Wednesday of the First Week in Ordinary Time
Last week in my reflection, I lifted up St John’s repetitive use of the phrase “as he is” in his first letter and invited us to strive to be like Jesus in every way. Remarkably, this week, the writer of the letter to the Hebrews makes clear that it was God’s plan that Jesus become like us! Today, we have confidence that we have a merciful and faithful high priest in Jesus who shared our humanity in order to take away our sin and set us free. We can run confidently to this Jesus who knows so intimately what it’s like to be human that he can help us in any situation we face in life. Let us gather at his door today, bringing all our cares, concerns, trials, suffering, sickness, sorrows, temptations.
Tuesday of the First Week in Ordinary Time
I am always struck by how hard Jesus works to keep his identity a secret in the Gospels. Today’s Gospel (Mark 1:21-28) is one such example. In it, we see Jesus perform the first miracle in Mark – curing a man possessed by a demon. Notice what the demon says before being cast out, “I know who you are – the Holy One of God!” (Mark 1:24) Jesus, having heard enough, commands the demon to be quiet and get out of the man. I come away from this passage with one burning question: Why is the demon knowing Jesus’ identity such a threat?
The Baptism of the Lord
All four Gospels record that John the Baptist baptized Jesus. But in the quarter century between Mark and John, the accounts take very different directions. Mark’s version is only 3 verses. Matthew raises it to 6. Luke’s and John’s renditions grow to 22 & 23 verses, respectively. Something’s going on here.
Christmas Weekday
As I reflect on today's gospel passage of the wedding feast, I had a particular line stand out to me. It is when Jesus turns to his mother who is urging him to be the savior of the party and spare the humiliation of the bride and groom who are running out of wine. Jesus seems to be taken aback that this would be his first public miracle, launching him into his true path, and he says "My hour has not yet come."
Christmas Weekday
In today’s Gospel, we read of Jesus’ baptism in the Jordan river at the hands of John the Baptist. What a beautiful event to reflect on, calling to mind our own baptism. Being that I was an infant when I was baptized, I don’t have a visual memory of my own baptism. However, each time we dip our fingers into the holy water font and make the sign of the cross, we reenact the grace poured forth from our baptismal promises. Baptism draws us into relationship with God–Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. With the water representing the cleansing of our soul, we receive the great grace of our good and gracious God.
Memorial of Saint John Neumann, Bishop
The arrival of a new year always invites us to reflect on the one just passed. What sort of year was it? A good one? A bad one? Just thinking about the US for the moment, how did we do? How did we do economically? How is our health care system after a few years of COVID? What is the average life expectancy in the US for men and for women? How does that compare to last year? How many Americans actually went to church on a regular basis in 2022? On average, how much time did we spend looking at our cell phones instead of one another? And so forth.
Memorial of Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton, Religious
I love St John’s letters because his writing is so clear. As the saying goes, there’s no fuzz on it. The admonitions we receive are not ambiguous or abstract. It’s like leaving a meeting with clear action items! I noticed something in this first letter of St John – his repetitive use of the phrase, “as he is.” Throughout this letter John names several different attributes of our Lord Jesus and calls us to embody them, as he [Jesus] is. We fulfill this calling only by God’s grace. Let us seek today to be progressively transformed by his grace in order to become as he is.
Christmas Weekday
In today's first reading (1 John 2:29-3:6), John proclaims that the world does not know us Christians because it does not know the Father. And it is also because the world does not know the Father that Christian life can seem so strange and different from secular life. That fact is made all the more apparent at Christmas time.
Memorial of Saints Basil the Great and Gregory Nazianzen, Bishops and Doctors of the Church
Just one week ago we celebrated the Incarnation, our God robed in flesh. The Holy One could have incarnated as a mighty warrior, a glorious emperor, one cloaked in fame and fortune. Instead God incarnates as a tiny child. Is there anything more helpless and dependent than a newborn?
The Seventh Day in the Octave of Christmas
I recently saw a picture from the James Webb Space Telescope which is located one million miles from the earth. This telescope has seen galaxies that are 13 billion light years away which means that we are seeing the objects as they appeared 13 billion years ago. (To better understand the magnitude of this concept- a light year is the distance that light travels in one year which is 5.88 trillion miles.) These galaxies existed not long after the Big Bang which scientists believe is the beginning of the universe. All of these incredible details came to mind when I read the today’s gospel. In the beginning was the Word. Before all of creation came to be, God and His Word existed- the rest is history.
Feast of The Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph
Today we celebrate the Feast of the Holy Family. The New Testament does not give us much information about the family of Jesus. All we know is that his parents did bring him to the temple for the presentation as the Jewish custom prescribed. We also know that they went up each year to Jerusalem for the feast of the Passover and that Jesus grew in grace and wisdom. Without speculating much, I think that that much information is good enough for us to draw some very useful conclusions. I am taken aback by Joseph and Mary’s fidelity to each other and to the family. In spite of their many difficult and experiences Mary and Joseph were loyal to one another, and provided Jesus an environment to grow in age and wisdom. Mary and Joseph faced the difficulties of life together. Both and Mary and Joseph could have done without all the troubles because this baby was not their own. But both had said ‘yes’ to God. And once they do that they are in it for the long haul. Their commitment to each other reflects the covenantal relationship between God and his people.
The Fifth Day in the Octave of Christmas
On this fifth day in the octave of Christmas, we reflect upon the Presentation of Jesus in the Temple. Simeon was regarded as a holy man among the people of Israel and was blessed with the promise of seeing the Messiah. Joseph and Mary also prove themselves to be law-abiding Jews by bringing Jesus up to Jerusalem for His presentation. As we hear from John in the first reading, the old commandment, the word heard by God’s people throughout the ages, is not eradicated but rather fulfilled in Jesus. With the coming of Jesus we are presented, as was Simeon in the Temple, with a model – the Word made flesh, the New Covenant – of how to live our lives according to God’s will. John gives us a concrete way to identify Christians: they love their brothers and sisters, they “walk just as Jesus walked.”
This, of course, is not as simple as it might sound. As Simeon tells Mary and Joseph, Jesus is a sign of contradiction through whom many hearts will be revealed. As Jesus was a sign of contradiction – to the Romans, to the Pharisees, to the Sadducees, to Herod – let us not be afraid to be a sign of contradiction in today’s world.
Let us, as did Simeon, give thanks and praise to the Lord for preparing our salvation from death in the form of a young child from Nazareth of Galilee. Let sing in the words of today’s psalm and on the feast day of Thomas a Beckett, “Let the heavens be glad and the earth rejoice!” for we have a God who keeps His promises!
- Timothy Gabrielli
Feast of the Holy Innocents, martyrs
Today the Church observes the Feast of the Holy Innocents, the young boys who were martyred under King Herod’s wrath. These innocent children were murdered in Herod’s failed attempt to kill our Lord Jesus Christ approximately two years after his birth. What an unspeakable evil. How completely diabolical. Herod’s cooperation with evil, his walking in darkness provides a stark contrast to what St John presents in our first reading about walking as children of the light. Today, let us turn away from any darkness, abandon our sin and any evil ways, and let us “walk in the light as he [Jesus] is in the light.”
Feast of Saint John, Apostle and evangelist
For many in our world, Christmas has come and gone. But for those of us who are Catholic, the celebrating continues. And how appropriate that today we celebrate the feast of St. John, the Apostle and Evangelist. As both one of the Twelve and the author of the Gospel of John as well as 1 and 2 John and the book of Revelation, St. John is for us a model of the great and complete joy that we ought to have as Christmas continues.
Feast of Saint Stephen, first martyr
Although the Christmas season is 16 days this year (ending on January 9) many of us also enjoy the traditional Twelve Days of Christmas. Today is the first day —the partridge in a pear tree. Perhaps this image was inspired by Psalm 91:4: “He will cover you with his feathers, and under his wings you will find refuge.”
Friday of the Fourth Week of Advent
Two more days! As we inch closer to the celebration of the birth of Jesus, the anticipation and longing for Christmas in our household is at its peak. Our children are excited to be on break from school and even more excited for the impending visit of the mythical bearded man in a red suit who apparently plans to squeeze his large figure down our chimney tomorrow night–let’s hope he can magically slip pass the roaring fire we plan to have going since the forecasted windchill could dip as low as -30 degrees this weekend. Even more importantly, as the psalm today proclaims, may we “lift up [our] heads and see; [our] redemption is near at hand” (Luke 21:28). Jesus is coming! The savior of the world. He will be called Emmanuel; holy one, “Wonder Counselor, God Hero, Father Forever, Prince of Peace” (Is 9:5).
Thursday of the Fourth Week of Advent
For whatever reason or perhaps for no reason at all, I find that I always have a song going in my head. It’s like the background music to my life minus the earbuds. So, when our youngest daughter, Anna, wants to bug me a bit, all she has to do is start singing the theme song from the musical, Annie. You know the one: “The sun’ll come out tomorrow. Bet your bottom dollar that tomorrow, they’ll be sun . . . “
Wednesday of the Fourth Week of Advent
In this season of Advent, we await the coming of our Savior, we anticipate the arrival of Emmanuel, God with Us. The Church helps us understand who it is we long for. Particularly in this week of the “O Antiphons,” we think about our Messiah as Wisdom, Adonai, Root of Jesse, Key of David, Dayspring, King of all Nations, Emmanuel. Today, we are reminded that Christ is our Lover! God is not only with us (Emmanuel); God desires to know us. God woos us so that we might know God more personally, more completely, more vulnerably. Let us seek to know him in greater, deeper, and more mysterious intimacy today.
Monday of the Fourth Week of Advent
If Christmas falls on a Sunday, as it does this year, Advent lasts four full weeks. The last time that happened was in 2016. The Church proclaims a full set of readings for Advent only every seven years, including 2022. And how rich these readings are as we head towards Christmas!
During these seven days prior to Christmas we chant/pray the beautiful 9th century “O antiphons.” The O antiphons are a series of seven scriptural antiphons beginning with “O”, that are used in the octave (seven days) leading up to Christmas Eve, with a different antiphon proclaimed/chanted each day.
Friday of the Third Week in Advent
Scripture Readings
I sometimes use the Catholic Youth Bible (NAB, Revised) when preparing and writing these reflections. One of the things I like about it is their “Cultural Connections” sprinkled throughout this bible. Today’s reading from Isaiah (56:1-3a, 6-8) led me to one that I would like to share with you. It is a prayer written by a worker of Peace Market in Korea that speaks to the theme of justice being our responsibility, with the understanding that all life is precious (from “Our Prayer, Your Will Be Done,” Christian Conference of Asia, 1986):
Make us keep the sputtering lantern burning
and not to break a wounded reed.
Make us understand
the secret of eternal life
from the pulse of blood in our veins
and realise the worth of a life
from the movement of a warm heart.
Make us not discriminate
the rich and the poor,
the high and the low,
the learned and the ignorant
those we know well and those we do not know.
Oh!
A human life can’t be exchanged for the whole world
this supreme task of keeping the lives
of the sons and daughters of God.
Let us realise how lovely it is
to feel the burdens of responsibility.
As today’s gospel passage (John 5:33-36) reminds us that John the Baptist was a “burning and shining lamp” for the One greater than him to come, may we keep our lamps burning and shining throughout this Advent season. And if that lantern for justice is at times sputtering, may the light of Christ renew our hearts and commitment to that responsibility, so that we, too, can realize how lovely a burden it truly is. By the grace of God, Amen.
~Eileen Miller