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Wednesday of the First Week of Advent
Today’s readings We are a people who are always in a rush, and so way too often we pick up a bite to eat on the run. We stop at fast food places so often that they are a thriving industry, all of this to the detriment of our health. We offer this same mentality,…
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St. Andrew the Apostle
Today’s readings As is the case for most of the apostles, we don’t know a whole lot about St. Andrew. And I think that’s appropriate, because what we need to know about them is that they were followers of Jesus, and were devoted to him. We too are called to that same great devotion. There…
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First Sunday of Advent
Today’s readings We’ve gathered here today on the precipice of something new. Do you feel it? Do you come here with a sense of hope and expectation? Are you on the edge of your seat? Well, if not, we hope you will be by the end of Advent. That’s what it’s all about. The readings…
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St. Andrew Dung-Lac & Companions, martyrs
Today’s readings St. Andrew Dung-Lac was a priest in Vietnam in the early nineteenth century. He and his 116 companions, including Spanish Dominicans, members of the Society of Foreign Missions of Paris, and 96 Vietnamese, including 36 other priests, were all martyred around the year 1839. It is estimated that between 100,000 and 300,000 Catholics…
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Monday of the Thirty-third Week of Ordinary Time
Today’s readings You know, every time we hear this story about the widow’s mite, the story is equated with the call to stewardship. That’s the classic explanation of the text. And there’s nothing wrong with that explanation. I might even go so far as to preach it that way myself on occasion. But honestly, I…
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The Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary
Today’s readings: Zechariah 2:14-17, Luke 1:46-55, Matthew 12:46-50 This particular Gospel reading is sometimes difficult to proclaim, because I think it’s out of context enough that we could get the wrong idea about the relationship between Jesus and Mary. It almost seems as if Jesus doesn’t care about his mother, and his brothers – whoever…
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Friday of the Thirty-third Week of Ordinary Time
Today’s readings We have been hearing this week in our first reading from the books of the Macabees. All week long, the message we were getting was that there is something more. Maybe eating a little pork, or tossing a few grains of incense on a coal in worship of an alien god would save…
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Thursday of the Twenty-third Week of Ordinary Time
Today’s readings People look to great leaders to be an example to them. In theory, anyway, that’s how it’s supposed to work. So it comes as no surprise, really, that those enforcing the apostasy wanted Mattathias and his sons to enthusiastically sacrifice to the pagan gods, according to the order of the king. Because if…
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St. Elizabeth of Hungary
Today’s readings St. Elizabeth was the daughter of the king of Hungary, and she married Louis IV of Thuringia when she was fourteen years old. They were happily married and had three children together. Together, they tried to live the ideals of St. Francis, so they sold their possessions and gave the money to the…
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Monday of the Thirty-third Week of Ordinary Time
Today’s readings Today’s first reading has one of the most chilling lines in all of Scripture: “and they did die.” Their faith was sorely tested: would they give in and worship the false gods of the people around them so that they could have some kind of peace and security, or would they prefer to…
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