Ice cream, chocolates, candy…don’t they sound great!  Many of us crave sweet things.  In just a little more than a weeks, some of us will be giving them up as our sacrifice for Lent.  Sugary treats may not be a healthy option but they trigger the release of feel-good chemicals in our brains that provide us with a momentary rush of pleasure.  Interestingly enough, so does the thought of getting even with someone who has hurt us.  Neuroscientists have discovered that revenge really is “sweet” for that part of our […]

What does it mean to be blessed?  It means to be in God’s grace, to enjoy his favor and it leads to true joy and everlasting happiness.  We all say that we seek to be happy but what we really seek is to be blessed, that is, to enjoy God’s favor, both here and for all eternity in heaven.  So, how do we become blessed?  Fortunately, in his infinite love and wisdom, God has shown us the way to true blessedness.  How does God guide us?  Through Sacred Scripture, of […]

As we look back on our lives, many of us will recognize a particular person who caused us to make a significant change or to go in a different direction.  It might have been a parent, a neighbor or teacher, our spouse or a good friend.  The change we were influenced to make was good, even though, at first, it made us very uneasy.  It caused us to think bigger, do better things, use our talents in ways that we didn’t imagine possible, to live differently.

This is what we hear […]

Have you ever wondered why Jesus was baptized?  We all know that baptism washes away our sins – that’s one of the reasons why we use water as the sign of the sacrament – and Jesus was sinless.  Baptism also welcomes us into God’s family, and Jesus is God so he is already in the innermost circle of God’s family – the Holy Trinity.  And finally, the other reason we use water at baptism is as a sign of the new life we receive through this sacrament – that is, […]

“We saw his star at its rising and have come to do him homage.”  The explanation that the Magi gave for their journey seems so simple and straightforward.  But, like most aspects of our Salvation History, there is more to the story.

We do not know exactly where these men began their journey. We do not know how long or how far they traveled, but it seems that they were not Jews or Romans.  They did not come to pay homage to their own newborn king, but the king of […]

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas, with time to celebrate with family and friends.  This is a very sacred time of the year as we reflect on the great mystery of the incarnation: God coming to live among us.  As we celebrated yesterday, Jesus is truly the Word made flesh.  And, he came into a family, the new family of Mary and Joseph.  As we contemplate his birth during this Christmas Octave, we are encouraged on this, the Feast of the Holy Family, to reflect on our lives […]

Allow me to wish all of you, once again, a most blessed Christmas.  In the midst of all of the troubling news in the world, we need a moment to celebrate good news!  We all know that Matthew, Mark, Luke and John are the four evangelists.  They wrote the gospels, the proclamation of the Good News of our salvation.  But, as with so many words we use to describe our faith, we have borrowed and repurposed an ancient Greek word – ἐύαγγελιστής -evangelist.  Originally, the Greek word for evangelist, which […]

Once again, let me wish all of you a very blessed Christmas!  We gather this evening to celebrate a momentous event in human history: the birth of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.  Although he was born more than 2,000 years ago, his birth impacts each of our lives directly today.  He is the Lamb of God, who came to take away the sins of the world on a cross.  He is Emmanuel, God with us, who draws us back to our heavenly Father.  We hear, once again in this […]

Is it here yet?  We have all had the experience of eagerly anticipating some upcoming event in our life.  We imagined how great it would be when “it” – whatever it was – finally happened or arrived.  The closer we got to the actual day of the event, the more excited we became.  You may have been waiting for the birth of a child, or graduation or a special vacation, or retirement.  Or you may have been waiting to overcome some challenge in life such as counting down the appointments […]

“Rejoice in the Lord always.  I shall say it again: rejoice!” These opening lines from today’s second reading capture the spirit of this, the third Sunday in Advent.  This first sentence is the origin of our calling this Gaudete Sunday, after the Latin word, “Gaudete,” which means “Rejoice.” Now with three candles lit in our wreath and we priests wearing rose-colored vestments, we hear lessons that dance with delight, celebrating this joyous good news that the Lord is near.  Paul is writing this letter to the Christians living in Philippi […]