Category: Saints
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God’s Idea of Re-Gifting
“Without cost you have received; without cost, you are to give.” Or, re-give…
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Chosen
Feast of St. Matthias, Apostle Acts 1:15-17, 20-26; John 15:9-17 In the spring of my senior year, the high school play was a drama with a lead role that I really wanted. When tryouts came, I nailed it. I went home confident that I had that part in the bag. Only, I didn’t. Even worse, […]
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Being Who We Were Made to Be
Solemnity of St. Joseph, husband of the Blessed Virgin Mary Matthew 1:16, 18-21, 24a A theologian once said that “great occasions do not make heroes or cowards; they simply unveil them to our eyes. Silently and imperceptibly, as we wake or sleep, we grow strong or weak; and at last some crisis shows what we […]
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Of Prophets and Prophecy: The 6th Day of Christmas
1 John 2:12-17; Luke 2:36-40 When we hear the word “prophet,” we may think of men like Isaiah, Jeremiah, or Ezekiel, and “prophecy” as the word of God given to them concerning things that would happen in times to come. If so, Anna in today’s gospel is a good reminder that we have more thinking […]
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Sheep and Shepherd: St. Augustine of Canterbury
1 Thessalonians 2:2b-8; Matthew 9:35-38 During a parish mission years ago the homilist asked the congregation, “Do we live the Christian life as sheep or shepherds?” At the risk of oversimplifying, his point was that being a true follower of Christ requires us to be both. Key moments from the life of St. Augustine of […]
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How Lows Become Highs: Memorial of Pope St. Martin I, Martyr
2 Timothy 2:8-13; 3:10-12 In C.S. Lewis’s brilliant work The Screwtape Letters, the senior devil (Screwtape) teaches his apprentice what he calls the “Law of Undulation.” In a nutshell, this is the idea that people experience highs and lows in their relationship with God. The “highs” are those peak times when we feel especially close […]
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The Invitation to Dare: Divine Mercy Sunday
Acts 4:32-35; 1 John 5:1-6; John 20:19-31 The gospel according to John has been called the gospel of encounters. Each follows the same basic pattern: Jesus encounters someone, they test him, there is an exchange, and the encounter ends with those who tested Jesus finding that in reality they are the ones being tested: Will […]
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The Feast of the Presentation of the Lord
Malachi 3:1-4; Hebrews 2:14-18; Luke 2:22-40 February 2nd is a day of celebrations. Many know it as Groundhog Day, the day when it seems the whole world watches the behavior of a groundhog in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania. What many may not know is that this lighthearted little distraction began over a century ago as a Protestant […]
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The Heart of the Matter: The 4th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle B
Deuteronomy 18:15-20; Psalm 95:8-9; Mark 1:21-28 When you ask people about their favorite schoolteacher and what it was that made them so great, the answer often has less to do with what they taught than the kind of person they were. They cared about us, were compassionate to us, interested in us, challenged us, and […]
Mark 10:45 