“Look to the Lord in his strength; constantly seek his face.” – Psalm 105:4 I love the simplicity of the Nativity scene. Each person in the scene is directed toward Jesus in the manger. Everyone surrounds and looks lovingly at the Christ child. The One the entire universe was created through made manifest in a tiny baby: All things came to be through him, and without him nothing came to be” (John 1:3). Today we…
Have you ever thought about Lent as a spiritual adventure, or does it seem more like: “Here we go again. Time to give up meat on Fridays and sweets again.” That doesn’t seem very motivating to me. But Lent as a spiritual adventure? A chance to go somewhere new in my interior life with Jesus as my companion? That sounds motivating! We start our spiritual adventure in the desert with Jesus. Later, we’ll climb Mt.…
…whoever wishes to be great among you will be your servant; whoever wishes to be first among you will be the slave of all. For the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many. – Mark 10:43-45 I recently was blessed to attend the Funeral Vigil and Mass for Servant of God Fr. Emil Kapaun. The Korean war chaplain died as…
How interesting that our second reading this Sunday is from St. James who exhorts us to put off “selfish ambition” and instead “cultivate peace” (3:16-18). The Gospel passage shows Jesus’s disciples arguing about who was the greatest (Mark 9:34). Later in Mark, James and John ask to be the greatest in the kingdom by sitting at Jesus’s right and left hand (10:35-37). They are still hustling to get a spot at the top! St. James…
All readings for this celebration of the Holy Family have a common thread: obedience to God. The peace that reigned in the Holy Family was due to the fact that God was the absolute center of their lives. We can ask ourselves if God is truly the center of our lives, as well. A great place to focus on placing God first on our priority list is by reclaiming Sunday as a day for worship…
At midnight, there was a cry, “Behold, the bridegroom! Come out to meet him!” Then all those virgins got up and trimmed their lamps. The foolish ones said to the wise, “Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.” But the wise ones replied, “No, for there may not be enough for us and you.” – Matthew 25: 6-9 The wise virgins in his Sunday’s Gospel reading were prepared with oil…
…they have washed their robes and made them white in the Blood of the Lamb – Revelation 7:14 The Solemnity of All Saints, 2020 Lord, this robe of mine is dirty, torn, and worn thin. The hem has been drug through the dust of this life. The bottom has become tattered and grey. Lord, I have fallen down in this robe so many times. I have tripped and stumbled into the dirt. I have torn…
What in the world caused some of those who were invited to the king’s banquet to mistreat and even kill the servants extending the king’s invitation? I’ve heard of shooting the messenger for delivering bad news, but this is way out of hand and completely incongruous. The servants were inviting them to a royal party with a sumptuous banquet. I’m sure there was even an open bar! 😅 So why did they behave this way?…
Metanoia is a Greek word that means to change completely, to convert from one way of life to another. It implies repenting of old ways and embracing a new, more holy, way of life. The chief priests and the elders in this Sunday’s Gospel reading were stuck in old ways of thinking. They were not open to hearing or acting upon the Good News that St. John the Baptist and Jesus proclaimed. Jesus reprimanded them…
Have you ever noticed that one of the first things that people do when they see a baby with his or her parent is try to see the resemblance between the child and the parents? “He has dad’s eyes,” or “she looks just like her mama!” As baptized Christians, we are children of God, made in His image and likeness (Genesis 1:27). All things were made through Christ (Colossians 1:16), so as Christians we bear…