Today the readings for our liturgical year shift from relating the events of Christmas Time to the first day of Ordinary Time. Daily excerpts from the Gospel of Mark begin. We learn of the arrest of John the Baptist and read about the invitation Jesus extends to the first Apostles to follow him…The time is […]

Saint Lucy, Memorial Today marks a midpoint in Advent preparation for the birth of Jesus. The gospel story finds Jesus in the temple where the…chief priests and elders of the people challenged him as he was teaching and said, “By what authority are you doing these things and who gave you this authority.” (Matthew 21:25) […]

Advent has begun. This first Gospel story (Matthew 8:5-11) tells of a Roman centurion’s plea to Jesus to heal his gravely ill servant, and Jesus offers divine intervention. “I will come and cure him.” The man’s reply is bold yet respectful of Jesus’ authority and his power to heal. “Lord, I am not worthy to […]

Love justice, you who judge the earth, think of the Lord in goodness and seek him in integrity of heart, because he is found by those who test him not, and he manifests himself to those who do not disbelieve him (Wisdom 1:1). These first lines from the book of Wisdom invite us to love […]

Memorial of Pope Saint John XXIII The gospel today begins with a demand by the people for a sign. Jesus responds: …no sign will be given it except the sign of Jonah (Luke 11:29). Something greater than Jonah is predicted. The sign of Jonah’s three days in the belly of the whale prefigured the three […]

Memorial of Saint John Chrysostom Today the Gospel of Luke relates the story of the Roman centurion who sends Jewish elders as mediators to Jesus to request healing for his favored slave who is about to die. Boldly, but humbly, the centurion, a God-fearing Gentile, sends the request …Lord, do not trouble yourself, for I […]

The gospel for today’s liturgy speaks of failed expectations. It describes Jesus’ visit to his hometown of Nazareth, where he reads in the synagogue from the scroll of Isaiah: The spirit of the Lord is upon me because he has anointed me to bring glad tidings to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim […]

Memorial of Saint Teresa Benedicta of the Cross Today’s liturgy presents us with an opportunity to ponder the continuity that exists between the spiritual pathway to holiness as spoken by Moses to the Israelites, and the search for truth by Saint Edith Stein that led her from her Jewish roots to life as a Carmelite […]

In today’s gospel, Jesus reminds the disciples, and us, that suffering is the price of discipleship. Do not think that I have come to bring peace upon the earth. I have come to bring not peace but the sword (Matthew 10:6-34). The sword Jesus speaks of cuts, pierces, and even martyrs. It cuts as a […]

Today’s gospel relates the first in a series of teachings by Jesus, referred to as “counsels for perfection.” These contrast the practice of moral behavior according to the law of Moses with the practice of love for neighbor emphasized by Jesus. The intent of the law given to Moses was to moderate retaliation — that […]