This is the time of the year that farmers are hard at work getting their crops into the fields. It is also a time when many of us are busy getting plants into our own gardens hoping that there will be enough rain and sunshine to ensure that our “crops” are plentiful. In today’s reading […]

One line in today’s reading stands out for me. In response to a silly question of the Pharisees, Jesus makes clear, “God is the God of the living, not of the dead.” “God of the living” raises for me a concern as it might relate to a serious condition regarding the state of our Church, […]

In our first reading, Paul is leaving Ephesus after three years of evangelizing the people there. There is great sadness at his leaving. He was in many ways their father in the faith, and the thought of his leaving brought tears and weeping. But Paul knew that he had to press on in his missionary […]

In today’s first reading, we read that in the earliest years of the Church, while the apostles were still alive, there are members of the community who wanted to exclude people from joining the Church. It is not that these people were sinners; it’s just that they did not fit a specific criterion which the […]

In today’s reading from Saint John’s Gospel, we hear Jesus proclaim, “It is my Father’s will that whoever sees the Son and believes in him should have eternal life and that I should raise him up on the last day” (John 6:40). The immediate question that comes to mind is what it means to “believe […]

We all know well the story of the Road to Emmaus. Two disciples leave Jerusalem discouraged because Jesus had failed in their expectations of him. Even though they heard that some of their members had proof of Jesus’ resurrection, they were not buying it, and they left town. Then a man came along, and they […]

Feast of Saint Patrick I pen today’s Daily Reflection on this the feast of the saint whose name I proudly bear with a certain amount of pride. The Daily Eucharistic Reflections are part of the Center for Eucharistic Evangelization’s mission, and indeed, Saint Patrick was a premier evangelizer. In today’s reading from Saint John, Jesus—speaking […]

Saint Katharine Drexel The saint we honor today, Katharine Drexel, offers us a life rich in service, following after Jesus, who in today’s reading declares that the “Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many.” Katherine Drexel was the younger of […]

Ash Wednesday Last year, on the rainy evening of March 27, our Holy Father stood in an empty Saint Peter Square and spoke these words, “We have all raced ahead with breakneck speed ignoring the wars, injustice, and cry of the poor and our ailing planet. We carried on regardless, thinking we could stay healthy […]

Today’s readings speak to us of God’s fatherly concern for us, his children. The Responsorial Psalm reminds us that God has compassion on his children, knowing that we were formed from dust. Saint Paul writes that, just as a father disciplines his children, a discipline that does bring pain but, if attended to, brings to […]