March 17, 2019 Today we celebrate the Second Sunday of Lent. On this Sunday we normally hear the story of the Transfiguration on Mt. Tabor. (Several parishioners and I will be celebrating Mass there on our pilgrimage.) This amazing manifestation to Peter, James, and John occurs as Jesus is heading...
March 10, 2019 Today we celebrate the First Sunday of Lent, within our annual journey to the cross and to the empty tomb. These next 40 days are an annual opportunity to relive the Paschal Mystery of Jesus’ Passion, Death, and Resurrection with mind and heart renewed. The ashes are...
March 3, 2019 Today we celebrate the 8th Sunday in Ordinary Time. This will be the last Sunday of this brief season of Ordinary Time as Lent begins this week with Ash Wednesday. Today’s first reading is from the Book of Sirach, also known as Wisdom. A recurrent theme in...
February 17, 2019 Today we celebrate the 6th Sunday in Ordinary Time. Today we hear St. Luke’s version of the Beatitudes. Unlike the familiar ones from Matthew, Chapter 5 and Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount, Luke balances the “blessed” sayings with others, beginning with the word, “woe.” Today’s lesson from...
February 10, 2019 Today we celebrate the 5th Sunday in Ordinary Time. All three of our readings this Sunday depict ‘call stories.’ Scripture scholars recognize that the type known as a call story has several unique elements. First, there’s an encounter with God or His messenger. Second, the would-be prophet...
February 3, 2019 Today we celebrate the 4th Sunday in Ordinary Time. We hear this weekend of the job description for the prophetic vocation, in both the Old Testament Lesson from Jeremiah, the reluctant prophet, and from the Gospel Lesson where Jesus prophesizes in His native town of Nazareth. Jesus...
January 27, 2019 Today we celebrate the 3rd Sunday in Ordinary Time. Our readings this weekend focus us on the fact that we are all God’s children. Those who may not look like us, or think or talk like us, or even agree with us, are nonetheless loved by God....
January 20, 2019 Today we celebrate the 2nd Sunday in Ordinary Time. So, when was the 1st Sunday? Good question. The Feast of the Baptism of the Lord, while ending the Christmas season, is also considered the 1st Sunday of Ordinary Time. (Oh those liturgists!) Today we begin our annual...
January 13, 2019 Today we celebrate the Baptism of the Lord. In the liturgical year today ‘officially’ ends the season of Christmas as Jesus is manifest once again. On Monday we return to Ordinary Time until our next major season, Lent, which starts late this year on March 6th. Last...
December 30, 2018 Today we celebrate the Feast of the Holy Family. This Sunday in the Octave of Christmas gives us another opportunity to reflect on the family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph, and in a special way, to reflect on the families we have probably gathered with these past...
