Daily Reflections

  I came across a line in my spiritual reading book that stood out as if God had taken a bright yellow highlighter and clearly marked it. It simply read: “No love can ever fill our heart like the love of God.” This statement could not speak the truth more clearly. When we come to…

  The parable of the King holding the wedding feast for his son is a perfect description of the disappointments we can encounter in life. We experience hurt, rejection, and can feel cast aside. But, rather than focus on our disappointments, it is worth reflecting on God’s perspective. God created the world in all its…

  Several years ago, I helped host a discernment retreat at our monastery. We promoted the weekend and welcomed people of all ages, men and women, who were discerning where God was leading them in their life—that is to say, those who were trying to understand where God’s grace was at work in their lives.…

  Yesterday’s first reading from the Book of Judges explained that when the people were threatened from within by moral or religious corruption, or from without by attack or oppression of foreigners, the Lord “raised up judges for them, he would be with the judge and save them from the power of their enemies as…

  The young man asked Jesus: “What do I still lack?” What do I still lack? We can read this in a negative or in a positive way. The negative way focuses on how the young man is still insufficient in his desire to follow God. Yes, he keeps the commandments, but he still lacks…

  This Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary serves as a particularly special day for the monks of Conception Abbey. In recent years, the vast majority of the monks made their profession of vows on this Solemnity of Mary. It is a day of great celebration for the monastic community and calling…

  The passages on this great feast of St. Maximilian Kolbe are wonderful! The gospel passage today reminds me of my dear aunt Mary Joel who died at nine months old on January 8, 1966. On that day, 72 years earlier Raymond Kolbe was born. In the Gospel, we hear “Let the children come to…

  “His Mercy endures forever.” This is what we hear at mass today in the responsorial psalm, the past couple of days I have talked about God’s strength in faith and love, and also about forgiving one’s self. We hear in Psalm 136, the long list of the Lord’s mercy and love for us. For…

  In today’s Gospel, St. Peter asks the Lord how many times do we forgive and the Lord replies with “I say to you, not seven times but seventy-seven times.” For me, it is easier to forgive others but the hardest thing is to forgive the self. There are days when my mind can run…

  Today’s responsorial psalm reminds me of today’s saint, St. Clare of Assisi. It reads “Blessed be God who filled my soul with fire!” When St. Clare’s convent was under attack, she took the Blessed Sacrament and raised it in the air and her attackers fell back and retreated. Yesterday I asked you if you…

  Today we hear Jesus tell the disciples that he has to go to Jerusalem to be handed over, tortured, and killed. In my office, I have a portrait of the Sacred Heart hanging above the chair where I have guests sit. In this portrait, Jesus is wearing the crown of thorns, is bloody, and…

  In the Gospel today, Jesus tells us “I am the living bread that came down from heaven; whoever eats this bread will live forever, and the bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world.” I have seen many monks, as they prepare to meet the Lord face to…

  Hear O Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord alone! Therefore, you shall love the Lord you God, with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength. Take to heart these words… This is the beginning of the great Shema – a profound statement of faith of the…

  We often speak of the ups and downs of life – the peaks and the valleys. Peak experiences carry real power. After such a special moment, it’s easy to be ‘in the clouds’ on ‘cloud nine.’ A special moment stays with us for some time. We might experience that after a very inspirational retreat.…

  Jesus is in a foreign land (the north of Israel). A Canaanite woman approaches him. She had clearly heard of Jesus and the power he demonstrated in healing many in Israel. Jesus seems to put her off and the disciples want to get rid of her. But she persisted, strongly. Some commentators even see…

  Miriam and Aaron felt excluded and somewhat jealous of Moses, so they “grumbled” against him. It is safe to safe that jealousy in any circumstance can often lead to trouble. Resentments make for grumbling and gossip. All of this can result in a kind of blindness. It is clear that Moses had a unique…

  Continuing the theme of God providing, we have Matthew’s account of the feeding of the large crowd that had been following him. Once again, we hear that “his heart was moved with pity,” and he was clearly motivated by his compassion and desire to provide for their needs. Jesus’s feeding the crowd is striking…

  For the last several weeks we have been hearing a familiar theme over and over. When Jesus saw the vast crowds, who had followed him — when he saw all those people, he was “moved with pity, for they were like sheep without a shepherd.” First, he began to teach them; then he also…

  For King and Kingdom Today, the Church remembers and celebrates a great soldier-saint, St. Ignatius of Loyola, who died on this day in 1556. He was born in Loyola, Castile (modern-day Spain), and died in Rome, where he was still serving as the general superior of the religious order he founded, the Society of…

  Checking Our Calendars We Catholics have a liturgical calendar. We have days of celebration called memorials, feasts, and solemnities on which we remember a saint, a sacred event, or an aspect of our faith. We also have seasons of particular themes that encourage penance or jubilance, and special rites within a single liturgy for…

  Friends of Jesus Today is somewhat of a new Memorial. It used to be just the Memorial of St. Martha. Martha’s sister and brother, Mary and Lazarus, have been included in today’s commemoration. Our Holy Father, Pope Francis, “considering the important evangelical witness they offered in welcoming the Lord Jesus into their home, in…

  With Unveiled Faces Our God is holy. He is so holy that Moses’ face would become radiant while he spoke with Him. It is as if God’s holiness was reflected on Moses’ face. His face would become so radiant that Aaron and the people were afraid to get close to him. Moses would have…

  Secrets Revealed We do not like secrets to be kept from us. We itch to know. And so do Moses and the Israelite people. (1) What does God look like? (2) Is God with us? (3) What kind of a god is the LORD? (1) The people are banned from going up the mountain…

  Our Christian Inheritance Today, we honor the parents of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Saints Joachim and Anne. We know their names only through Christian tradition, which has been passed down to us. We honor them because we honor Mary, their daughter, who was conceived without sin (the dogma of the Immaculate Conception). And we…

Signs of a Prophet We all have the need to eat and drink. Food and drink nourish us physically, yes, but they also nourish our spirit, especially when sharing a meal. We are often spiritually satisfied after a good meal taken in good company. In a similar way, we all need the Eucharist, the consecrated…

  The parable in today’s reading is really one of my personal favorites among all the parables. A master goes out and plants good wheat with his servants. An enemy comes along and plants many weeds. As the wheat grows, so also do the weeds. We hear again an allusion to our merciful God who…

  Here again, we read the passage in Exodus where God gave the Ten Commandments to the Jews at Mt. Sinai. God is a great lawgiver who institutes laws that are right and just. Our human laws draw their wisdom and inspiration from God’s divine laws. Human laws can become run down and lose their…

  Mary Magdalene is called the Apostle to the Apostles. She ran to tell Peter and the other apostle that someone had taken Jesus’ body. Then she later encountered two angels and Jesus Himself who had risen from the dead. She then went to the Apostles again, this time to tell them Jesus indeed had…

  Today’s first reading is used every year in the Easter Vigil. Exodus 14-15 tells of how the Lord led the Jews through the Red Sea to new freedom. The Lord set the people free. How amazing it is! With this victory, the Jews could now call themselves a free people. Moses proclaimed that the…

  Jesus is asked, or demanded, to give a sign. Jesus offers the scribes and the teachers nothing less than the Sign of Jonah. Jonah, or Jonas, preached repentance to the city of Nineveh. He called the people of that city to repent of their shameful ways and to come to authentic conversion. Jonah himself…

  Foreword: There is always a good time to honor a spiritual hero or role model who has influenced our spiritual journey. One person who I often turn to is Thomas Merton. He is considered one of the greatest Christian writers of the 20th century. His amazing story and mystique have grasped the attention of…

  Reflect on these words in the Gospel today, “Behold, my servant whom I have chosen, my beloved in whom I delight.” The Father says these words to Jesus. Now imagine these words being spoken to you. We must see God as a father who loves us deeply. Our experience of God the Father is…

  In one way or another, we have had moments where we know without a doubt God has worked in our lives; God stepped in and helped us in a moment of crisis. I imagine you can remember this moment down to how you felt before and afterward, what it did for you, and how…

  It might seem hard always to believe it, but God is present to us in the difficult moments of life. We hear Jesus say to us today, “Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest,” but we may not experience that rest; life continues in its…

  We all like having a clear path. We like knowing yes or no, this way or that way, right or wrong. Certainty is a human desire that we try to fulfill, and when that certainty is thwarted, we often react negatively. This is true in human affairs and affairs of faith. To accomplish this…

  Jesus continues, from yesterday, his harsh and brutal truths in today’s Gospel. Here Jesus rebukes the cities and peoples who have witnessed his great miracles and are left unchanged, and they refuse to repent of their sins. He says of them that Sodom, a city so corrupt that God’s wrath destroyed it, would be…

  We are used to hearing Jesus speak harsh and brutal truths towards his day’s religious and political establishment. We are not always used to, or we purposefully gloss over, the harsh and challenging truths directed to us. Today we have such a time. It is not easy to hear these words, “I have come…

  “Jesus…began to send them out two by two…and…He instructed them to take nothing for the journey.” Each Christian is called to spread the Gospel in their unique way. Each of us has particular passions, skills, life experiences, and encounters with God that give life to that message. However, many people feel inadequate to the…

  When Jesus spoke to his disciples, one of the most phrases he repeated most was this simple phrase: “Do not be afraid.” No matter who we are, no matter what our age, or circumstances we feel the power of those words. Fear can take on so many forms coming out of the past or…

  “People on the move” might be a possible theme for the two readings of today’s liturgy. Social anthropologists have documented the migration of peoples around the world throughout history but surely the most important from our perspective is the Old Testament migration of God’s people to and from Egypt. The powerful Joseph story reaches…