Daily Reflections
Our Gospel today goes deep into Christ our Light and his meaning for our lives! It was his humility which led him to the cross and that very humility which overcame Satan’s power and the evils of our world. Christ’s humility comes out of seeing His Father, God, as what really matters in this…
I have a priest friend who was recently called to be a bishop. I cannot imagine how daunting that must be. If you are successful in ministry and flourishing, you might not want to have more added to your responsibilities. However, it is due to just that sort of achievement that will be rewarded…
If there is one common theme about prophets, it is this: they are annoying. Prophets speak the truth. So attuned are they to the circumstances of the people and time in which these outsiders find themselves, that they are able to predict the future with the Spirit’s guidance. But the truth hurts and we…
One of the most famous passages from St. Augustine’s incredibly candid autobiography, The Confessions, is this poem about his conversion: “Late have I loved you, beauty ever ancient, ever new: late have I loved you. You were within and I was in the external world and sought you there, and in my unlovely state…
Most Scripture scholars agree that St. Paul was not married, not a father. Yet he speaks of the spiritual fatherhood he enacted as an apostle: “As you know, we treated each of you as a father treats his children, exhorting and encouraging you and insisting that you walk in a manner worthy of the…
What do you do when you’ve appeared to fail? “After we had suffered and been insolently treated, in Phillipi,” writes Paul, “we drew courage through our God to speak to you the Gospel of God with much struggle.” This is an unusual reaction. Most of the time when we are humiliated when we fail…
We say things like, “talk is cheap,” and “actions speak louder than words.” However, in the Hebrew mind, these were one and the same. When God said, “Let there be light,” light was created. God’s word is active. In the first chapter of John’s gospel, he says that Christ is the Eternal Word that…
When I was a young monk, I helped with demolition work in preparation for the remodeling of our seminary building. One day a large group of junior monks and our maintenance employees were gathered to help remove the blower for the chapel’s organ because we were getting a new one. A group of organ…
The scribes and Pharisees have legitimate authority to teach God’s law, even Jesus acknowledges this fact. Yet, the sobering reality is that he is challenging every disciple to consider whether his or her preaching is in accordance with one’s practices, whether one’s actions harmonize with one’s words. Do our lives match the Gospel we…
Years ago, the incoming freshman class would participate in teambuilding exercises on a high-ropes course near the monastery. Since I was the young, sporty monk at the time, I was given the chance to join them for these exercises. I realized quickly that you can learn a lot about a person’s personality when they…
Jesus uses the parable of the Wedding Feast to reveal how much God the Father desires the salvation of all, but also it speaks of the sad experience of being received with indifference and hostility. Jesus knew the sadness of being rejected and mistreated. He came proclaiming repentance and love for one another, but…
I hosted a “Discernment Retreat” several years ago. I was expecting to have men and women sign up who were primarily in their 20s and 30s. I was mistaken. I had all ages of people attend, including a woman in her 80s. I thought: “What could she possibly be discerning?” It turns out her…
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…