Daily Reflections

  Gideon expresses his complaint and sorrow to the angel of the Lord. Israel was under Midianite oppression—it was a time of fear and spiritual decline. Gideon was hiding out, trying to save the wheat from his enemies, who were attacking and destroying Israel’s crops and livestock. The Angel’s words to Gideon are both striking…

  St. Ignatius of Loyola, in his Rules for the Discernment of Spirits is talking about why we find ourselves experiencing spiritual desolation (e.g. that feeling of disturbance or darkness of soul, which makes prayer very difficult). He writes: “There are three principal reasons why we find ourselves desolate. The first is, because of our…

  Sometimes we think that if I follow God’s will and commit myself to the Lord, everything will be easy and proceed smoothly and peacefully. Even some Christian churches promote a kind of theology that says if you live rightly and justly before God, then you will experience an absence of significant suffering and will…

  Joshua, who inherited leadership of the Israelites from Moses, makes clear to the people how demanding it is to serve the Lord. We are a fallen race who are tempted by all kinds of corrupt enticements, who frequently seek to satisfy our appetites rather than look to what will satisfy us for eternity. Joshua…

  Our Blessed Mother Mary is the premier example for all Christians in terms of following in her Son’s footsteps. Present alongside him in his public ministry, without drawing attention to herself, she shared in his work through their intimate bond. She knew her Son better than anyone else and, although she was not scourged…

  Psalm 114 relates how the Red Sea parted to allow the Israelites to cross to freedom and, likewise, how the Jordan River parted to open their way into the Promised Land. Once, while praying this psalm, the question “Why is it…O Jordan, that you turn back?” sparked in my mind that to convert is…

  We love to take things to extremes. Extremes are thrilling. It could be something as simple as running as fast as you can or listening to music with the volume cranked up, which sends endorphins rushing through your veins. The excitement of extreme activity invigorates us, but it cannot be sustained. Eventually, we will…

  I have often been struck by the tenderness of my brother and sister toward their children when they become upset. These loving parents will pull the troubled child close to them and hold them with a mix of gentleness and strength, illustrating that they recognize how fragile and precious their children are. Each child…

    Our nation and our entire world are in distress. There are limited resources in the world, which causes conflict between nations and peoples over who can possess and use these resources. Religions and societies clash over where or how they can live out their way of life. There are occasional periods of peace,…

  We have been blessed with countless gifts. We live in an age where we are afforded many luxuries such as air conditioning, endless varieties of food, safe travel conditions, and immediate communication across vast distances. Our ancestors didn’t have these things available, but we often take them for granted because they are so commonplace…

  Sometimes the Gospels give us permission to allow our imagination to fill in the blanks. We believe that the evangelists were inspired to capture the core elements of faith. We find the established oral tradition in the early Church, but that also included typical human behavior. We find it in the story of the…

  Author and historian James Walsh (who died in 1942) coined a phrase which has had amazing staying power. The title of his book, “The Thirteenth, the Greatest of Centuries,” has become a familiar phrase widely quoted by those who point to that century as indeed the gateway to the modern era of development touching…

  Mention “The Waters of Meriba” to someone, and behind the blank look they might be thinking of some summer resort or a spa. Our first reading explains this as a place where people found themselves at the extremes of the depth of despair or the pinnacle of faith. Can you imagine the emotional shock…

  St. Thomas Aquinas, building upon the ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle, taught that our five senses provide all our sensory knowledge. From that body of knowledge our human intellect can form universal ideas. The next step is to accept faith as a gift which takes our intellect beyond our limited ability to reason. This brief…

  It might sound like Matthew used a backpack full of audio-visual equipment to record and document the movements of Jesus in today’s Gospel. We know that was not the case. The Gospels captured the treasured oral stories preserving the memories and teachings of Jesus to written form some ninety years after He died. We…

  Compassion can wear many hats. Today we celebrate the memorial of St. John Vianney, the simple parish priest who served the people of the small French village of Ars and far beyond, with forty years of extraordinary devotion and compassion. He lived from 1786 to 1859 and was canonized as a saint in 1925.…

  Qoheleth is today’s author of the Old Testament reading. This Hebrew name can be translated as “teacher.” Now imagine this fellow with the strange name riding herd over a modern college classroom of bright young high-achievers. Imagine him asking the class to list the essentials needed for true quality of life. No doubt the…

  In today’s gospel, we hear the story of how King Herod came to kill St. John the Baptist. Herod was holding John in prison but not killing him. However, Herodias wanted him dead, so she used Herod’s promise to Herodias’ daughter to accomplish this. And so, the daughter asked for the head of the…

  In today’s gospel Jesus returns to his home town, to Nazareth, where he grew up. Here the people know him: he is the carpenter’s son. This is from Matthew’s gospel. In the parallel passage in Mark (6:3), Jesus is referred to as the carpenter. Here we can infer some things about the life of…

  In today’s parable, we look beyond the present to the end of the age. At the end of the age, God’s Kingdom will be like a giant net that scoops up everything. And then the angels will step in and separate out the good and the bad. What is good is kept, and what…

  Today we have two parables, the parable of the treasure hidden in a field, and the parable of the pearl of great price. In both parables, someone finds something of great value and gives up everything in order to possess that thing of great value. Here we have in parable form that saying of…

  Today we celebrate the memorial of Sts. Martha, Mary, and Lazarus. This was originally the memorial of Martha alone, but in 2021, Pope Francis changed it so that all three siblings are celebrated together. This was a wise choice since, as brother and sisters, each has their own example of holiness, distinct from the…

  In today’s gospel, we have two parables of God’s Kingdom, the parable of the mustard seed, and the parable of the yeast. What unites these two parables are the themes of smallness and growth. What seems to distinguish the two parables is visibility. So, for example, the mustard seed is very small, but the…

  I am sure we have all had the experience of having prayers apparently go unanswered. And even when they are answered, it may seem to take a very long time. We all know the story of St. Monica praying for her son, Augustine. Her prayers were finally heard, giving us St. Augustine, bishop and…

  About a month ago, I honored my great-grandparents and my grandparents on my dad’s side of the Family, the Burkhart and McQueen side. Today I honor the Migliazzo side, Vincent and Bernice Migliazzo, or Papa and Mimi, we called them. Today is another great feast, the feast of Sts. Joachim and Anne, the holy…

  Today is the great feast of St. James! Traditionally the first Apostle to be martyred. St. James the Greater is known for his road of Compostela in Spain. I have never traveled the road, but I have heard a lot of miracles can happen on this road—from being cured of cancer because their faith…

  “But blessed are your eyes, because they see, and your ears, because they hear. Amen, I say to you, many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see but did not see it, and to hear what you hear but did not hear it.” This applies to us today! We are blessed…

  Today we hear about the sower and the different grounds there are on the Earth. Jesus said, “A sower went out to sow. And as he sowed, some seed fell on the path, and birds came and ate it up. Some fell on rocky ground, where it had little soil. It sprang up at…

  Today is the great feast of St. Mary Magdalene—the first person who announced the resurrection of the Lord! “How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of the one bringing good news, announcing peace, bearing good news” (Isiah 52:7). Mary goes and tells the disciples all that she had heard and seen, that she…

  In our Alleluia verse, we read, “That if today you hear His voice harden not your hearts.” The Pharisees ask Jesus for a sign, and Jesus says there will be no sign except from the prophet Jonah when he was in the belly of the whale for three days. This is a preferment of…

  In the front of our Welcome Center, St. Raphael Hall, it is literally set in stone the first verse of Chapter 53 in the Rule of St. Benedict, “Let all guests be welcomed as Christ.” In our first reading today, we have the famous meeting of the three men to Abraham and Sarah, traditionally…

  Sometimes the life lessons from Scripture can be very simple and direct. We can simply look, listen, and learn. Notice today’s readings in their most basic meaning. We have the Exodus account of the Israelite people finally coming to the tipping point. It was the right moment, with God’s help and the leadership of…

  We hear the Gospel stories again and again. Some of them become so familiar that we tend to give them a mental nod of recognition and file them away in the “reference” section of our memory. That’s our “go to google” place to check when something sounds vaguely familiar. Today’s story of the Pharisees…

  For those of us having reached the “golden years,” do you remember the very first episodes of the TV series “Mission Impossible?” Remember how the details of the mission were hidden on a cassette tape. Dramatically, the tape would then self-destruct in a puff of smoke! Such extreme challenges and such “high-tech” gadgets for…

  Children often begin their spiritual development with blunt questions that can stump us. Some of those questions linger even into adult life, like: “Who is God?” or “What is God like?” People of all ages, including our best philosophers and theologians, continue to wrestle with those basic, fascinating and challenging questions. Our Scripture readings…

  This is a great day for Franciscans! We all love family celebrations when we get to spend time with our favorite aunts, uncles, and cousins by the dozens. We rejoice with our Franciscan cousins as we honor today the memory and impact of St. Bonaventure on the Church and the entire world. Born in…

  One can wonder about the significance of a single life of only 24 years ending in 1680. Was it just a pebble dropped in quiet water? Our thoughts radiate from that moment in upper New York State marking the death of St. Kateri Tetakwitha, later to be called Lilly of the Mohawks. Our modern…

  We are told that the origins of familiar tune “Twinkle, twinkle, little star” are lost to history, but we do know that in the 1780’s Mozart wrote 12 piano variations on the tune as practice pieces for his students. Is this an example of something simple, embedded in our consciousness, and yet hidden in…

  Going home. The end of the book of Genesis takes place in Egypt. Joseph, the son of the patriarch Jacob, had arrived first as a slave, but rose to become second only to Pharoah. Jacob and the rest of his family came there looking for food during a famine. All the tribes of Israel…

  The Catholic Church today memorializes St. Benedict of Nursia (Italy). It is a day of solemn celebration for Benedictines throughout the world. During his lifetime, not much fuss was made of Benedict. His achievements, most notably his Holy Rule for Monks, were barely known. His quiet witness and that of his followers only became…