Friday of Third Week of Advent
Just last week, I was reading today's gospel (Luke 1:26-28) with the 1st and 2nd graders in Catechesis of the Good Shepherd. We meditated together on what it might mean to be visited by an angel. "I think I'd feel afraid!" one boy shouted, and most of the children agreed that they'd feel scared too. "Why would we probably feel scared?" I asked. "Because it would be scary to have someone you don't know in your house telling you things that don't make sense," replied one of the children. Even God (maybe especially God) can do scary things in our lives, sometimes.
Thursday of Third Week of Advent
We often like to believe that we are in control; that we make the plans and call the shots. Today’s reading and gospel are a good reminder to me that this is simply not true. The Lord is in control. Even when we cannot see where God is taking our lives or how He is using us to bring about his kingdom, God has a plan.
Wednesday of the Third Week of Advent
In this late Advent weekday, our focus is turned more fully on the coming of Jesus as an infant born in Bethlehem. Today we hear proclaimed the gospel passage from Matthew. In this selection, Joseph receives a dream telling him not to divorce her, although he knows she is pregnant and it is not from him. The message from the angel convinces Joseph to marry his betrothed, and this story also is crucial for us who strive to understand who Jesus is. All who hear this gospel proclaimed are to understand that this babe will save his people from their sins; he is Emmanuel, which means “God is with us.”
Third Sunday of Advent
There is an irony we have to contend with. Almost always, the most important things are the least reflect upon. Hope, for example; it is not every day that we reflect upon hope. Yet, think about it! Hope is to every human person what breath is to life. These days when I visit my parents in India, returning back to ministry in Dayton is a gut-wrenching experience. I am not sure how I actually walk out of my home leaving my aging parents behind. But I do so in the HOPE that I will see my parents again. In fact, HOPE is the ONLY reason I am able to leave. This week the world buried Nelson Mandela. He spent twenty-five years in prison for standing up for equality. How does a person not lose his or her mind after being confined in a cell for twenty-five years? This week was the first anniversary of the children killed by the gunman in Newtown. How can these people move on? I think the answer is HOPE. For that matter, if you have ever been in a crisis – cancer, tumors, surgeries, accidents, divorce, and death – what is the only thing that sustains you? The HOPE that tomorrow will be better than today! Hope… Hope is to us what breath is to life. A pregnant mother hopes that the baby inside her is well; a young man or woman hopes that someday he or she will be married; a student hopes that he or she will pass the exam; a poor person hopes that tomorrow he or she will be a little less poor; even a dying person hopes that the other side is better. Hope… without hope there is no reason to go on.
Tuesday of the Third Week of Advent
I spent this weekend in Texas visiting some friends and their three children. It was a busy, joyful weekend. At church on Sunday, we sang "Come Thou Long-Expected Jesus," one of Charles Wesley's advent hymns. I've never really thought about this particular hymn but it spoke to me this advent. The simple idea of Jesus being "long expected" gave me pause. I imagined natures of God's people waiting, hoping for the messiah that would set them free and bring true justice. Our reading today give us some idea about this "long expectation." They also give us, however, a glimpse into the surprising aspects of this messiah, things we could not have expected or imagined.
Monday of the Third Week of Advent
Today’s gospel reading discusses the authority of Jesus. When I hear the word “authority”, I feel a little uncomfortable. I believe that many people have a similar experience because many of us have this sense that a person or group who has “authority” over us wields a power to tell us what to do. We resist this control because our culture encourages us to want to “do what we want to do” and not let someone else tell us what we should do (even if these things are good things like wearing a seat belt or not drinking the super size soda). Another reason why I believe many people question authority is because they find it impossible to believe that someone or some power could actually have their best interest in mind. There is always this underlying suspicion that the person who wields the authority is really making decisions that will benefit them- not us.
Wednesday of the Second Week of Advent
Advent may be the season of preparation for the Feast of the Nativity, yet it often seems like the time to “get stuff done” for Christmas. Of course practically, these four weeks demand both from us. However, it is so tempting to focus on getting our Christmas checklist completed that our secular emphasis can obscure the spiritual growth of an Advent season well celebrated. Today’s readings address our weariness and speak of the strengthening that is offered to those who place their hope in the Lord.
Tuesday of the Second Week of Advent
The shepherd and the lamb is a central Christian image. I’ve read today’s gospel passage countless times. I’ve heard it preached on even more. It has hovered about my head since childhood. Yet, until now the image in my mind was always set in the springtime. I’ve always imagined a shepherd surrounded by lambs, munching on green grass on a sunny day. While annoyed and perhaps a little afraid that the shepherd has left them to find a lost sheep, they are still fairly comfortable. It never occurred to me that these passages could be set in a more precarious setting. Looking out the window at the snow and ice, the frigid cold, and my dead grass, I have come to read today’s passages in a different way.
Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary
On this Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception, we cry out, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavens!” (Eph 1:3) How immeasurable this gift of our Holy Blessed Mother! For it is through you, most holy and exquisite Mother, that “all the ends of the earth have seen the salvation by our God.”
Second Sunday of Advent
Watching America from above while landing in Chicago last night really brought the sharp contrast between how America prepares for Christmas and how India prepares for Christmas. And I found myself caught right in the middle. As the airplane gradually descended over Chicago, I could see the many Christmas lights and the glitter that goes with it. In India, Advent is rather somber, almost equaling Lent. This is a time for abstinence, novenas and heightened religious devotions. Christmas decorations will only be up between the twenty-third and twenty-fourth of Dec. The day before I left, my dad mom and I had our Christmas meal. Our neighbors got a whiff of the food and asked us if we not observing our advent obligations. Of course I found my way out of the sticky situation saying that since I was a priest in America, I was not bound by the local customs. I am sorry folks, but just like Adam blamed eve for eating the fruit of the garden, I blamed it on America.
Memorial of Saint Ambrose, Bishop and Doctor of the Church
As I sit down at my desk to write my reflections I read through the selected scriptures looking for what jumps off the page at me. Sometimes it seems sensible and obvious and other times it seems strange and unconnected. Today was certainly the latter. Reading the passage from Isaiah I had one word permeate my thoughts, 'tithe'[1]. Strange as it was at first, I believe it fits the prophecy Isaiah made. Before explaining its appropriateness, I want to clarify my own history with the word tithe.
Thursday of the First Week of Advent
This gospel from Matthew features one of my favorite analogies from the New Testament – the house built on rock that withstands the storm and the house built on sand that crumbles. This ties in beautifully with the first reading from Isaiah, in which we are told, “the Lord is an eternal rock.” Today we are being told to build our houses on rock – to center our lives on the Lord.
Wednesday of the First Week of Advent
About a month ago I got a phone call from a friend who I had invited for Thanksgiving dinner. He was calling to see what the menu would be. He had to decide if the promise of Thanksgiving at my house was going to meet his expectations. My friend had gotten another offer for dinner that night and was torn in trying to choose where he would eat. I of course promised we would have turkey with all the trimmings and welcomed him to eat at are table.
Memorial of Saint Francis Xavier, Priest
During Advent, we patiently wait for the birth of Christ. We allow ourselves to enter into a time of waiting, even though we know the end of the story and its immense joy. We take on the great task of waiting for a Lord we already have present to us. But this time of waiting is crucial for our spiritual lives because it reminds us of our shortcomings, of the ways we rush to God’s abundant grace as if we earned it. Advent reminds us that although the Kingdom is among us, it is also far from realized.
Monday of the First Week of Advent
I love how St. John opens his gospel, since in just a few words he captures one of the central truths about Jesus-“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” (John 1:1) Jesus is the WORD, and He became flesh and is given all power and authority in heaven and earth. Today’s gospel reading reminds us that we are called to be servants to the WORD (Jesus). In our humility, we must recognize that only Jesus is deserving of our trust, our praise, and our willingness to obey. If we can live out this faith and claim Him as the Lord of our lives, then we too will be able to join Abraham, Isaac and Jacob at the banquet table in the kingdom of heaven.
First Sunday of Advent
News from the Black Friday sales this year was the worst we have ever heard. There were shootings, stabbings, robberies, pepper sprays, and serious injuries. A Brazilian tourist, Luis Figueiro, who witnessed the mobs at the Macy’s store in New York remarked, "This is madness.” We do not know whether those in the news are Christians or mere deal seekers, but I am sure that, like me, most of you agree with the Brazilian tourist that, “This is madness.” For me, this madness is not the only problem. I also wish this shopping frenzy was somehow not associated with Christmas. I wish Black Friday happened sometime in the summer. I am sad that the birth of Christ, which symbolizes self-giving, humility, sacrifice and love, has been forever tainted by this commercial madness. The appropriation of Saint Nicholas by the business interest is tragic. I wish we got an opportunity to celebrate Christmas independent of what it has come to mean commercially.
Feast of Saint Andrew, Apostle
As an engineer, one of my favorite places on the planet was my office. For years, it was the home of many work-related victories, personal triumphs, epiphanies, and breakthroughs, as well as a setting of stress, occasional discouragement, and numerous late nights. That space was not just my office- it was my cafeteria when I ate, my study when I worked on my Masters, and my chapel when I prayed. Many good days and many bad days were lived in my chair, pencil in hand, coffee by my side, at my large desk which I was always secretly so proud of. My diplomas graced the top of my tallest bookshelf, above textbooks, journals, and project files too numerous to count. Truly, it was good. But of all the items in my office, the most memorable was a small, yellow post-it note that I kept above my computer. On it, the following words were handwritten in green ink: "At once they left their nets and followed Him."
Friday of the Thirty-fourth Week in Ordinary Time
Thursday of the Thirty-fourth Week in Ordinary Time
During this last week of the liturgical year before the beginning of Advent, we have readings from the book of Daniel as well as hear of the second coming of Christ in today’s gospel from Luke. In the first reading (Daniel 6: 12-28), we read the familiar story of Daniel not being harmed when he is thrown into the lion’s den for his faithfulness to God. The book of Daniel was written to give hope to those experiencing oppression and persecution at that time. The story says that Daniel was “unhurt because he trusted in his God.”
Wednesday of the Thirty-fourth Week in Ordinary Time
There is an old saying that for me captures the tenacity and intentionality that is demanded of us as disciples; if we were “If you were put on trial for being a Christian, would there be enough evidence in your daily life to convict you?”