“We saw his star at its rising and have come to do him homage.”  As I ride my bike through the neighborhood, I see so many Christmas trees already at the curb and the Christmas decorations coming down.  For so many, the Christmas season is already over.  Now, it’s on to the next thing – the Eagles are in the playoffs and Valentine’s Day is not far off.  We the faithful, however, are still in the midst of the Christmas season – it doesn’t end until next Sunday, the Feast […]

“And Mary kept all these things, reflecting on them in her heart.”  As the world celebrates the beginning of a new year with fireworks, parties and parades, we come to celebrate New Year’s Day by reflecting on the most important new beginning in all of history – the birth of Jesus.  By having his Son born of a woman, God has invited us to participate in the mystery of our salvation.

This first solemnity of the New Year is one that celebrates Mary, and her role as the Mother of God. […]

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas with some time to enjoy this special time with your families.  And, I hope you didn’t encounter too many problems as you spent more time with each other than you usually do; that can sometimes lead to unpleasant moments.  I don’t know about you but I don’t know a family that hasn’t had its struggles.  Sometimes the struggles are very evident for all to see; other times, they’re hidden from public view but still very real.  My parents divorced after quietly struggling […]

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 […]