Have you ever noticed that we human beings have a seemingly infinite capacity to complicate things? It’s like we have a built-in aversion to the simple. We often take the simplest situation and we make it a complicated affair. As they say, we make mountains out of molehills. And, when we do, we often miss the real point. But, when you get the heart of it, often the greatest experiences of life, and the greatest insights, have a way of turning out to be very simple. Take Christmas, for example. […]

Let me wish all of you, once again, a very blessed Christmas! We gather this evening to celebrate the most blessed event of all time: the birth of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. We hear, once again in today’s Gospel, the story of his birth. It is the story of Joseph and Mary putting their trust in God and cooperating in his plan of salvation for all of us.

So, let me ask you, have you finished wrapping all your gifts – or maybe you’re putting them in gift bags? […]

Finally, just six years ago, in 2013, Pope Francis decreed that St. Joseph should be included by name in the Eucharistic Prayers, when we mention Mary, the apostles and martyrs and all the saints whom we wish to join in the glory of heaven.  It’s about time that we recognize his extraordinary place in Salvation History; we hear about it today.  Just like Mary, we hear very little about Joseph in the Bible.  Outside of Matthew and Luke’s infancy narratives, Joseph is mentioned only in the Gospel of John where […]

Are you the one who is to come, or should we look for another?”  We tend to think that Jesus endured a trial only at the end of his life before the Sanhedrin and the Roman leaders.  But, if we read the Gospels more carefully, we see that Jesus was on trial for the entirety of his public ministry, from friend and foe alike.  Every time he did or said something – healed the sick, raised the dead, forgave sins, asserted that he was one with God – we hear […]

“In those days John the Baptist came, preaching in the wilderness of Judea and saying, ‘Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.’”  And, what was the first thing that people did when they heard John’s message? They acknowledged their sins. Why? Because John preached a message of repentance.  And, John did this to prepare for the coming of our Lord.  If you examine the New Testament, you will find that the first word of the gospel message is “repent.”  As we hear today, “Repent” is the first word we hear from John the Baptist.  […]

As you probably know, the word Advent has a Latin root; so many of our church terms are Latin in origin.  Adventus in Latin means to await the arrival of someone or something of great importance.  That’s what Advent is: we await the arrival of Jesus, our Lord and God.  That’s pretty important, isn’t it!?!  Most of us think of this season as a time of preparation for the birth of Christ, which we celebrate at Christmas. And, it’s important to do that since Jesus came to lead us back […]

FEAST OF CHRIST THE KING

24 November 2019

We have only one, very short, document written about Jesus during his own lifetime: the inscription explaining the reason for his execution, nailed to the cross above his head at the order of Pontius Pilate.  As we hear in today’s gospel, Luke quotes it as saying: “This is the King of the Jews.”  Short as it was, it had the power to condemn Jesus to a cruel, painful death as a criminal, in fact, as an insurrectionist.  The accusation, which the Gospel of John […]

Do you remember the day last April when the Notre Dame Cathedral was so badly damaged by fire?  We all looked on with horror and gasped as the spire collapsed into the roof.  Was the entire cathedral lost?  It was a great relief to learn days later that much of the interior had been spared and the walls were still intact, for the most part.  For those of us who have visited this magnificent cathedral, it was a time of great sadness and a feeling of tremendous loss. 

This experience […]

THIRTY-SECOND SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

Year C                                    10 November 2019

Do you know the difference between the Pharisees and the Sadducees?  We hear about these two groups of Jewish leaders all the time in the gospels.  They’re always trying to discredit Jesus.  They saw him as a threat to their religion and, more important, their status as religious leaders.  It seems that too many of them were more concerned about taking care of themselves than their people and they felt threatened by Jesus who constantly talked about loving your neighbor and […]

THIRTY-FIRST SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME
November 3, 2019

When Jesus started his mission, we hear his first message: “The kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the Gospel.” And, throughout his public ministry, Jesus called people to repentance, to turning around and turning back to God. Today’s Gospel is one of the most dramatic examples of repentance and a story we should all listen to carefully, because it speaks to us; that’s why we have it proclaimed today. We’re all familiar with the story so it’s easy to […]