“The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. Therefore the child to be born will be called holy, the Son of God.” The great African bishop, St. Augustine, preached a sermon about Mary where he reminded the congregation that Mary was a member of the Church,… Read More »

You might have heard the expression: God won’t send us anything that we can’t handle. As stated that expression is wrong. There are griefs, sorrows, problems, failures that we can’t handle. The expression should be re-stated: God says, there isn’t anything that you and I together can’t handle. We don’t have to rely on our… Read More »

“Comfort, give comfort to my people.” For any fan of Handel’s Messiah these word set a tone for Advent. They serve as a vivid reminder that one aspect of the prophetic dimension of the Church is to comfort those who are afflicted. This passage is taken from chapter 40 of the Prophet Isaiah. Scholars believe… Read More »

Because December 8 occurred on a Sunday this year the feast of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary was moved to today. In other years, the Memorial of St. Juan Diego would be celebrated. It was on this day that the first of the appearances of Mary to St. Juan Diego took place… Read More »

We’re in the season of Advent which means we are on the way to Bethlehem. We like getting to Bethlehem: the babe in the manger, the shepherds, angel chorus, magi. Lots of wonderful things happen in Bethlehem. But as I say, we’re on the way there and to get there we have to go through… Read More »

The first week of Advent draws our attention to the “day of the Lord,” the ultimate triumph of God. On that day, God “will be gracious to you when you cry out, as soon as he hears he will answer you.” In the Hebrew Bible the day of the Lord is described in agricultural terms:… Read More »

You can be sure that things were just as terrible in the time of Isaiah as they are nowadays. Now, as then, when things seem to be going to hell in a hand basket people get discouraged. They don’t see a way out. They can only imagine the worst. Thus, the Prophet delivered a message… Read More »

“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the Kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven.” My nephews and nieces certainly do the will of the Father in heaven. They are kind, generous, compassionate, “doing for the least.” They are great people. Several of… Read More »

During Advent the first and second readings assigned to a given day share a common theme. For example, today we hear from Isaiah a vision that “the LORD of hosts will provide for all peoples a feast of rich food and choice wines on this mountain.” In the Gospel of Matthew that vision is fulfilled… Read More »

Isaiah and Jesus hold out for us a vision of “the peaceable kingdom.” With the wisdom of the world we can get cynical that things are the way they are, that we are stuck in the reality of greed, selfishness, and ignorance condemning us to ongoing problems. Jesus sees new possibilities: “although you have hidden… Read More »