[button style="btn-primary btn-lg" type="link" target="true" title="Today's Mass Readings" link="http://usccb.org/bible/readings/112620.cfm" linkrel=""] Specific readings used at Conception Abbey on this day. Preface: Throughout this coming week, we will ponder the daily Mass readings from the perspective of the liturgical texts given...
Continue Reading →[button style="btn-primary btn-lg" type="link" target="true" title="Today's Mass Readings" link="http://usccb.org/bible/readings/112520.cfm" linkrel=""] Preface: Throughout this coming week, we will ponder the daily Mass readings from the perspective of the liturgical texts given to us in the Roman Missal and the Lectionary—the...
Continue Reading →[button style="btn-primary btn-lg" type="link" target="true" title="Today's Mass Readings" link="http://usccb.org/bible/readings/112420.cfm" linkrel=""] Preface: Throughout this coming week, we will ponder the daily Mass readings from the perspective of the liturgical texts given to us in the Roman Missal and the Lectionary—the entrance...
Continue Reading →[button style="btn-primary btn-lg" type="link" target="true" title="Today's Mass Readings" link="http://usccb.org/bible/readings/112320.cfm" linkrel=""] Preface: Throughout this coming week, we will ponder the daily Mass readings from the perspective of the liturgical texts given to us in the Roman Missal and the Lectionary—the...
Continue Reading →[button style="btn-primary btn-lg" type="link" target="true" title="Today's Mass Readings" link="http://usccb.org/bible/readings/112220.cfm" linkrel=""] Preface: Throughout this coming week, we will ponder the daily Mass readings from the perspective of the liturgical texts given to us in the Roman Missal and the Lectionary—the...
Continue Reading →[button style="btn-primary btn-lg" type="link" target="true" title="Today's Mass Readings" link="http://usccb.org/bible/readings/112120.cfm" linkrel=""] Today we celebrate the Presentation of the Virgin Mary. It was the custom for Jewish youth to be presented in the Temple in Jerusalem. Mary was presented before God....
Continue Reading →[button style="btn-primary btn-lg" type="link" target="true" title="Today's Mass Readings" link="http://usccb.org/bible/readings/112020.cfm" linkrel=""] Jesus finally arrives at the Temple in Jerusalem. Here, He drives out those who were selling things. Jesus accuses these merchants of turning the Temple into a “den of...
Continue Reading →[button style="btn-primary btn-lg" type="link" target="true" title="Today's Mass Readings" link="http://usccb.org/bible/readings/111920.cfm" linkrel=""] During this time of division and uncertainty, it’s important to reflect on the importance of peace in our lives and how we stand for truth. There are many problems...
Continue Reading →[button style="btn-primary btn-lg" type="link" target="true" title="Today's Mass Readings" link="http://usccb.org/bible/readings/111820.cfm" linkrel=""] Holy, holy, holy. These words echo through the first reading and through the responsorial psalm. The four living creatures that stand before the throne, which resemble a lion, a...
Continue Reading →[button style="btn-primary btn-lg" type="link" target="true" title="Today's Mass Readings" link="http://usccb.org/bible/readings/111720.cfm" linkrel=""] “I will set the victor beside me on my throne.” (Rev. 3:21). Jesus promises a victory to those who follow Him. This isn’t false hope. Jesus will not leave...
Continue Reading →[button style="btn-primary btn-lg" type="link" target="true" title="Today's Mass Readings" link="http://usccb.org/bible/readings/111620.cfm" linkrel=""] The Book of Revelation is our point of entry into the scriptures this week. This mystical volume speaks volumes of God’s ways to us. How do we interpret it?...
Continue Reading →[button style="btn-primary btn-lg" type="link" target="true" title="Today's Mass Readings" link="http://usccb.org/bible/readings/111520.cfm" linkrel=""] These readings for the 33rd Sunday in Ordinary Time call us to a healthy sense of vigilance. This is the second-to-last Sunday before the Advent Season. The liturgical year...
Continue Reading →[button style="btn-primary btn-lg" type="link" target="true" title="Today's Mass Readings" link="http://usccb.org/bible/readings/111420.cfm" linkrel=""] In the Gospel today, Jesus offers a strange story, the story of the unjust judge. The judge is unwilling to hear this women’s case, and she becomes dangerously persistent...
Continue Reading →[button style="btn-primary btn-lg" type="link" target="true" title="Today's Mass Readings" link="http://usccb.org/bible/readings/111320.cfm" linkrel=""] “Anyone who is so “progressive” as not to remain in the teaching of the Christ does not have God; whoever remains in the teaching has the Father and the...
Continue Reading →[button style="btn-primary btn-lg" type="link" target="true" title="Today's Mass Readings" link="http://usccb.org/bible/readings/111220.cfm" linkrel=""] We like things to be clear, understandable, and obvious. Unnecessary confusion or hiddenness is not appreciated, we live in a scientific society. The naked truth—in the news, in our...
Continue Reading →[button style="btn-primary btn-lg" type="link" target="true" title="Today's Mass Readings" link="http://usccb.org/bible/readings/111120.cfm" linkrel=""] In the Old Testament, there can be a reality whereby you are made “unclean" — that is unable, because of some physical or moral ailment, amongst other reasons, that...
Continue Reading →[button style="btn-primary btn-lg" type="link" target="true" title="Today's Mass Readings" link="http://usccb.org/bible/readings/111020.cfm" linkrel=""] It is not easy to hear our Gospel today, “you have only done what you were commanded.” Our Catholic lives are not about minimums, not about getting rewards for...
Continue Reading →[button style="btn-primary btn-lg" type="link" target="true" title="Today's Mass Readings" link="http://usccb.org/bible/readings/110920.cfm" linkrel=""] Zeal for your house will consume me. We celebrate a unique feast today, the feast of a building. This building, St. John Lateran, the Pope’s cathedral, can become for...
Continue Reading →[button style="btn-primary btn-lg" type="link" target="true" title="Today's Mass Readings" link="http://usccb.org/bible/readings/110820.cfm" linkrel=""] Our Gospel today can offer a very practical plan for navigating important relationships. The relationship between the virgins and bridegroom can teach us both what to do and not...
Continue Reading →[button style="btn-primary btn-lg" type="link" target="true" title="Today's Mass Readings" link="http://usccb.org/bible/readings/110720.cfm" linkrel=""] What does holiness look like? My professor once asked this question to his class and he wrote all the responses from his students on a dry erase board. Seeing...
Continue Reading →[button style="btn-primary btn-lg" type="link" target="true" title="Today's Mass Readings" link="http://usccb.org/bible/readings/110620.cfm" linkrel=""] Writing to the Philippians, St. Paul’s letter has been termed “the letter of joy” because he is able to encourage them to rejoice in the faith, based on true...
Continue Reading →[button style="btn-primary btn-lg" type="link" target="true" title="Today's Mass Readings" link="http://usccb.org/bible/readings/110520.cfm" linkrel=""] The parable of the Lost Sheep is appealing to us because we either see ourselves as the lost one, or we see it as a loved one who has...
Continue Reading →[button style="btn-primary btn-lg" type="link" target="true" title="Today's Mass Readings" link="http://usccb.org/bible/readings/110420.cfm" linkrel=""] St. Paul writes, “I rejoice and share my joy with all of you. In the same way, you also should rejoice and share your joy with me.” I have...
Continue Reading →[button style="btn-primary btn-lg" type="link" target="true" title="Today's Mass Readings" link="http://usccb.org/bible/readings/110320.cfm" linkrel=""] Friends of mine who are preparing for their wedding discovered that almost half of their invited guests did not reply or send back their RSVP card. Unfortunately, this percentage...
Continue Reading →[button style="btn-primary btn-lg" type="link" target="true" title="Today's Mass Readings" link="http://usccb.org/bible/readings/110220.cfm" linkrel=""] This day of commemoration of all the faithful departed, with its prayers and readings taken from the Masses for the Dead, evokes many of the same thoughts and feelings...
Continue Reading →[button style="btn-primary btn-lg" type="link" target="true" title="Today's Mass Readings" link="http://usccb.org/bible/readings/110120.cfm" linkrel=""] All Saints’ Day reminds us that our ultimate goal is union with God in heaven. Thankfully we have countless saints who have already walked the path, been tested, and...
Continue Reading →[button style="btn-primary btn-lg" type="link" target="true" title="Today's Mass Readings" link="http://usccb.org/bible/readings/103120.cfm" linkrel=""] We have watched for several days as people, “were observing Jesus carefully.” The Pharisees have already noticed He appears to be an irreligious Sabbath-breaker. And now they will see...
Continue Reading →[button style="btn-primary btn-lg" type="link" target="true" title="Today's Mass Readings" link="http://usccb.org/bible/readings/103020.cfm" linkrel=""] St. Paul writes to the Philippians from prison. Compared to Galatians and 2 Corinthians, for instance, readers are struck by the affection and warmth that Paul exhibits in this...
Continue Reading →[button style="btn-primary btn-lg" type="link" target="true" title="Today's Mass Readings" link="http://usccb.org/bible/readings/102920.cfm" linkrel=""] It might surprise us that the Pharisees warn Christ of Herod’s plot to kill Him. I say that because, as I stated in an earlier reflection this week, we...
Continue Reading →[button style="btn-primary btn-lg" type="link" target="true" title="Today's Mass Readings" link="http://usccb.org/bible/readings/102820.cfm" linkrel=""] I have always thought it was a great dignity to be named one of the Apostles. Maybe I was spared the embarrassment of that fateful day related in the...
Continue Reading →[button style="btn-primary btn-lg" type="link" target="true" title="Today's Mass Readings" link="http://usccb.org/bible/readings/102720.cfm" linkrel=""] Recently I had the senior seminarians read a text on obedience and discuss it in small groups. The author was a Benedictine and wrote about the Benedictine nuance of...
Continue Reading →[button style="btn-primary btn-lg" type="link" target="true" title="Today's Mass Readings" link="http://usccb.org/bible/readings/102620.cfm" linkrel=""] As a former pastor of two rural parishes, I was hesitant to talk too much about working on Sundays. Sometimes it just meant the livelihood of farmers if it...
Continue Reading →[button style="btn-primary btn-lg" type="link" target="true" title="Today's Mass Readings" link="http://usccb.org/bible/readings/102520.cfm" linkrel=""] Many find the Hebrew Scriptures problematic because of the violence – specifically eradicating peoples in order for the Israelites to take possession of the Promised Land. For all of...
Continue Reading →[button style="btn-primary btn-lg" type="link" target="true" title="Today's Mass Readings" link="http://usccb.org/bible/readings/102420.cfm" linkrel=""] Today is Saturday! This is one of my favorite days of the week — not just because it is MIZZOU football season, but because all year round we celebrate...
Continue Reading →[button style="btn-primary btn-lg" type="link" target="true" title="Today's Mass Readings" link="http://usccb.org/bible/readings/102320.cfm" linkrel=""] My great grandfather was a judge in Kansas City, Missouri. I remember reading in his obituary a couple of years ago that on the bench, Judge Joe McQueen would...
Continue Reading →[button style="btn-primary btn-lg" type="link" target="true" title="Today's Mass Readings" link="http://usccb.org/bible/readings/102220.cfm" linkrel=""] Yesterday I talked about the responsorial psalm, which said “You will draw water joyfully from the springs of salvation,” and about how we receive from this spring, the Lord’s...
Continue Reading →[button style="btn-primary btn-lg" type="link" target="true" title="Today's Mass Readings" link="http://usccb.org/bible/readings/102120.cfm" linkrel=""] I must admit that this Gospel passage frightens me a little when Jesus says, “That servant who knew his master’s will but did not make preparations nor act in...
Continue Reading →[button style="btn-primary btn-lg" type="link" target="true" title="Today's Mass Readings" link="http://usccb.org/bible/readings/102020.cfm" linkrel=""] “So then you are no longer strangers and sojourners, but you are fellow citizens with the holy ones and members of the household of God, built upon the foundation...
Continue Reading →[button style="btn-primary btn-lg" type="link" target="true" title="Today's Mass Readings" link="http://usccb.org/bible/readings/101920.cfm" linkrel=""] In our Gospel passage today, we read about the rich man who had a bountiful harvest and tore down his barns to build larger ones, to store his harvest...
Continue Reading →[button style="btn-primary btn-lg" type="link" target="true" title="Today's Mass Readings" link="http://usccb.org/bible/readings/101820.cfm" linkrel=""] I remember on several occasions in school, both when I was younger and more recently in seminary, that I wasn’t smart enough and that I couldn’t accomplish a task...
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