Tuesday of the First Week in Ordinary Time
When we think of prayer, the first type many people think of is an intention; a prayer of longing or desire, in which we ask God for something. It wouldn’t take us long to consider others- prayers of thanksgiving, praise, adoration, sorrow, reconciliation, communion, and more. But a big component of popular faith is believing the almighty God can grant requests. For some, it’s the only time they pray on their own. We like to know that someone more powerful than us can do things for us. Sometimes it’s tied up in our worship and praise of God, as well as in our sorry and reconciliation. At times we may even feel guilty for an immature ‘Santa Claus’ interaction with God.
Monday of the First Week in Ordinary Time
I have good kids. They are thoughtful, courteous, and helpful. They love each other and love Bess and me. And yet, like all parents, Bess and I find times that things are not going smoothly. One of the most common areas of tension revolves around listening quickly. As I'm sure many parents have found, kids and parents, don't always see eye to eye on when to stop one task to start the next; when to put down the legos to wash up for dinner; when to say by to friends to come home; or when to take a break from their dessert in order to make it to the potty in time. My children often have ready hearts but dally with their bodies.
Saturday after Epiphany
Today’s first reading offers a strange relationship between our petition and God’s providence. Here is what John says, “We have this confidence in Him that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us in regard to whatever we ask, we know that what we have asked Him for is ours.” This text seems like an appropriate clarification on Jesus’ “Ask and you shall receive,” but it also adds something to our side of the equation. I not only read this and see John calling us to rely on prayer, but I sense him pushing us to discernment, particularly in three ways.
Friday after Epiphany
Today, I am fascinated in our Gospel at the sense of calling. I often take this term to mean that we are being drawn to take action, told to forge a certain path, to move in a specific direction. Sometimes it is linked with a sense of vocation or a way of living; other times it drives us into an act of service or a deed for a neighbor. However, I sometimes forget that we also need to be calling out or at least looking to be called. Have you ever found yourself looking for something more out of life? Desiring greater fulfillment? A change in direction? Perhaps you are ‘being called’ but you are not yet sure as to what or how. Or you are just so frustrated by your current situation (whatever it may be), feeling burdened, struggling with physical, spiritual, mental, emotional ailment--you are looking for a change, literally begging to be called to a different life.
Thursday after Epiphany
It’s not unusual for Christians to wonder now and again what being a Christian ought to mean for our lives. This is especially true when times are confusing, complicated, and fraught as our time surely is. Thankfully, we are not alone with this question. It was anticipated long before we were born.
Wednesday after Epiphany
St John was a lover! And he calls us to be lovers, too – lovers of God, of self, and of all other people. John writes of love more than any other biblical writer. The word love occurs 27 times in today’s letter, 7 times in his second and third letters combined, and 39 times in his Gospel. Love. Love. Love. That’s the essence of the Gospel message and the basis of our life in Christ. God is Love, and in God we live and move and have our being (Acts 17:28). There is no life of faith apart from love. Too often we make it harder than it has to be, and we make our discipleship about rigid rules and expectations rather than about love. Our Christian faith truly is this simple: love God, love self, love neighbor; nothing more, nothing less. St John guides us in living lives of love.
Tuesday after Epiphany
I write this having just finished watching Star Wars IX. A movie which continues to challenge us to not only look for the good in ourselves and others, but to choose to do that which is good. I was walking on a very congested street a few days ago and a woman with mobility issues on her motorized scooter was having trouble making it down the sidewalk. I know with the holidays people are in a hurry, but this lady was trying desperately to catch up with her family from whom she was separated. At one point there were four of us trying to direct traffic and move her chair to get her through. All went well and we were all on our way. I was struck as I reflected on the situation about how many people did not recognize or were unwilling to help. I was grateful for those whose love made them stop and help.
Memorial of Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton, Religious
Believing in Jesus and sharing the Good News is an important part of our faith experience. For us to “know” Jesus, we must encounter Him. Through our relationship with Him, we come to know who He is. When we experience this revelation it is so remarkable that we are impelled to go out and tell others, so they too can hear and believe. It is in the presence of Christ-in our encounter with Him- that we are known, loved and transformed to become His presence in the world around us.
Christmas Weekday
There’s something about the new year that fills me with hope and expectation for new beginnings and new life. I love opening a fresh calendar with its blank spaces, much like a clean slate. It seems appropriate that the new calendar year coincides with the liturgical Christmas season in which we celebrate hope and new life in the birth of the Christ child. Today’s readings seem to echo that sense of newness and hope.
Christmas Weekday
It is my favorite time of year because we get to spend time with family. It is great hearing old stories, making new ones and keeping traditions alive. I especially appreciate getting to eat meals with family and friends. Eating with my children recently, I got more than I wanted to hear. I was singing a Christmas song quietly. They asked why I always look so sad while singing, even at Church. Of course, I was unprepared to hear the truth.
Memorial of Saints Basil the Great and Gregory Nazianzen, Bishops and Doctors of the Church
Today the Roman Catholic Church honors the lives of two friends from an area of what is now Turkey that was called Cappadocia. St. Gregory of Nazianzen and St. Basil the Great began their friendship while away at school and later became bishops. Basil and Gregory were defining figures as the early Church sought to figure out just how to describe Jesus as fully human and fully divine. Both were largely responsible for safeguarding the faith that has guided the Church for thousands of years.
Solemnity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Mother of God
Today is the Solemnity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Mother of God. Regardless of where you find yourself on the spectrum of devotion to Mary, this day in the life of the Church offers an invitation to reflect on the person and mission of Mary and to consider her place in our lives. I humbly suggest that if we aren’t actively seeking our Mother’s intercession, we are missing a tremendous opportunity for blessing in our lives. Today’s readings overflow with blessing for us as God’s children, co-heirs with Mary’s Son, our Lord. I invite us to reflect today on our Mother as a fount of blessing for us, for our loved ones, and for the entire human family.
The Seventh Day in the Octave of Christmas
Today’s highly philosophical readings from the “two John’s” of the Christian Scriptures revolve around these themes of Truth and Light. By the Light, we see the Truth. There is one truth. The community that the ‘first John’ is writing to is experiencing division, caused by false representatives of the gospel that have peeled off from the church to start their own groups. They have invented their own teachings which depart from the true teachings of Jesus passed down by the Spirit through the true Church. Lies divide groups, but the truth does not divide. The truth unifies, because there is only one truth. This is one way we can determine whether information, philosophy, or religious teaching is true; does its acceptance cause a dividing force or a unifying force in its believers? Is it interested in casting people out, or welcoming people in? (Of course, plenty of false teachings are welcoming, so more discernment is necessary.) The gospel has always been welcoming, and the Christian community has always sought to welcome all of humanity into Jesus’s Way. No one is excluded by ethnicity, nationality, or previous beliefs.
The Sixth Day in the Octave of Christmas
“Did you forget?” I hear that question sometimes. Maybe I was supposed to ask an important question, or maybe Bess and I are preparing to host a guest. For any number of reasons there is something that needs to happen or is happening, and I need to remember it. I need reminders. I need a google calendar notification, a note on the fridge and a verbal reminder from Bess. We all need constant reminders sometimes and today's first reading has a few for us. I have three quick points to draw from them.
Feast of the Holy Innocents, martyrs
“Christ is light. In him there is no darkness. Come to him and he will bring you light.” My children sing this in catechesis of the Good Shepherd each week. The tune is catchy and it stays in my head and theirs, throughout the week. I find it a constant reminder to continue to seek out Christ - seek out the light in the darkness. This same message is relayed in our first reading today, as we hear that “God is the light and in him there is no darkness at all.” As we are in the Christmas season, this season of light and life and hope, this message seems very relevant and poignant.
Feast of Saint John, Apostle and evangelist
We are now two days into the season of Christmas and celebrating the Feast of Saint John the Evangelist. We are still rejoicing because Emmanuel has come. God is with us in the infant, Jesus. Today, our Psalm and Gospel encourage us to rejoice for a different reason, but one that comes full circle, that draws together the full culmination of our Catholic faith. We reflect and rejoice in the Resurrection. All in one day, in this season of Christmas, we celebrate God with us as a lowly, vulnerable baby AND God with us, conquering sin and death, as the Savior of the world.
Feast of Saint Stephen, first martyr
We have just one TV in our house, and it’s in the basement. So, when we are out of town and staying at a hotel, one of our favorite things to do at the end of the evening is to “flip through the channels” to see what is on TV these days. On rare occasions, we will come upon a good movie. Most of the time, we’re pretty amazed at the junk that passes for content on TV. In that category, I place televangelists and especially the ones that preach “the prosperity gospel.” Perhaps you have run across them too when you are flipping through the channels—folks like Joel Osteen and Paula White. These folks preach that Jesus suffered and died not on behalf of excessive love and incomprehensible grace that saves us from our sins but, instead, in order to alleviate illness and financial difficulty in our personal lives. If we have faith—and, importantly, manifest that faith by adopting a positive attitude and (especially) by making financial donations to their churches—Jesus will bless us with wealth and security. Both Osteen and White are terrifically wealthy. Apparently, the prosperity gospel works—at least for those who preach it.
Tuesday in the Fourth Week of Advent - Mass in the Morning
While sugarplums dance in the minds of children and many of us are exhausted from our preparations for Christmas, Advent still has one last message for us. The first reading from Samuel describes David as settling into his new palace, and yet thinking about the Ark of God residing in a tent. Although David’s desire to build a temple is strong, God sends David a message through Nathan. The message states that God has watched over David and all of Israel and will continue to do so. Nathan is trying to remind David that the Lord is in charge. God through Nathan makes a promise to David. The promise is that the House of David shall endure forever and that God “will raise up your heir after you, sprung from your loins, and will make his Kingdom firm.”
Monday of the Fourth Week of Advent
There are many characters in Scripture that mess things up at some time or another. Zechariah was no exception. He botched it when Gabriel appeared and told him about John. In today's gospel, we see the evidence of Zechariah's redemption. He shows us how to recover when we too fall short of the faith to which we are called.
Saturday of the Third Week of Advent
To accompany others is an important practice as a disciple of Christ. Today’s gospel reading is an excerpt from the visitation. Mary and Elizabeth’s relationship illustrate how we are called to accompany others in our daily lives. When we listen with an open heart, speak with kindness and compassion, and commit in love to another, we become the presence of Christ for that person.