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 […]

As Americans, we don’t often think about kings and queens and royalty.  You may have recently read with mild interest about Queen Elizabeth, the 95-year-old beloved queen of England as she experiences some health issues. Other than that, who hears about kings or queens.  It may surprise you to learn that there are currently 44 countries worldwide that have a king or queen, countries such as Belgium and the Netherlands, Norway and Sweden, Spain and New Zealand.

Of course, there aren’t really many true kings in the world today.  After the […]

“Are we there yet?”  What parent hasn’t heard that question from the back seat of your car?  And, how do you answer the question?  Of course, the real question being asked is not, “Are we there?” but “When will we get there?”  And, how do you answer?  You could look at your GPS and give the exact mileage and estimated time of arrival, but that’s of little help to a young child who doesn’t have any concept of distance or time.  These little pieces of adult information have no meaning […]

There is a lot of talk about love in today’s readings.  In the first reading, we hear Moses tell God’s people to “love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength.”  The responsorial psalm repeats, “I love you, Lord, my strength.”  The second reading reminds us that Jesus gave himself as the perfect sacrifice for all of us – the ultimate sign of his love for us.  And in the Gospel, we hear Jesus repeat Moses’ command and add the command […]

Today we join with parishes around the world in celebrating World Mission Sunday.  As we wait with baited breath and earnest prayer to hear what will happen to the missionaries who are being held hostage in Haiti, we are reminded of the courage that missionaries have displayed down through the ages as they go to the ends of the earth to proclaim Jesus’ message of salvation to all people.  It is a good opportunity for us to reflect on the special call we have all received at our baptism – […]