Again, he said, “To what shall I compare the kingdom of God? It is like yeast that a woman took and mixed in with three measures of wheat flour until the whole batch of dough was leavened.” (Luke 13:20-21) An early childhood memory is of Grandma Agnes and her sisters baking. They would meet for a day, just before […]

You are no longer strangers and sojourners, but you are fellow citizens with the holy ones and members of the household of God, built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the capstone. Through him, the whole structure is held together and grows into a temple sacred in the Lord. (Ephesians 2: 20-22) The Letter […]

For through the Spirit, by faith, we await the hope of righteousness. For in Christ Jesus, neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything, but only faith working through love. (Galatians 5:5-6) Today’s reading from the Letter to the Galatians is important in many ways. It highlights teachings central to Paul’s proclamation of the Good News: grace and the […]

There is need of only one thing. (Luke 10:42) “In Christ, every saint has a past; every sinner has a future.” The stories of Paul, the great apostle, and preacher, and of Martha, the quintessential hostess, are well known to all of us. In the first reading, Paul provides details of his former life, including his […]

Saints Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael, Archangels A surging stream of fire flowed out from where he sat; thousands upon thousands were ministering to him, and myriads upon myriads attended him. (Daniel 7:10) The glory of God! Daniel’s stirring vision of the majesty and splendor of the Ancient of Days touches us with its beauty. It lifts us […]

All the ways of a man may be right in his own eyes, but it is the LORD who proves hearts. To do what is right and just is more acceptable to the LORD than sacrifice. (Proverbs 21:2-3) The ancients believed that wisdom belonged to the gods, given their exalted state, and the pursuit of wisdom by mortals […]

Our Lady of Sorrows When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple there whom he loved, he said to his mother, “Woman, behold, your son.” Then he said to the disciple, “Behold, your mother.” And from that hour the disciple took her into his home. (John 19:26-27) I spent the last summer of seminary studies in a Clinical […]

The Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary You, Bethlehem-Ephrathah, too small to be among the clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel; whose origin is from of old, from ancient times. Therefore, the Lord will give them up, until the time when she who is to give birth has borne. (Micah 5:1-2) We […]

We have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may understand the things freely given us by God. And we speak about them not with words taught by human wisdom, but with words taught by the Spirit, describing spiritual realities in spiritual terms. (1 Corinthians 2:12) We encounter the […]