Memorial of Saints Timothy and Titus, bishops
Today is the Feast of Saints Timothy and Titus. St. Paul saw both Timothy and Titus as spiritual children. In some way the shape of their faith and the positions they held within the church were a result of St. Paul’s ministry among them. They are both carrying on St. Paul’s ministry. In the first option for the first reading for today, from the Second Letter of St. Paul to Timothy, we catch a glimpse into another important means of carrying on the faith and helping the faith grow. In a line that is easy for many to pass over almost unnoticed, St. Paul writes to Timothy, “as I recall your sincere faith that first lived in your grandmother Lois and in your mother Eunice and that I am confident lives also in you” (2 Timothy 1:5).
Feast of the Conversion of Saint Paul, Apostle
“And so Paul was knocked on his arse,” I heard from our Irish monsignor when I was a kid. My parents would say, “get off your arse” or “you need a kick in the arse.” An Irish thing, I figured. Left over Gaelic. But the way our monsignor said it, “Knocked on your arse,” my ten year old self thought, “must not always be a bad thing.”
And Saul Paul of Tarsus’s arse was the most significant one to ever hit the ground.
Memorial of Saint Francis de Sales, Bishop and Doctor of the Church
Sisters and Brothers. These are probably not new words to us. If we come from a large family, they are part of our identity. Equally, if we have had a close friendship, it is as though the friendship is shaped into a bond just as strong as family; our friends become our brothers and sisters. Perhaps, even more importantly, these words are at the heart of our identity as part of the Church Catholic. We are more than a social group, more than people with common interests: we are a community of brothers and sisters, a family that is the Body of Christ.
Day of Prayer for the Legal Protection of Unborn Children
Those grandiose and bullying scribes are back at it. They accuse Jesus of being possessed by Beelzebub, stating that the “prince of demons'' gave him the power to cast out demons. Even Jesus’s own family comes to fetch him, to get him home, declaring him “out of his mind.” Maybe some warm chicken soup and a long period of rest will help snap him out of his delusions.
Memorial of Saint Agnes, Virgin and Martyr
Today is the memorial of Saint Agnes, Virgin and Martyr. While little is known for certain about her life, she died at a very young age, likely only twelve or thirteen years old. In the words of Pope Benedict XVI Saint Agnes gave, “…her young life totally and without reserve to ensure that the Gospel was proclaimed as the truth and beauty that illuminate existence.”
Friday of the Second Week in Ordinary Time
Simon, James, John, Andrew, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, James, Thaddeus, Simon, and Judas; what do they all have in common? They are just ordinary guys. That, and Jesus summoned them on the mountain. In
today’s Gospel, Jesus goes up the mountain and names these men as his apostles. Up and down the ages, God has called ordinary people to faithful purpose. People like you and me. Can you imagine the internal wrestling for the disciples in this moment? My guess is that you can probably relate to the following mental commentary: “Who am I? I’m not anyone special. In fact, I’m pretty average. How could God use anyone like me?” God is extraordinary and uses us to accomplish great things in our world.
Thursday of the Second Week in Ordinary Time
In Mark’s gospel today, he lets us know that Jesus’ following is growing by a lot. And fast. He is attracting crowds not just from cities and towns in Galilee, but also from Judea and Idumea, some 130 plus miles south of Nazareth. They are also coming from coastal towns like Sidon, which is about 130 miles north of Jerusalem. And the crowds are big! They are so big, in fact, that Jesus has to get on a boat off shore to avoid being crushed.
Wednesday of the Second Week in Ordinary Time
In today’s Gospel, Jesus heals a man who had a withered hand. He performed this miracle in the synagogue, in the presence of the Pharisees. They couldn’t celebrate this miraculous healing because their hearts had withered. They could only experience the event with indignation and judgment, viewing it as a violation of sabbath laws prohibiting work. Today, I’m wondering, what in each of us has withered? In what way(s) are we in need of Jesus’ healing touch and restoration?
Memorial of Saint Anthony, Abbott
I love the next-to-last line in today's gospel (Mark 2:23-28): "The sabbath was made for man, not man for the sabbath." It proclaims so much about who we are and what God wants for us. In Genesis, God has a day of rest on the seventh day and in Jewish Law, all people were required to observe the sabbath. Here, Jesus is proclaiming that the sabbath was not made FOR God but God considers us so important and worthy of love, that we are the ones who are gifted with the sabbath.
Monday of the Second Week in Ordinary Time
In the time of Jesus, wine was stored in carefully prepared animal skins. As the wine fermented, the skins would stretch without bursting. But a wineskin couldn’t be used again because an old wineskin lost the ability to stretch. New wine required new skins.
Saturday of the First Week in Ordinary Time
Our society today promotes the concepts of individualism and self- sufficiency. I sometimes wonder if these attitudes are contributing to the decline in church attendance and the belief in God that many have noted in our nation. It is difficult to admit that we are broken and need assistance, but it is this very dying to self that allows us access to the mercy and grace of God. Today’s scripture readings remind us that we have a God that knows us, understands our weaknesses, walks with us, and offers both healing and wholeness if we will only acknowledge and accept this grace.
Friday of the First Week in Ordinary Time
“I say to you, rise, pick up your mat, and go home.” He didn’t say, rise, pick up your mat, and go celebrate, or even go tell everyone what I have done for you. No, he simply told the man who had been paralyzed for how long we don’t know to “rise, pick up your mat, and go home.” And he did. The gospel passage from Mark (2:1-12) tells us that the man whose name we do not know, “rose, picked up his mat at once, and went away in the sight of everyone.” And we read that it was so crowded in the home where Jesus was preaching that there wasn’t even room around the door to get in. Which is why this man’s friends, or maybe neighbors, broke through the roof to lower him who couldn’t walk into the room to get closer to Jesus. And we’re told it was their faith, not the faith of the man lying on the mat, that so impressed Jesus that he healed him.
Thursday of the First Week in Ordinary Time
I am a procrastinator by nature. So when I read today's first reading I get a little bit of anxiety. So much of this reading is focused on one word - "today!" Fellow procrastinators all know that today is not really when we like to do things. We prefer tomorrow or next week or next month. But Paul makes it very clear to us that when it comes to heeding the word of God, we are not to wait until tomorrow, next week or next month. We must act now. We must act today. If we hear God's voice today, we should begin to act today.
Wednesday of the First Week in Ordinary Time
Last week in my reflection, I lifted up St John’s repetitive use of the phrase “as he is” in his first letter and invited us to strive to be like Jesus in every way. Remarkably, this week, the writer of the letter to the Hebrews makes clear that it was God’s plan that Jesus become like us! Today, we have confidence that we have a merciful and faithful high priest in Jesus who shared our humanity in order to take away our sin and set us free. We can run confidently to this Jesus who knows so intimately what it’s like to be human that he can help us in any situation we face in life. Let us gather at his door today, bringing all our cares, concerns, trials, suffering, sickness, sorrows, temptations.
Tuesday of the First Week in Ordinary Time
I am always struck by how hard Jesus works to keep his identity a secret in the Gospels. Today’s Gospel (Mark 1:21-28) is one such example. In it, we see Jesus perform the first miracle in Mark – curing a man possessed by a demon. Notice what the demon says before being cast out, “I know who you are – the Holy One of God!” (Mark 1:24) Jesus, having heard enough, commands the demon to be quiet and get out of the man. I come away from this passage with one burning question: Why is the demon knowing Jesus’ identity such a threat?
The Baptism of the Lord
All four Gospels record that John the Baptist baptized Jesus. But in the quarter century between Mark and John, the accounts take very different directions. Mark’s version is only 3 verses. Matthew raises it to 6. Luke’s and John’s renditions grow to 22 & 23 verses, respectively. Something’s going on here.
Christmas Weekday
As I reflect on today's gospel passage of the wedding feast, I had a particular line stand out to me. It is when Jesus turns to his mother who is urging him to be the savior of the party and spare the humiliation of the bride and groom who are running out of wine. Jesus seems to be taken aback that this would be his first public miracle, launching him into his true path, and he says "My hour has not yet come."
Christmas Weekday
In today’s Gospel, we read of Jesus’ baptism in the Jordan river at the hands of John the Baptist. What a beautiful event to reflect on, calling to mind our own baptism. Being that I was an infant when I was baptized, I don’t have a visual memory of my own baptism. However, each time we dip our fingers into the holy water font and make the sign of the cross, we reenact the grace poured forth from our baptismal promises. Baptism draws us into relationship with God–Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. With the water representing the cleansing of our soul, we receive the great grace of our good and gracious God.
Memorial of Saint John Neumann, Bishop
The arrival of a new year always invites us to reflect on the one just passed. What sort of year was it? A good one? A bad one? Just thinking about the US for the moment, how did we do? How did we do economically? How is our health care system after a few years of COVID? What is the average life expectancy in the US for men and for women? How does that compare to last year? How many Americans actually went to church on a regular basis in 2022? On average, how much time did we spend looking at our cell phones instead of one another? And so forth.
Memorial of Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton, Religious
I love St John’s letters because his writing is so clear. As the saying goes, there’s no fuzz on it. The admonitions we receive are not ambiguous or abstract. It’s like leaving a meeting with clear action items! I noticed something in this first letter of St John – his repetitive use of the phrase, “as he is.” Throughout this letter John names several different attributes of our Lord Jesus and calls us to embody them, as he [Jesus] is. We fulfill this calling only by God’s grace. Let us seek today to be progressively transformed by his grace in order to become as he is.