Articles for Ordinary Time

  We commemorate today the early Christian martyr, Saint Agnes of Rome. The entrance antiphon for this day is a profound statement about the meaning of her martyrdom: “Blessed is the virgin who by denying herself and taking up her cross imitated the Lord, the spouse of virgins and prince of martyrs.” Agnes yielded to…

Foreword: During Ordinary Time, the entrance and communion antiphons of the Sunday liturgy are repeated throughout the week. In this way, the themes developed at the Sunday mass are enriched and expanded as they interact with the different readings found on each day of the following week in much the same way that a kaleidoscope…

  Foreword: During Ordinary Time, the entrance and communion antiphons of the Sunday liturgy are repeated throughout the week. In this way, the themes developed at the Sunday mass are enriched and expanded as they interact with the different readings found on each day of the following week in much the same way that a…

  On this opening day of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity (always one week before the Conversion of St. Paul), the first reading relates the story of the call of the young shepherd, David, to be the Lord’s anointed one (1 Sam 16:1-13). It is David whom God has chosen to unify the…

  Today we celebrate the memorial of St. Anthony of the Desert, a Christian monk from Egypt whose life of simplicity caused many to consider him as the Father of Monasticism. It is fitting that we open the liturgy with the refrain from Ps 92, “The just will flourish like the palm tree, and grow…

  The Christmas season officially ended last Sunday with the feast of the Baptism of the Lord. However, today and through the coming weeks, our scripture readings continue to show us God revealing his glory through Christ, the long-awaited Messiah. The liturgy today opens with an antiphon that reminds us of Epiphany: “All the earth…

  “I did not come to call the righteous but sinners.” This motive for his coming to earth is clearly expressed in these words of Jesus in today’s Gospel: he came to call sinners! We can even say that this is what the Church is – sinners seeking to repent and find a new life.…

  “Not so, there must be a king over us.” In each Eucharist, the divine call comes intimately to us. It is always a call to the blessedness of trusting in God as our Father! Yet we struggle because we do not want a king to rule over us! We want some intermediary between our…

  The story in the first reading, of the defeat of Israel and the capture of the Ark of the Covenant, can prompt us to give some thought to how we use sacramentals, such as medals or holy water. The Church tells us in her Catechism (#1670) that the “Sacramentals, …by the Church’s prayer, prepare…

  “(Jesus) went into their synagogues, preaching and driving out demons throughout the whole of Galilee.” C.S. Lewis, in his book, “The Screwtape Letters,” comments: There are two equal and opposite errors into which our race can fall about the devils. One is to disbelieve in their existence. The other is to believe, and to…

  Today’s opening prayer today is a good place to begin: Father of love, hear our prayers. Help us to know your will and to do it with courage and faith. Our faith is in the Risen Christ, present and at work in our midst and within us. His courage comes from his gift of…

  “Come after me, and I will make you fishers of men.” The initiative is God’s! Our lives don’t often feel this. Our energies, rather, are directed in ways that look very much like we’ve got to plan out our lives or they won’t get lived! There is nothing new in the struggling involved. Since…

    One of the things that parents, grandparents, and any who try to hand on the faith, find difficult is how to do this in a society that is not always friendly to the life of faith. The difficulty is real in a world increasingly competing for our time. Religious observances, family life, leisure…

  “Be vigilant at all times” This is a refrain which the early Christians took quite seriously to mind! Of course, they thought that any day Jesus would return and they wanted to be ready to receive him, “to escape the tribulations that are imminent and to stand before the Son of Man.” It is…

  “When you see these things happening, know that the Kingdom of God is near.” If we are to appreciate what Divine Revelation is telling us in the Sacred Scriptures in these passages, we must remember the relevance of time. I was once living in a small priory whose rooms were rather small. In one…

“Bless the God of all, who has done wondrous things on earth.” When the Christian is called to bless God, he or she is called into a wondrous light. It is the light of one’s own existence, one’s own creation by God, the Source of all that is. In our second reading, (1 Cor 1:3-9),…

  “Give glory and eternal praise to him.” “You praised the gods of silver and gold, bronze and iron, wood and stone, that neither see nor hear nor have intelligence. But the God in whose hand is your life breath and the whole course of your life, you did not glorify.” When the leaders of…

  “Teacher, when will this happen?” The Jerusalem Bible points out that in our Gospel today, “no sharp distinction is drawn between the two levels – ‘that of the destruction of Jerusalem (in 70 AD) and that of the end of the world.’ The fusion of these two is “a theological expression of truth: though…

  In our Gospel today, Jesus says that “this poor widow … has offered her whole livelihood.” The image of this poor widow is an image of what the Church is striving to be in the world today. I mean that she understands herself as completely dependent upon God. Out of that posture she seeks…

  “To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood, who has made us into a kingdom, priests for his God and Father, to him be glory and power forever and ever. Amen.” We have all seen the notice attached to the top of crucifixes, “INR,” the Latin initials…

  What does it mean to live as people who hope in the Resurrection? The Sadducees deny that there is a resurrection, but it often seems that Christians live without hope in the Resurrection. There is a false notion we must avoid that says: “If we follow God and give our lives to Christ that…

  I imagine that the money changers in the Temple, those who were seeking monetary gain, did not all happen to move into the Temple overnight. It was more likely a gradual process of corruption, where the House of Prayer slowly became more of a den of thieves rather than a space of worship. Practically…

  There are times in our lives when we can identify rather closely with the sorrowful Christ. His teaching and preaching bore much fruit, but He also experienced great hardship and outright rejection. Jesus can identify with our hurt because He Himself experienced hurt as well. Jesus saw the city [Jerusalem] and wept over it,…

  A friend of mine recently welcomed her first child—a baby boy. She was filled with absolute joy and delight in her child. She expressed the joy of praying for her son and loving him whether he was crying or sleeping. What struck me most was when she expressed her desire to help her son…

  Zacchaeus was a chief tax collector—a profession that was tied to dishonesty, and thus was despised by others as a “sinner.” Zacchaeus was “seeking to see who Jesus was,” but all he did was climb a tree—that’s the very little, but most practical first step that he took. Zacchaeus simply climbed a tree. After…

  “How is your prayer life?” I’ll admit that this is one of my favorite questions to ask. I’m a priest and a spiritual director, so it only seems to appropriate. The responses I receive are varied. “Good”—okay, that’s positive, but tells me very little. “It could be better”—which could probably be applied to everyone.…

  It was the year 1999, a time when most of the seminarians I work with weren’t even born yet. There was concern that computers would have difficulty transitioning from the year 1999 to 2000, and some people were worried there was going to be a meltdown of epic proportion. Companies sold “Y2K” survival kits,…

  Today wraps up having seminarians of Conception Seminary College as our daily reflection writers for the first half of November. Every day featured a reflection from a different seminarian, mixed in with reflections from Fr. Pachomius, Conception’s Dean of Students. This has been an opportunity for our seminarians to put their education to practice…

  Seminarians of Conception Seminary College are our daily reflection writers for the first half of November. Every day will feature a reflection from a different seminarian. This is an opportunity for our seminarians to put their education into practice and connect with the people of God in a pastoral way. Today we hear from…

  Seminarians of Conception Seminary College are our daily reflection writers for the first half of November. Every day will feature a reflection from a different seminarian. This is an opportunity for our seminarians to put their education into practice and connect with the people of God in a pastoral way. In today’s gospel from…

  Seminarians of Conception Seminary College are our daily reflection writers for the first half of November. Every day will feature a reflection from a different seminarian. This is an opportunity for our seminarians to put their education into practice and connect with the people of God in a pastoral way. “Your faith has saved…

  Seminarians of Conception Seminary College are our daily reflection writers for the first half of November. Every day will feature a reflection from a different seminarian. This is an opportunity for our seminarians to put their education into practice and connect with the people of God in a pastoral way. Today is the Feast…

  Seminarians of Conception Seminary College are our daily reflection writers for the first half of November. Every day will feature a reflection from a different seminarian. This is an opportunity for our seminarians to put their education into practice and connect with the people of God in a pastoral way. “Be on your guard”…

  “I have nothing.” “The jar shall not go empty.” Nothingness and emptiness – is there a difference? Nothingness brings to mind a sense of desolation and darkness. Emptiness isn’t so bleak; something empty can be filled: my car’s on “E”, but I fill up at the gas station. Although we may describe situations interchangeably…

  Seminarians of Conception Seminary College are our daily reflection writers for the first half of November. Every day will feature a reflection from a different seminarian. This is an opportunity for our seminarians to put their education into practice and connect with the people of God in a pastoral way. In our first reading…

  Seminarians of Conception Seminary College are our daily reflection writers for the first half of November. Every day will feature a reflection from a different seminarian. This is an opportunity for our seminarians to put their education into practice and connect with the people of God in a pastoral way. St. Paul takes a…

  Seminarians of Conception Seminary College are our daily reflection writers for the first half of November. Every day will feature a reflection from a different seminarian. This is an opportunity for our seminarians to put their education into practice and connect with the people of God in a pastoral way. Today we celebrate the…

  Seminarians of Conception Seminary College are our daily reflection writers for the first half of November. Every day will feature a reflection from a different seminarian. This is an opportunity for our seminarians to put their education into practice and connect with the people of God in a pastoral way. In the Gospel for…

  Seminarians of Conception Seminary College are our daily reflection writers for the first half of November. Every day will feature a reflection from a different seminarian. This is an opportunity for our seminarians to put their education into practice and connect with the people of God in a pastoral way. “There are three deaths.…

  Seminarians of Conception Seminary College are our daily reflection writers for the first half of November. Every day will feature a reflection from a different seminarian. This is an opportunity for our seminarians to put their education into practice and connect with the people of God in a pastoral way. On this Solemnity of…