“Let there be light.” These are the first words of God recorded in the Bible.  We all know how important light is to us; just stub your toe in the darkness in an unfamiliar room and you remember how important it is.  Every major religion extols light and identifies God with the light.  The ancient Egyptians worshiped Ra, the god of the sun.  Jewish people use the menorah to celebrate the Hanukah miracle of faith triumphing over evil and they declare in psalm 27 that “The Lord is my light […]

In all of sacred scripture, there are only two accounts that tell us of the life of Jesus between his birth and his public ministry: his presentation in the temple – as we celebrate today – and his finding in the temple when he was twelve years old.  We hear the account of Jesus in the temple every three years on Sunday but the account we heard today about his presentation in the temple occurs on a Sunday only when the second of February is a Sunday; the last time […]

            “Now the Lord has spoken who formed me as his servant from the womb” (Isaiah 49:5).  As we hear proclaimed so clearly in today’s first reading, each of us is God’s servant even while we are still in our mother’s womb.  On this, the eve of the 47^th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, allow me to offer some reflections on the tragedy that continues to misdirect our nation.

On 22 January 1973, the Supreme Court decided on not one, but two abortion cases: Roe v. Wade, challenging a Texas abortion […]

As we come to the end of the Christmas season, we continue to hear from the Gospel of Matthew.  As I’m sure you know, throughout this year, Year A of the Liturgical cycle, St. Matthew’s Gospel is the featured gospel and we hear his account of Jesus’ baptism.  All three of the synoptic gospels – Matthew, Mark and Luke – report the baptism of our Lord because it is a very important event in the life of Jesus.  After being born in Bethlehem and spending some time as a refugee […]