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Saints Philip and James, Apostles
Today’s readings Today is the feast of St. Philip and the man we call “St. James the Lesser” because he is probably not the St. James that we know as a relative of Jesus and the traditional author of the book of James. Unfortunately, all that we know about this St. James is that Jesus…
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Saint Joseph the Worker
Today’s readings In his encyclical, Laborem Exercens, Pope John Paul II said, echoing the sentiments of the Second Vatican Council, “The word of God’s revelation is profoundly marked by the fundamental truth that humankind, created in the image of God, shares by their work in the activity of the Creator and that, within the limits…
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Monday of the Fourth Week of Easter
Today’s readings “Athirst is my soul for the Living God.” The Psalmist today sums up what is going on in the entire Liturgy of the Word. In the book of Acts, we see that even the Gentiles seek salvation in Christ, and Peter learns that those God has called to holiness cannot be treated as…
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The Fourth Sunday of Easter (Good Shepherd Sunday)
Today’s readings Today’s Gospel reading speaks of Jesus, the Good Shepherd who knows his sheep, and whose sheep know him. However, I have two problems with that. First, who wants to be compared to sheep? Sheep are not the brightest of animals, and they must remain in their flock to defend themselves against even the…
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Monday of the Third Week of Easter
Today’s readings Well, it doesn’t take long. Just on Saturday at Mass, we heard about the selection of the first deacons of the Church, including Saint Stephen. And now, today we hear of his persecution and impending death sentence. The life of faith certainly has its ups and downs, doesn’t it? I am sure we…
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Monday of the Second Week of Easter
Today’s readings One of the great things about being Catholic, I think, is the celebration of Easter. We do it up right, and keep doing it for fifty days! In fact, just yesterday we completed our celebration of Easter Day, which lasts for eight full days. It certainly makes sense to us that the joy…
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The Second Sunday of Easter
Today’s readings Today is the feast day for those of us who sometimes question things, and the apostle, St. Thomas, is our patron saint. And so today we can give Thomas a hard time for his unbelief, and we can disparage all those other “doubting Thomases” in our lives, or, maybe, we can just come…
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Easter Sunday of the Resurrection of the Lord
Today’s readings (Although I did use the Gospel reading from the Vigil, because I can!) “Do not be amazed!” – I just love that line in the Gospel. We have to get behind the sentiment of that statement today if we are to really understand what this day is all about. We believe in a…
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The Easter Vigil in the Holy Night
Tonight’s readings We should glory in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, in whom is our salvation, life and resurrection, through whom we are saved and delivered. We have come to the pinnacle of our vigil, this mother of vigils, focused now as we have been since our Liturgy began on Thursday night, on…
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Holy Saturday: Blessing of Food
Reading: Deuteronomy 26:1-4, 10b-11 Holy Saturday is a rough day for us Catholics, I think. We started last Sunday with a triumphant procession with palms, only to end with the death of Jesus in the Passion. On Thursday, we gathered for the joyful celebration of the institution of the Eucharist – an incredible gift from…
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