Articles for Advent

Memorial of St. Francis Xavier, Priest

December 3, 2024

  Today’s passage from Isaiah is an insight to a messianic age when all is well and all is as God would have it be—as “in the beginning,” when creation and the world order have been restored and renewed. The Spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him: a Spirit of wisdom and of understanding,…

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Monday of the First Week of Advent

December 2, 2024

  There is a definite beauty to the season of Advent. Though it begins on the first Sunday reminding us of the second coming of Christ, it moves day by day to have us consider how to prepare for that coming, as well as to recall the longings of ancient Israel for the long-awaited Messiah.…

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First Sunday of Advent

December 1, 2024

    Today is a day of new beginnings! Today we begin the season of Advent. The cycle of the Church’s liturgy begins anew. We begin again the cycle of celebrating and reflecting on the mysteries of our salvation. These are the themes of advent: the cycle of salvation—the time of salvation. The coming of…

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Fourth Sunday of Advent

December 24, 2023

  Well, here we are, it’s Christmas Eve, and we’ve just participated in one of the shortest Advent periods. But before jumping into tonight’s celebration, let’s look at what our readings for the Fourth Sunday of Advent are trying to tell us. From our first reading from Second Samuel, we hear how King David is…

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Saturday of the Third Week of Advent

December 23, 2023

You aren’t the Messiah, and I am not the Savior. Now that we have that established, let’s focus on who we are and what we are to do. Based on the Scripture readings, our role is fairly clear: to prepare the way. For an entire year, I told a seminarian whom I was working with…

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Thursday of the Third Week of Advent

December 21, 2023

  An authentic encounter with the Lord brings joy. Mary does for Elizabeth what she does for every Christian who seeks her intercession. Mary puts us in proximity to Jesus. Mary does it physically as she carries Jesus in her womb and His presence is acknowledged by John the Baptist leaping in his mother’s womb.…

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Wednesday of the Third Week of Advent

December 20, 2023

  Mary pondered. She pondered and allowed her heart to move to a place of acceptance of God’s will. It’s often the case in life that we will experience things we do not understand, do not like, or cannot change. Every moment like this is an opportunity to ponder—which is to say, reflect in silence.…

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Tuesday of the Third Week of Advent

December 19, 2023

  An angel of the Lord appears to Manoah’s wife and promises that she will conceive and bear a son. Throughout the Scriptures, the Lord visits the lowly and humble. God comes in the small and ordinary circumstances when we call upon Him with great faith. Greatness isn’t measured in popularity and worldly esteem but…

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Monday of the Third Week of Advent

December 18, 2023

  There are countless examples in the Bible of humanity not listening: Adam and Eve disobeyed God in the garden, Pharaoh hardened his heart to God and did not listen, and the Chosen People, once freed from slavery in Egypt the people’s grumbling and complaining, which can also be seen as their refusal to listen.…

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Third Sunday of Advent

December 17, 2023

  Many of my friends, especially those with young children, have mixed feelings about the holiday season. On the one hand, they look forward to the time spent with family and friends, the anticipation of preparing and celebrating Christmas. But, they also feel overwhelmed by the pressures to buy more, or try to accomplish everything…

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Saturday of the Second Week of Advent

December 16, 2023

  Elijah and John the Baptist were like fire; their words were like a flaming furnace. As the saying goes, the truth hurts, and the prophets’ vocation was to point out the truth of people’s sin they hoped to ignore. Fire is destructive, yes, but fire is also purifying. We know that the lifecycle of…

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Friday of the Second Week of Advent

December 15, 2023

  A little mystery is a good thing. However, as a pastor and as an administrator in a seminary, I have found under-communication can be a serious mistake. When you don’t connect the dots, people can, and will, speculate wildly. And misunderstanding often causes the confused to assume the worst about you. When Jesus cleanses…

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Memorial of Saint John of the Cross, Priest and Doctor of the Church

December 14, 2023

  What a shift we have had in Isaiah’s prophecy! We heard about a worldwide banquet in God’s presence, with enemies in the animal kingdom becoming friends. By contrast today: “O worm Jacob, O maggot Israel.” In fairness, the context is: “Fear not, O worm Jacob, O maggot Israel. I will help you, says the…

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Feast of St. Lucy, Virgin & Martyr

December 13, 2023

  Isaiah tells us today that our God is strong if we are weak, and in fact, He makes us strong when we are weak. This is essential to remember. Why? Because sometimes we like to cling to our problems. This must sound crazy. Why would anyone want to stay in pain, sin, or resentment?…

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Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe

December 12, 2023

  In my iconography class at the seminary, we paint sacred icons in a traditional Byzantine-Slav style. Christ and Mary are depicted as persons with Mediterranean appearances, corresponding to the places where the original artworks developed as much as trying to be culturally sensitive. However, I have been asked if Jesus and saints could be…

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Monday of the Second Week of Advent

December 11, 2023

  The Advent season presents us with images of the Messianic Age. Today, it is the highway for the Lord. What made empires strong in the ancient world were their roads. The spread of the gospel happened rapidly in the Roman Empire because of the well-paved and protected roads that epitomized the Pax Romana. Yet,…

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Second Sunday of Advent

December 10, 2023

   Here at the seminary, we are entering finals’ week. I look around at students’ glazed-over faces. It seems like there is never enough time in a day to get everything done. For parents, between work and children’s seasonal programs, it’s particularly hectic. For the elderly, doing anything takes all day it seems. For…

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Saturday of the First Week of Advent

December 9, 2023

  “Jesus went around to all the towns and villages, … proclaiming the Gospel of the Kingdom, … At the sight of the crowds, his heart was moved with pity for them because they were ….like sheep without a shepherd.” The New Interpreter’s Study Bible comments on the context here: “[Jesus’] actions manifest God’s powerful…

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Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary

December 8, 2023

  “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will strike at your head, while you strike at his heel.” Our Basilica, the abbey to which we belong, the congregation of Benedictine monks we belong to ,and the country we live in—all are under the patronage of…

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Memorial of St. Ambrose, Bishop & Doctor of the Church

December 7, 2023

  “…like the wise man who built his house on rock.” In our first reading, from Isaiah, we learn of this rock: “The Lord is an eternal rock.” Is my life built upon this rock? The Sacred Scriptures teach us that the solidity of such a building comes through the ear: Jesus tells his hearers…

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Wednesday of the First Week of Advent

December 6, 2023

  “My heart is moved with pity for the crowd.” There was a synod on evangelization in 1974. In the document preparatory to the synod, evangelization was defined as “bringing people to the mystery of Christ.” The Advent Season reminds us of three comings of Christ: in history, in mystery, and at the end of…

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Tuesday of the First Week of Advent

December 5, 2023

  “Jesus rejoiced in the Holy Spirit and said, ‘I give you praise, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, for although you have hidden these things from the wise and the learned you have revealed them to the childlike.’” In our day, when we hear so many things, so quickly and with so much interpretation,…

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Monday of the First Week of Advent

December 4, 2023

  “…[Jesus] was amazed and said to those following him, ‘Amen, I say to you, in no one in Israel have I found such faith…’” This centurion, a foreigner in Israel, in his act of faith, stands for all those people we have come across, in person, in reading, in media viewing—outsiders whose faith puts…

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First Sunday of Advent

December 3, 2023

   We wait in order to learn the hiddenness of redemption and holiness. In today’s readings, we have two fine Scriptures to guide us to our hidden God. Isaiah says in the first reading: “You have hidden your face from us and have delivered us up to our guilt.” Paul tells us: “You are…

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Saturday of the Fourth Week of Advent

December 24, 2022

  We have arrived at the end of the Fourth Week of Advent. It is quite rare that the calendar allows us to celebrate a full week. What a blessing it has been. On Sunday, we heard about Saint Joseph, from the pen of the evangelist Matthew. Every day since, our Gospel selections came from…

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Friday of the Fourth Week of Advent

December 23, 2022

  For the last two days of this week, the Gospel selections return us to the story whose beginning we heard on Monday. It is the story of the birth of John the Baptist. His father Zechariah and his mother Elizabeth are the protagonists. Elizabeth gives birth to a son. Her neighbors and relatives rejoice…

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Thursday of the Fourth Week of Advent

December 22, 2022

  Today’s Gospel selection gives us the very familiar “Magnificat” of Mary. Mary is still visiting her cousin Elizabeth. Upon greeting one another, Mary breaks out in song. “My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord; my spirit rejoices in God my savior.” Over the centuries, Christians have sung this song with Mary. For us…

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Wednesday of the Fourth Week of Advent

December 21, 2022

  One of my favorite poems has the simple title, “Elizabeth and Mary.” It was written by the poetess/artist, Mary Lou Sleevi (1926-2014). I first got to know Mary Lou in the early 1990s. She had given me a copy of her book, Women of the Word. This is a collection of her paintings and…

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Tuesday of the Fourth Week of Advent

December 20, 2022

  Today’s Gospel reading is a very familiar passage. It is the Annunciation by the angel Gabriel to Mary that God has chosen her to be the mother of Jesus. I do not need to repeat the details. How many artists throughout history have striven to give us a picture of how this happened? During…

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Monday of the Fourth Week of Advent

December 19, 2022

  In yesterday’s reflection, I focused on the role of St. Joseph as the adoptive father of Jesus, as portrayed in the Gospel of Matthew. Because of his righteousness, he related to his wife Mary with compassion and tenderness. Throughout the rest of this week, our Gospel readings will come from St. Luke. Other persons…

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Fourth Sunday of Advent

December 18, 2022

     The central figure in today’s gospel is clearly Joseph. This is a special feature of the Gospel of Matthew, focusing on Joseph more than on Mary. Matthew starts out by giving us the genealogy of Jesus. It is a genealogy that starts with Abraham and ends with whom? Not Mary. No, Matthew…

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Saturday of the Third Week of Advent

December 17, 2022

  The intensity of the liturgy ratchets up a few notches today as we enter the last week before Christmas. On the 17th, we begin the use of the ancient “O Antiphons.” These are special texts used before and after the Canticle of Mary at Evening Prayer of the Liturgy of the Hours throughout the…

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Friday of the Third Week of Advent

December 16, 2022

  The opening words of the liturgy set the tone for these days of Advent waiting: “Behold, the Lord will come descending with splendor to visit his people with peace, and he will bestow on them eternal life.” In the first reading from the Book of the prophet Isaiah (56:1-3a, 6-8) we hear of the…

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Thursday of the Third Week in Advent

December 15, 2022

  As we sing the entrance antiphon of today’s liturgy, we hear the words, “You, O Lord, are close… (Cf. Ps 119:151-152). That has more than one meaning. Yes, we realize the increasing intensity of the readings in our liturgies and know that Christmas is now coming very soon. But it also describes another kind…

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Memorial of St. John of the Cross, priest and Doctor of the Church

December 14, 2022

  Today we celebrate the memory of the great Spanish mystic, St. John of the Cross. As a Carmelite friar, he undertook the work of reform of the Church. Misunderstanding of his writings and resistance to change on the part of his contemporaries resulted in his imprisonment and persecution, earning him the title “of the…

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Memorial of St. Lucy, virgin & martyr

December 13, 2022

  The memorial of St. Lucy stands at the halfway point in our journey through the Advent season. The name “Lucy” is derived from the Latin word “lux,” meaning “light.” In some countries, a child dressed in white is adorned with a wreath of candles in her hair to remind us of the Light of…

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Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe

December 12, 2022

  Today we celebrate the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, Patroness of the Americas. The liturgy opens with a beautiful antiphon drawn from our first reading from the Book of Revelation, “A great sign appeared in the sky, a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head…

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Third Sunday of Advent

December 11, 2022

     Today is Gaudete Sunday. This is the traditional title for the third Sunday of Advent, drawn from the first word of the entrance antiphon in the Latin original and in the present English translation: “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I say, rejoice. Indeed, the Lord is near” (Phil 4:4-5). We are…

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Saturday of the Second Week of Advent

December 10, 2022

  “Lord, make us turn to you; let us see your face and we shall be saved.” This is the responsorial psalm for today, and the Alleluia verse is “Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight his paths: All flesh shall see the salvation of God.” All week, I have been saying make an…

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Friday of the Second Week of Advent

December 9, 2022

  Today’s alleluia verse is, “The Lord will come; go out to meet him! He is the prince of peace.” As we draw closer to the halfway point of Advent, let us remember the peace that God has given to us, because without his peace, this world would be in an even worse shape than…

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