE Often, we attempt to fill a deep, spiritual void with material possessions. However, no matter how much we consume, we still feel just as empty an hour later.  Thousands of years ago, the Prophet Isaiah saw this exact human tendency and asked a question that echoes right down into our 21st-century lives: “Why spend your money for what is not bread, your wages for what fails to satisfy?” (Isaiah 55:2) Today’s scriptures invite us to step away from the spiritual junk food of the world and sit down at the table of a God who satisfies the deepest longings of our hearts, freely, abundantly, and without cost. In today’s Gospel from Matthew, we witness a tender human moment. Jesus has just received devastating news: his cousin and friend, John the Baptist, has bee...

SEVENTEENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME – A | JULY 26, 2026 1 Kings 3:5, 7–12 • Psalm 119 • Romans 8:28–30 • Matthew 13:44-52 FINDING WHAT TRULY MATTERS: THE TREASURE OF AN UNDERSTANDING HEART A story is told of a man who was helping his elderly mother move out of the family home where she had lived for over fifty years. As they cleared out the attic, they opened box after box of accumulated items, including old kitchen gadgets, souvenir keychains, stacks upon stacks of yellowed magazines, and broken appliances saved “just in case.” As the afternoon wore on, the man uncovered a small, dusty wooden box tucked away in the far corner under the eaves. When he opened it, he found his late father’s handwritten journals from his early married years, along with a stack of love letters written during his time overseas in the military. In that moments-long pause, surrounded by fifty years of physical clutter, everything else in the attic became completely irrelevant. The broken radios, the...

« LA MESSE, QU'EST-CE QUE C'EST ?  LA COMPRENDRE POUR MIEUX Y PARTICIPER » Aujourd'hui, nous allons aborder une question fondamentale pour notre vie chrétienne : Qu’est-ce que la Messe ?  Si nous sommes honnêtes, nous avons tous déjà ressenti de l'ennui, de la distraction ou l'impression de répéter des gestes machinalement le dimanche matin. Pourquoi ? Souvent parce que nous ne comprenons pas ce qui s'y passe réellement . La liturgie de l'Église est riche de symboles, de paroles et de gestes qui ont tous un sens profond. Le concile Vatican II nous invite à une « participation active, consciente et fructueuse » ( actuosa participatio ). L'objectif de notre rencontre aujourd'hui est simple : décoder la Messe pour que notre présence ne soit plus passive, mais devienne une véritable rencontre d'amour avec Dieu. PARTIE 1 : QU'EST-CE QUE LA MESSE ? (LE SENS PROFOND) Avant de regarder comment elle se déroule, comprenons ce qu'elle est ...