Memorial of Saint John Bosco, Priest
Recently, circulating on email, I saw some amazing photographs of animals camouflaged in their natural surroundings so that if I didn’t know what I was looking for in the photograph I would not have seen it. I had to look carefully for a while, really study the picture, and even then I didn’t always see it until I read the caption to know what animal I was looking for. Even a giraffe was hard to spot, it was so well camouflaged. But once I knew what I was looking for, it stood out and suddenly became very clear.
Wednesday of the Third Week in Ordinary Time
Hearing is a sense most of us take for granted. As we get older some of us realize that the music or the power tools we have used over the years has begun to take a toll on this ability. Fortunately, technology provides some aids to help us recover this sense. Yet, while hearing is important, it is our response to what we hear that more significant.
Tuesday of the Third Week in Ordinary Time
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.
Memorial of Saint Thomas Aquinas, Priest and Doctor of the Church
This day the Church celebrates the Memorial of Saint Thomas Aquinas, Dominican theologian and doctor of the Church. St Thomas’s influence on theology, philosophy, and Christian doctrine is unequaled in the history of the Church. When he was five years old, Thomas was sent to Monte Cassino to begin his training with the Benedictine Monks. Prayerful and studious and highly inquisitive, one of his teachers noted his young charge would repeatedly ask the same question: “What is God?” The voluminous works produced by St. Thomas, including the Summa Theologica, testify to his lifelong passion to answer this question, not only for himself, but for the whole Church.
Third Sunday in Ordinary Time
Last Monday was the presidential inauguration. In these divided times, there were those who were thrilled and others who were completely disillusioned. Over the years, the elected leader lays out his vision for the nation at the inauguration. I read the significance of the inauguration from a different perspective. Here was a white chief justice John Roberts administering the oath of office to an African-American president and a Latino woman chief justice Sonia Sotomayor administering the oath of office to a white vice-president. All this on Martin Luther King Day. America has come a long way since the “I have a dream,” speech of Aug 28, 1963. Ironically, the day after the inauguration was observed by the Church as the Day of Prayer for the Legal Protection of Unborn Children. It just goes to show that the dream has not yet reached everybody. This week the church has prayed that it will. Also, as the Catholic Bishop’s website says, January is also “poverty awareness month.” Yes, the American dream is still only a dream for many people.
Memorial of Saints Timothy and Titus, bishops
Today’s Gospel strikes firmly and in brief. We are left with the words of Jesus’ relatives, “He is out of his mind” (Mark 3:21).
Feast of the Conversion of Saint Paul, Apostle
Do we believe people can change? A recent Harvard study of 19,000 people <http://news.sciencemag.org/sciencenow/2013/01/your-elusive-future-self.html> suggests the answer is "yes and no." Researchers asked questions about peoples' current preferences and how they'd describe themselves now. Then the researchers asked them to answer as they think they would have a decade ago, and as they think they would answer 10 years from now.
Memorial of Saint Francis de Sales, Bishop and Doctor of the Church
Today the Church celebrates the memorial of Saint Francis de Sales, Bishop and Doctor of the Church (1567-1622). In reading about Francis de Sales in Robert Ellsberg’s book All Saints, I learned that he became well known for the publication of his book An Introduction to the Devout Life, which was translated into many languages at that time and is said to remain one of the classics of Christian spirituality. Apparently what was significant about Francis’s book was that it addressed Christians in any state of life, whereas most other such handbooks at that time had been addressed to clerics or members of religious orders. Francis taught that the path to holiness could be pursued in the world, not just in the cloister. According to Ellsberg, Francis wrote that “the practice of devotion has to be adapted to the strength, life-situation, and duties of each individual.”
Wednesday of the Second Week in Ordinary Time
Silence can be a sound that speaks volumes. One famous philosopher said it in a different way. “If you choose not to decide you still have made a choice.” Silence can send many messages depending on the context. In today’s gospel silence has the power of almost adding another character to the narrative.
Tuesday of the Second Week in Ordinary Time — Day of Prayer for the Legal Protection of Unborn Children
Today is the 40th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, and an opportunity for Catholics to pray for the legal protection of unborn children. It is also a chance to think more deeply about what Catholics believe about the dignity of being human, for this is at the center of Catholic teaching against abortion (as well as all the other crimes against humanity that Catholic teaching says is evil - things like rape, and genocide, and forced labor).
Memorial of Saint Agnes, Virgin and Martyr
The Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius of Loyola is an extended retreat (either 30 days or 30 weekly meetings) where an individual spends time in prayerful reflection on God, His love for us, and our response. One part of the Exercises is titled “The Call of Christ, Our King”. During this time of prayer, a person is called to imagine Jesus standing before him or her and calling the individual to join Him in working with Him to spread the Kingdom to all people. When we agree to join Jesus, we say “yes” to the suffering, rejections, and struggles as well as the glory, but we understand that through every experience Jesus is always with us. Today’s scripture readings offer some insights into what it might mean to answer this call of Christ. By following Christ, we are called to look at all parts of our lives and see where we are called to live a “new” way. To be a disciple, we are invited to hear the call and follow in obedience where Jesus leads us.
Second Sunday in Ordinary Time
Today’s gospel reading is from the gospel of John. It is important for us to know that John does not have an infancy narrative or the genealogy of Jesus. Instead, John begins his story with the real origin of Jesus – “In the beginning was the Word, the Word was with God, the Word was God.” John’s Christmas is described in the simple words, “The Word became flesh and dwelt amongst us.” Since John does not have an infancy narrative, he does not have the traditional story of the epiphany with the three magi. Today’s gospel reading of the miracle of turning water into wine is John’s epiphany story. That is why this gospel account ends with the words, “Jesus did this as the beginning of his signs at Cana in Galilee and so revealed his glory, and his disciples began to believe in him.”
Saturday of the First Week in Ordinary Time
Scripture Readings
In today’s first reading from Hebrews, one cannot help but be struck by the immediate, natural personification (i.e. it’s able to do what people do) of the word of God: “The word of God is living and effective… able to discern reflections and thoughts of the heart. No creature is concealed from him…” (Heb 4:12-13, my italics). God’s word is the subject of an action: it discerns. The “him” in the passage has no other clear referent besides “the word of God,” which is, of course, identified with God. The author, who wrote in Greek, was no doubt familiar with the Hebrew language in which the word “dabar” means not only “word,” but also “action” and “thing.” There is no easy distinction between the three—words are actions and they are alive!
Friday of the First Week in Ordinary Time
One of the things my kids have made me realize is that rest is different than sleep. When I tell them it is time for some quiet time (aka "nap"), my five year old (who has wanted nothing to do with naps at any point in her life) will say, "But that means we can just rest, right Mama? We don't have to sleep."
Memorial of Saint Anthony, Abbot
Just a couple of weeks into the new year and I wonder how many of us are holding to our new year’s resolutions. How many of us are in danger of growing weary these cold, gray days of January, and giving up on the changes we so recently resolved to make.
Wednesday of the First Week in Ordinary Time
Have you ever walked a mile in the shoes of another person, especially a person for whom you had little ability to understand? Imagine seeing from the eyes of the person who you liked least. Imagine seeing from their perspective and realize that they too might see you as completely opposite of themselves. Is it that possible that seeing another empathetically might even change the way you see yourself.
Tuesday of the First Week in Ordinary Time
Dominion. Many images come to our mind when we speak this word aloud or our eyes pass over it in reading. While not a commonly used word in contemporary speech, we are quite familiar with its expression. We imagine this word in connection to power, strength, control, sovereignty and thus the ability to wield these as one sees fit. For those in our world who hold “dominion”, whether political, social or religious, there is little room in their position for those “beneath” them to share in their power. Dominion, we tend to believe, is synonymous with domination.
Monday of the First Week in Ordinary Time
All of us at one time or another have probably looked up at the moon on a quiet, clear, starry night and reflected on the beauty of the moon. It's a captivating moment to witness something so beautiful, even when our vantage point is approximately 238,900 miles away. We can all share in that experience. Interestingly, only twelve people have ever walked on the moon. The vantage point from which these twelve men observed the moon and the earth below is unique and personal and has obviously been shared by very few. We've probably thought about what it would be like to walk on the moon. Would we be scared? Would we feel vulnerable? Neil Armstrong, the first man who ever walked on the moon said this about his lunar experience: "It suddenly struck me that that tiny pea, pretty and blue, was the Earth. I put up my thumb and shut one eye, and my thumb blotted out the planet Earth. I didn't feel like a giant. I felt very, very small."
Feast of the Baptism of the Lord
How about I begin my homily with some Trivia Questions?
Jesus did not baptize anyone – True or False?
Jesus’ disciples did not baptize before Jesus resurrection – True or False?
Jesus was baptized because before his ministry he needed his sins forgiven – True or False?
Saturday after Epiphany
“He must increase; I must decrease.” These words of John the Baptist at the end of today’s gospel are the mantle of Christian humility. We know that John the Baptist came before Jesus and baptized his followers, always speaking of one greater who will come and baptize with the Holy Spirit. Indeed, earlier in the Gospel of John, John the Baptist pointed to Jesus and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God” (Jn 1:36). According to all of our sources, John had quite a following in first century Palestine. One could imagine that as such a renowned figure, he would be tempted to draw all of the attention to himself. Yet, by God’s grace he humbly fulfilled his role as the one who prepares the way of Jesus. John the Baptist becomes one of the most profound examples of what it means to be a disciple of Jesus – a disciple is one who always directs attention to the Master. Despite John’s important role in God’s plan, he didn’t think himself worthy even to untie Jesus’ sandal straps (Jn 1:27).