Daily Reflections

  Today is one of my favorite Marian Feast Days, Our Lady of Mt. Carmel. Our Lady appeared to St. Simeon Stock and gave him the brown scapular. “According to Pope John XXII, the Blessed Virgin gave him the following message in a vision related to those who wear the Brown Scapular: ‘I, the Mother…

  In today’s Gospel, we hear Jesus say, “I give praise to you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, for although you have hidden these things from the wise and the learned, you have revealed them to the childlike.” What does Jesus mean here? It is very simple. People who think they know God, or…

  I don’t know about you, but sometimes it can feel like that the walls are closing in around me. There are times when I just want to give up and run. But there is one thing that gives me hope, and that is faith. In the first reading today, God tells Isaiah to tell…

  Today in the Gospel, we hear these troubling words from Jesus, “do not think that I have come to bring peace upon the earth. I have come to bring not peace but the sword.” If you think the world has gone topsy-turvy today, just imagine the disciples’ reaction when they heard this! What does…

    In today’s Gospel, we hear the parable of the sower, and one verse caught my attention, “The seed sown among thorns is the one who hears the word, but then worldly anxiety and the lure of riches choke the word, and it bears no fruit.” If we look at the pandemic and civil…

  Today we celebrate the life and legacy of St. Benedict, the spiritual father of Benedictines, and the patron saint of Europe. Two documents have come down to us about this holy man from Italy who lived in the late 5th and early 6th century: His Rule for monks and nuns, which lays down the…

  Foreword: Please join me this week on a journey, as we follow the Church’s readings through the Book of Hosea, an ancient prophet to the northern kingdom of Israel. I think you and I both will discover that the life and message of Hosea are still relevant and needed today. Reading Hosea can help…

  Foreword: Please join me this week on a journey, as we follow the Church’s readings through the Book of Hosea, an ancient prophet to the northern kingdom of Israel. I think you and I both will discover that the life and message of Hosea are still relevant and needed today. Reading Hosea can help…

  Foreword: Please join me this week on a journey, as we follow the Church’s readings through the Book of Hosea, an ancient prophet to the northern kingdom of Israel. I think you and I both will discover that the life and message of Hosea are still relevant and needed today. Reading Hosea can help…

  Foreword: Please join me this week on a journey, as we follow the Church’s readings through the Book of Hosea, an ancient prophet to the northern kingdom of Israel. I think you and I both will discover that the life and message of Hosea are still relevant and needed today. Reading Hosea can help…

  Foreword: Please join me this week on a journey, as we follow the Church’s readings through the Book of Hosea, an ancient prophet to the northern kingdom of Israel. I think you and I both will discover that the life and message of Hosea is still relevant and needed today. Reading Hosea can help…

    Foreword: Please join me this week on a journey, as we follow the Church’s readings through the Book of Hosea, an ancient prophet to the northern kingdom of Israel. I think you and I both will discover that the life and message of Hosea are still relevant and needed today. Reading Hosea can…

  Today is Independence Day (for those of you who receive this message in the United States)! What a wonderful day to give thanks for the blessings we have. These are times of great social upheaval and uncertainty. However, we can look to Scripture to gain guidance as to how to respond. We have a…

  I used to watch a lot of episodes of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation. In one episode an innocent man was accused of murder, and a priest was attempting to show the investigators he was innocent. At one point Gil Grissom, the main character, doubts the direction of the investigation. Another investigator mentions how “doubting…

  Amos faces the wrath of people who are unwilling to listen to the truth, these being Amaziah and King Jeroboam. Amos tells them the truth about what will befall Israel, and they do not listen. Truth is something that people take in small doses, but don’t want to have in full. Amos courageously perseveres…

  I can never figure out, for the life of me, why the demons requested being sent into the swine. They know that Jesus is the Son of God and that He can defeat them. Why do they ask for the swine? Maybe being sent to the pigs was a step above being sent back…

  We read from the prophet Amos how God favored the people of Israel, and they did not return God’s love.           Do two walk together           unless they have agreed?           Does a lion roar in the forest        …

  Now we have the celebration of the two greatest Christian apostles. These two men, despite their weaknesses and shortcomings, helped to lay the foundation that the Church was built upon. It is funny to note that Peter and Paul didn’t seem to get along while they were alive. St. Paul even challenged Peter when…

    After reading today’s selected passages, I thought about the promises God makes and how they are fulfilled. God has promised us His love for all ages. We tend to make promises to God. We also tend to break or not honor those promises. God’s promises toward us are not dependent on our success…

  As we finish this week or reflecting upon our call to fearlessness and proclamation, we would benefit from recognizing that we, at times, must be the recipient of the message we proclaim. In today’s Gospel, we are presented by the surprising story of the Centurion and the power of his faith. It is remarkable…

  Our first reading today is a sad story. It is the recounting of the destruction of the Temple and the Babylonian exile. Along with this story, I wish to comment on the difference between punishment and penance. When we fail to live up to the expectations placed on us, like the ones we have…

  Shifting gears today, let us briefly examine this often-heard Gospel passage, “Not everyone who says, Lord, Lord, will enter the Kingdom of Heaven.” We might be tempted, as many are, to believe that by merely accepting or saying the name of Jesus into our lives ensures our salvation and entrance into the kingdom, but,…

  “In the spirit and power of Elijah, John will go before the Lord to prepare a people worthy of him.” This antiphon, taken from Lauds for today’s feast, beautifully captures the entire theme of this week, to go before the Lord to prepare a people worthy of Jesus Christ. We have been reflecting on…

  Continuing our journey toward fearless proclamation of the truth, we hear in today’s Gospel a very familiar phrase known as the Golden Rule, “Do to others whatever you would have them do to you.” Yesterday, Jesus warned us against hypocritical judgment through self-examination, and today he warns us of the same thing, but by…

  In yesterday’s reflection, the twelfth Sunday of Ordinary Time, we reflected on the need to fear no one and to boldly proclaim the truth. Today, we continue along that same path. For any journey to begin, one must, as you would expect, start at the beginning. This journey’s beginning is the self. Jesus warns…

    “Fear no one.” That’s a bold statement of Christ, fear no one. In life, we are confronted by many things and many people who challenge this statement, fear no one. I imagine we have all experienced that fear. It may be having to tell a parent you broke mom’s favorite vase; or that…

  Foreword: During Ordinary Time, the entrance and communion antiphons of the Sunday liturgy are repeated throughout the week. In this way, the themes developed at the Sunday mass are enriched and expanded as they interact with the different readings found on each day of the following week in much the same way that a…

  Foreword: During Ordinary Time, the entrance and communion antiphons of the Sunday liturgy are repeated throughout the week. In this way, the themes developed at the Sunday mass are enriched and expanded as they interact with the different readings found on each day of the following week in much the same way that a…

  Foreword: During Ordinary Time, the entrance and communion antiphons of the Sunday liturgy are repeated throughout the week. In this way, the themes developed at the Sunday mass are enriched and expanded as they interact with the different readings found on each day of the following week in much the same way that a…

  Foreword: During Ordinary Time, the entrance and communion antiphons of the Sunday liturgy are repeated throughout the week. In this way, the themes developed at the Sunday mass are enriched and expanded as they interact with the different readings found on each day of the following week in much the same way that a…

  Foreword: During Ordinary Time, the entrance and communion antiphons of the Sunday liturgy are repeated throughout the week. In this way, the themes developed at the Sunday mass are enriched and expanded as they interact with the different readings found on each day of the following week in much the same way that a…

  Foreword: During Ordinary Time, the entrance and communion antiphons of the Sunday liturgy are repeated throughout the week. In this way, the themes developed at the Sunday mass are enriched and expanded as they interact with the different readings found on each day of the following week in much the same way that a…

    Today’s liturgy begins with a quotation from Psalm 81: He fed them with the finest wheat and satisfied them with honey from the rock. This entrance antiphon is a clear reference to today’s first reading from the book of Deuteronomy, which recalls the 40-year journey of God’s people through the desert and how…

  “But I say to you…” With these words, we hear a turn from the Old to the New Covenant. What kind of mentality, what kind of attitude does one cultivate to enter this change, this movement? The answer in our Gospel today is decisiveness: “Let your ‘Yes’ mean ‘Yes’ and your ‘No’ mean ‘No.’”…

  “But I say to you…” Jesus is talking about lust in our Gospel today. And what He has to say points right to the center of a person: to look lustfully is already committing adultery in the heart. It’s important to be clear about what is sinful here. It is the decision of that…

  “I tell you, unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter into the Kingdom of heaven.” The righteousness that our loving Jesus calls us to is an intimate communion with Him. He is the Righteous One, the Holy One who has won our salvation. We connect with him…

  “I have come not to abolish but to fulfill.” Jesus did not come to fulfill a text; he came to fulfill His Father’s will! When we translate this into our lives, we can immediately think of our practice of praying the Sacred Scriptures or lectio divina. Our goal is not to complete a certain…

  “(Y)our light must shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your heavenly Father.” To be of Christ, with Christ, a disciple of Christ – Christ in the world and yet in heaven too – is to live the truth in love. “The one who lives by the truth comes…

  “Blessed are…” The Gospel today is about the Beatitudes. They are Christ’s way of showing us our true greatness! Pope Francis tells us that they are Christ’s way of telling us what it means to be holy. The Beatitudes are like a Christian’s identity card. So if anyone asks: “What must one do to…

    As we celebrate the Solemnity of the Most Blessed Trinity, it is helpful to recall what we hear in our first reading today. Moses is addressing God: “This is indeed a stiff-necked people; yet pardon our wickedness and sins and receive us as your own.” I think that many Americans, including many Catholics,…