Articles for Lent

  “You have heard that it was said, you shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy. But I say to you, love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you.” (Today’s Gospel from Matthew) G. K. Chesterton once wrote that, “The Bible tells us to love our neighbors, and also to love our…

  “Therefore, if you bring your gift to the altar, and there recall that your brother has anything against you, leave your gift there at the altar, go first and be reconciled with your brother, and then come and offer your gift.” (Today’s Gospel from Matthew) In today’s gospel, Jesus tells us to reconcile with…

  “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks, receives; and the one who seeks, finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.” (Today’s Gospel from Matthew) Whenever I read today’s passage from…

  “When the people of Nineveh believed God; they proclaimed a fast and all of them, great and small, put on sackcloth.” (Today’s reading from Jonah) We are now halfway through the first week of Lent, and by now we are probably starting to feel the burn of our Lenten practices. We may have even…

  “If you forgive men their transgressions, your heavenly Father will forgive you. But if you do not forgive men, neither will your Father forgive your transgressions.” (Today’s Gospel from Matthew) St. John Chrysostom once wrote, “Nothing makes us so like God as our readiness to forgive the wicked and wrongdoer.” Of all the petitions…

  “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” (Today’s reading from Leviticus) Long before Christ, we were told “you shall love your neighbor as yourself.” In the New Testament, Jesus teaches that the entire moral law rests on two commandments: to love God with all our heart, soul, and mind, and to love our neighbor…

  “The woman saw that the tree was good for food, pleasing to the eyes, and desirable for gaining wisdom. So she took some of its fruit and ate it; and she also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it.” (Today’s reading from Genesis) In today’s first reading, the…

  Just as heavy brass chimes will resonate long after being struck by the hammer, so the words of Isaiah resonate in the words of today’s first reading and as a backdrop for the Gospel. Once the prophet has gotten the people’s full and undivided attention, he is moved to describe the marvelous blessings promised…

  As one of the major prophets of the Old Testament it would be safe to say that Isaiah had a flair for the dramatic! When he was inspired to speak for the Lord in our first reading today, he chose to speak not with a shy whimper but with a full-throated trumpet blast! Using…

  In so many ways, the beginning the season of lent is all about new beginnings. One could approach it from any number of directions such as the liturgy, or personal and family experience, or the dynamics of waiting and growth. Any or all of these approaches would eventually take a person to the reality…

  For the sake of continuity, we again imagine ourselves in the boat with Jesus and the disciples as He continues to teach us about the integrity of conscience. It’s not by coincidence of course that the Scripture readings for today focus on the need for repentance and metanoia (turning back to the Lord). Today…

  His Cross stands empty in a world grown silent Through hours of anguish and of dread; In stillness earth awaits the resurrection While Christ goes down to wake the dead. (The first verse of the Hymn for Lauds and Vespers of Holy Saturday at Conception Abbey) We stand before the empty cross still stained…

  Today the beloved Son of God—the Eternal King before all ages, the one True Prophet, the one True Holy Priest of God, the Eternal Word of God from whom all life sprung forth, our beloved Jesus—has died on a Cross of torture. We stand gazing up at our beloved Jesus beaten and pierced for…

  “I have given you a model to follow, so that as I have done for you, you should also do.” These words of Jesus are profound, for he is calling us to become His presence in the world. We are called to embody Christ and bring his divine love and humility into the world.…

  “‘Amen, I say to you, one of you will betray me.’ Deeply distressed at this, they began to say to him one after another, ‘Surely it is not I Lord?’” How often do we say “Surely it is not I, Lord?” We are placed in the presence of Jesus and have entered into union…

  In today’s Gospel we hear that, “After Judas took the morsel, Satan entered him.” “And it was night.” Judas was in the presence of the one true light, Jesus, but was blind to that light out of selfishness and greed. So, after receive the morsel from the light he turned away from the grace…

  In today’s Gospel, we see two very different points of views and motivations. Jesus comes to visit his friends in Bethany and out of love for him Mary anointed his feet with costly perfumed oil and uses her hair to dry them. You can see in her a deep love for Jesus, a love…

  Today is a very popular day in the liturgical year and is one of my favorites. I think this is because we are dropped into the very life of Jesus. We gather in excitement awaiting the entrance of our Beloved into our very lives. We pick up our palms and begin to wave them…

  “Now the Passover of the Jews was near, and many went up from the country to Jerusalem before Passover to purify themselves. They looked for Jesus and said to one another as they were in the temple area, ‘What do you think? That he will not come to the feast?’” My grandmother, Bernice Migliazzo,…

  Things are starting to get rough for Jesus. The Jews want to stone him because he is claiming himself to be like God, but they are blind and only worried about themselves! The healings that Jesus has performed physically, spiritually, and yes even mentally, is something that they can’t comprehend. People hate change, and…

  In today’s gospel, Jesus said to the Jews: “Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever keeps my word will never see death.” As many of you know I am a big TITANIC buff! I love the ship and everything about her. I even have a lump of coal from the ship—probably the only time…

  I remember in the great movie “The Song of Bernadette,” Dr. Dozous asked the little girl Bernadette, who was suppose to be stupid, “’My dear, do you know what a sinner is?’ she replied back to me, ‘certainly monsieur, a sinner is one who loves evil.’ Mind you she said one who loves and…

  “The LORD said to Moses, ‘Make a saraph and mount it on a pole, and whoever looks at it after being bitten [by the serpents] will live.” “When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will realize that I AM!” In the first reading we have the prefiguration of the cross. The…

  “No one arrested Jesus, because his hour had not yet come.” The hour is his passion. In a way, this shows the power and authority that Jesus has. We hear it over and over again in the gospels, especially within the coming days when either no one could lay a hand on him because…

  Let’s take a deep breath, shall we? How are we doing on our Lenten observances? Have we been doing good and moving forward? Or have we sort of fallen off course after… Ash Wednesday? Sadly, for me it is the latter. But I am not going to be too hard on myself because, as…

  The Pharisee Nicodemus appears three times in the Gospel of St. John, and his journey shows a gradual movement from curiosity to deeper faith. Originally came to Jesus at night (wishing not to be seen) wanting to see for himself who Jesus was. He acknowledged that Jesus must have come from God, and Nicodemus…

  The chilling voice of the speaker from in the Book of Wisdom is reminiscent of C.S. Lewis’ famous novel, The Screwtape Letters, which presents a series of letters from the seasoned demon “Screwtape” to his inexperienced nephew Wormwood, and offering guidance on how to tempt a human person away from Christianity and towards damnation.…

  The exchange between God and Moses comes after one of the great low points in Israel’s history. Moses was delayed in coming down the mountain, and the people lost faith and turned their backs on the Lord (who had very recently rescued them in a rather dramatic way from slavery in Egypt), and they…

  Jesus says, “Amen, amen, I say to you, the Son cannot do anything on his own…” Jesus saw Himself to be totally dependent and in union with the Father. I’ll admit, I try to do a lot on my own, and it doesn’t go well. This is why I take the time in prayer…

  “Do you want to be well?” The answer to Jesus’ question seems obvious. This man has been ill for 38 years, and he is just lying there. But, Jesus’ pointed question seeks to draw out the desire in this man’s heart—Jesus wants him to activate his faith. If we are not in touch with…

  Before Jesus heals the royal official’s son, the Gospel provides an important detail. In Nazareth, where Jesus grew up, we know He was rejected and thus the Matthew’s Gospel recounts, “And Jesus did not work many mighty deeds there because of their lack of faith” (Mt 13:58). But, at the outside of today’s Gospel,…

  If you had never heard the Parable of the Prodigal Son, how would you think it would end? Wouldn’t most of us conclude it this way: I shall get up and go to my father, and I shall say to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I no longer deserve…

  Jesus’ parable of the tax collector and the Pharisee leaves all of us feeling a little uncomfortable. It should; that was Jesus’ intention! Lent is an appropriate time to examine our interior attitude toward prayer. This gospel passage holds up a mirror to our spiritual lives. Most Catholics take on bona opera or good…

  Today’s gospel from St. Mark opens with the beautiful words of the Shema, the prayer mounted on the doorpost of every Jewish home: “Hear, O Israel! The Lord our God is Lord alone! You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with…

  “If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts” (Ps 95:8). This responsorial refrain echoes throughout the readings in today’s liturgy. In the first reading, the prophet Jeremiah proclaims the Lord’s message in unvarnished words: “Listen to my voice; then I will be your God and you shall be my people. Walk in…

  The Torah was the foundation stone of the faith of ancient Israel. God made a covenant with his chosen people. They were to be a people particularly his own. He would bring them into a land of promise, flowing with milk and honey, and protect them on every side. For their part of the…

  Today we celebrate the Solemnity of the Annunciation of the Lord. The angel Gabriel announces to Mary that she is to be the mother of the Savior. On this day, nine months before Christmas, we celebrate the reality that Isaiah proclaimed: “the virgin shall be with child, and bear a son, and shall name…

  Today’s first reading relates the story of Naaman, an Aramean army commander who suffered from leprosy. Naaman, a pagan foreigner reluctantly approaches Elisha, the prophet of Israel, to find healing for this dreaded disease. Doubtful that the prophet’s seemingly simplistic instructions to plunge into the Jordan River seven times could possibly bring about a…

  On this third Sunday of Lent, we are presented with Jesus’ remarkable parable of the fig tree. We are told the story of a frustrated owner of an orchard who instructs his gardener to cut down a fig tree that has not borne fruit for three successive seasons. The owner reasons that the unproductive…

  Motivation itself can fail. When you focus on motivating yourself to do something, it is easy to give up once the enthusiasm fades. Focusing on the goal or end we have can fade, too. Different sources about motivation and self-improvement inform people to focus on the process of their work instead of the reward…