The Third Sunday of Advent [C]

Today’s readings Today’s readings and liturgy call us to rejoice.  That’s the reason for the rose-colored vestments and the more joyful tone of today’s readings.  This is called Gaudete Sunday: gaudete being Latin for “rejoice,” the first word of today’s … Continued

The Twenty-first Sunday of Ordinary Time (Bread of Life Discourse V)

Today’s readings Life calls us to make some very difficult decisions sometimes.  Who will we vote for?  What school will we choose for our children?  Is this the person I should marry?  Is this job the right one for me … Continued

The Nineteenth Sunday of Ordinary Time [B] – Bread of Life Discourse III

Today’s readings There’s an awful lot of murmuring going on in today’s readings.  First, the prophet Elijah, fleeing for his life, takes refuge under a broom tree in the desert, pleading that God would take his life rather than let … Continued

The Eighteenth Sunday of Ordinary Time [Cycle B]: Bread of Life Discourse II

Today’s readings My niece, Molly, wants to open a restaurant when she grows up.  She said that she is going to call it, simply, “Hungry.”  Seems like a good enough name for a restaurant to me.  Where are you going … Continued

Seventeenth Sunday of Ordinary Time, Cycle B

Today’s readings Bishop Kaffer, of happy memory, used to say that every celebration of the Eucharist was a greater creative act than the creation of the universe.  Now I think greater theological minds than mine would likely debate that, but … Continued

Pastoral Care of the Sick: Anointing of the Sick During Mass

Today’s readings: 1 Kings 19:1-8 | Psalm 34 | James 5:13-16 | Mark 2:1-12 I first met Tom probably a few weeks after I started my first assignment as a priest at St. Raphael’s back in the summer of 2006.  … Continued

The Sixth Sunday of Ordinary Time [B]

Today’s readings In ancient days, a diagnosis of leprosy was a death sentence.  And that’s not just because they didn’t know how to treat the disease.  They didn’t, but what was really horrible is the way the lepers were treated.  … Continued

Advent Penance Service

Today’s readings: Isaiah 63:16b-17, 19b; 64:2-7 and Matthew 1:18-24 Isaiah’s lament in our first reading this evening sounds like a lament for every time and place, quite honestly.  Wouldn’t we all prefer to hope that God would come and meet … Continued

The Third Sunday of Easter [A]

Today’s readings It is always interesting to me, in this story of the appearance of Jesus on the road to Emmaus, how the one thing that got through to them was the breaking of the bread.  He spent a long … Continued