Daily Reflections

  When a man comes to seminary to discern the priesthood, he engages in a process that we call “formation.” The candidate undergoes evaluations of his character, health, pastoral skills, spiritual life, and academic ability. Nothing is left off the table. Seminary is a blessed time in the life of the Seminarian and one that…

  Mercy is the medicine of the spiritual life. Here we have it calling out again from the sacred scriptures. Mercy is something that comes down from Heaven and gives proper merit, granting reprieve to the one who gives it and the one who receives, to quote the Merchant of Venice. The long and short…

  St. Luke’s feast day got me thinking about Fr. Lukas Etlin, a certain good monk from my religious community. He is the only monk who had a cause for canonization open for Conception Abbey. He was a chaplain and confessor and he painted the mural of the Immaculate Conception in the Abbey’s Basilica. He…

  When I was growing up, I watched professional wrestling. People who know me probably think that’s where I got my manners. Anyway, I loved the storylines and the action and all the work that went into the shows. One thing that pro-wrestling fans will tell you is that it is not fake. The shows…

  “There is something greater than Solomon … something greater than Jonah here.” Solomon, Jonah. What would that better thing be? There comes a time when someone has an important message to give and they speak with greater urgency. Jesus is Lord and He was offering the message of the good news, the coming of…

  In this time of the Eucharistic Revival, I would like to approach another beautiful Sacrament, marriage. When a man and a woman join hands and hearts and choose to be married in the Church, they are joining in love, becoming one flesh in Christ Jesus. The truth behind the mystery of the Sacrament is…

  “Earth’s crammed with heaven, and every common bush afire with God: But only he who sees takes off his shoes. …” This partial quote from E.B. Browning‘s Aurora Leigh might be a hint of a heartfelt gasp of joy and wonder coming from a person of distant times and circumstances, and yet it captures…

  Today’s first reading from the Prophet Joel has a familiar ring to it. We hear from this Book of Joel proclaiming a season of fast and abstinence at the beginning of Lent on Ash Wednesday. It is a call to arms to do battle with the powers of evil and prepare for the ultimate…

  I was surprised to find so many songs and videos on the internet that incorporated some form of an old far-ranging title: “Ya gotta have hope!” Our Responsorial psalm today uses words that are, yes, a bit more formal: “Blessed are they who hope in the Lord.” These rather formal words, nevertheless, provide a…

  We continue to follow the reluctant mission of Jonah to the people of Nineveh but today’s Scripture reading shows a major shift in his attitude. He has stopped running away and finally decided to accept God’s will. He therefore began the three-day walk through the city to warn the people to change their ways.…

Fascinating stories have touched the imagination of countless generations down through the centuries. Apart from the fascinating power of the story itself, we believe that in the Bible, the Spirit of the Lord inspires both the storyteller and the listener. Today we begin the first part of the fascinating story of Jonah who fled God’s…

  It’s not hard to find a connecting theme within the Scripture readings for this Twenty-seventh Sunday of the Year. It’s the vineyard! This is a favorite image throughout the Old Testament including the Prophet Isaias as well as Jesus in today’s Gospel. Why is the vineyard such a powerful teaching tool? First of all,…

  Initially, this feast commemorated the defeat of the Turkish forces on the western coast of Greece in 1571. The people of the area were called upon to pray the Rosary; because of this, they were victorious. It is good for us to see the Rosary as a weapon against our enemies. We pray the…

  We often have an image of Christ that is only merciful, loving, and gentle. Christ is all these things, but he is also just. Justice demands that what is due to a person be given to them. What is due may be good, or it may be bad. When you work, you are owed…

  Jesus is sending out 72 disciples to go and prepare his way. To do this, he tells them they are to carry no money bag, no sack, no sandals, and surprisingly, greet no one on the way. These are strange instructions for travelers. What can we learn from these demands? Carry no money bag.…

  How willing are you to follow Jesus? When we have those special moments of grace, it is easy to say to Jesus, “Yes, of course, I will follow you!” Then, often too quickly, our commitment fades, life gets hard, and we find ourselves alone on the road once again. In our Gospel today, Jesus…

  Did you know that Conception Seminary’s mascot comes from this Gospel? The seminarians are the “Sons of Thunder!” James and John are on fire for God’s justice–Lord, let us pray for their destruction! The Lord roundly rebukes them. We all have our passions that drive us to do good. It could be politics, liturgy,…

  Angels capture our imagination. Society loves to depict angels in movies and television series because they are exciting and exotic. Biblically, this is true as well. Imagine suddenly seeing a giant eye-covered wheel (look up biblically accurate angels) before you. I would need that angel’s voice to tell me, as is often depicted, “Be…

  Guilt and shame are two everyday experiences in life. For good or ill, guilt and shame shape our thoughts and actions. Today’s Gospel story helps us navigate those feelings, recognizing what is good and what needs to be rejected. It must be first asked, what is guilt and shame? As something to be rejected,…

  Last Sunday’s Gospel ended with the phrase “The last will be first, and the first will be last.” What can this mean for your faith? How can we interpret this in regard to the signs of the times? A good way to put it is that it is not over until it is over.…

  The tour we receive this week through the Gospel of Luke is interrupted by this beautiful feast of the Archangels. Conception Abbey celebrates this day as a full Solemnity, the highest feast in the Catholic liturgical calendar. Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael. They are the most beautiful of angels! They serve before God and constantly…

  A point comes in everyone’s life where we are forced to consider what we have done. This can be at a time for conversion where we change a bad habit and come closer to God. A time of deep reflection helps us to come to terms with a traumatic event or a deep interior…

  In this time of the Church’s history, Christ’s Bride faces different obstacles. A decrease in religious vocations is one of the main problems facing the American Church. I do not want to sound dire or dour. This age carries many blessings. The path to living out a Christian vocation is something most blessed and…

  A man fell into hard times in his life. He lost his job and he had been cut out of his family’s inheritance by his brother. So, one day he attended Church for the first time in years, and he heard the preacher say that, to one effect or another, God helps those who…

  It is said that Thomas Edison attempted to make the world’s first incandescent lightbulb more than 2,000 times. When he finally succeeded in doing so, he invented the thing that would make artificial light possible for all of us. When asked about how many times he attempted to make the lightbulb, he said he…

  Today we explore the parable of the vineyard and the workers. How could this work, that everyone who goes into the vineyard gets the same wage? Where is the justice in that? Jesus knew how to reach the hearts of his listeners. This does not mean that Jesus would treat His own workers badly.…

  “Prayer is the best weapon we have; it is the key to God’s heart. You must speak to Jesus not only with your lips but with your heart. In fact, on certain occasions, you should only speak to Him with your heart.” These are words from our saint today, St. Padre Pio! He is…

  “Pursue righteousness, devotion, faith, love, patience, and gentleness. Compete well for the faith. Lay hold of eternal life.” St. Paul says this to Timothy in our first reading. He also says that we should avoid getting rich because the love of money is the root of all evils. This means if you love money…

  “Follow me.” These two simple words provoked Matthew the tax collector, a sinner, to follow “I AM,” another two words that mean God! St. Matthew recognized the voice of the Father through Jesus, and, in a way, healed Matthew of his infirmity of being a tax collector and a sinner. As Jesus says in…

  This passage from our gospel reminds me of our Holy Martyrs today, “For John the Baptist came neither eating food nor drinking wine, and you said, ‘He is possessed by a demon.’ The Son of Man came eating and drinking and you said, ‘Look, he is a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of…

  Today Jesus has raised someone from the dead! The people exclaimed, “A great prophet has arisen in our midst, and God has visited his people!” The Lord’s actions remind me of our first reading about how bishops and deacons have the same power as Christ because, in a way, they are Christ! In the…

  I love intercessory prayer, praying for another person, whether that be a short prayer to Jesus, Mary, or one of the saints, saying a rosary for someone, or simply lighting a candle in front of our Blessed Mother statue or the icons of Sts. Joseph and Benedict. In these readings today, especially the responsorial…

  These passages today remind me of a line from the movie, “The Song of Bernadette.” The doctor inspects the holy saint and asks her several questions. Dr. Dozous asks Bernadette this question, “Do you know what a sinner is?” and Bernadette replies “Certainly Monsieur, a sinner is one who loves evil!” In our first…

  There are several places in the Gospels where someone asks Jesus what is needed to follow him or what is necessary to be saved. Jesus’ replies are clear – obey the commandment, love God, and love your neighbor; sell what you have and follow me and more. He has told us that our goal…

  Every time we celebrate a feast of the Blessed Mother, we venerate Mary and recall her part in God’s plan for our salvation. Her special place in the Church, of course, flows from her special place in God’s plan. Yesterday we celebrated the Triumph of the Cross. Today we see another side of that…

  Today we celebrate the great reconciliation won for us by Jesus Christ—God’s plan for our redemption. We celebrate the Triumph of the Cross. Yes, there is clearly a paradox here—declaring the triumph, the exaltation of an instrument of death. Yet that is precisely the point. From death comes life. Passing through death leads to…

  We are presented with some of the basics of our Catholic Christian faith these days. Yesterday, the letter to the Colossians spelled out for us just who Jesus is—the one in whom the fullness of deity resides. He saved us from sin “by canceling the bond which stood against us, snatching it up and…

  Having just begun St Luke’s gospel for our weekday readings, we are taken back to the beginning of Jesus’ public ministry. The news of him spread quickly. And it seems just as quickly suspicions arose. On the one hand, some were spellbound—“here is one who speaks with authority”—while others felt threatened. Jesus was not…

  Everyone in this country recalls the horror of the attacks of 9-11-2001 on the World Trade Center, Pentagon, and fields of Pennsylvania. Many watched on TV as the tragedy unfolded before our very eyes. Many people died that day. Others died later because of the attacks. And things changed that day and thereafter. Sunday’s…