Most parishes do not celebrate the Vigil Mass of the Nativity of the Lord. Instead they use the “Mass during the Night” at their Christmas Eve service. That liturgy uses the story of the birth of Jesus as told by St. Luke — no room at the inn, the manger, angels, shepherds. By skipping the… Read More »

Is there a Christmas gift you particularly remember? For me it was a red Schwinn tank bike that was under the tree (well, next to the tree) the Christmas of 1960. This was not a fancy bike – a boy’s bike, of course, with a horizontal bar, only one gear so no derailleur necessary and… Read More »

When Mary greeted Elizabeth she sang a hymn of praise to God that we refer to by its Latin title, the Magnificat. “My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord … The Almighty has done great things for me,” If I were going to sing of the “great things” the Lord has done for me… Read More »

The Song of Songs is an anomaly in the Bible. It doesn’t talk about God, the Covenant, the commandments, Israel, sin, wisdom or any of the usual topics you would expect in the Bible. The book instead is an example of erotic love poetry that would be completely at home in a secular context. Yet, there… Read More »

You would think after an angel told you “Hail, full of grace! The Lord is with you” that you would feel pretty good.  That was not what Mary experienced. St. Luke reports, “she was greatly troubled at what was said.” Why would you be “greatly troubled” after hearing such positive words? Perhaps because most of the… Read More »

How you ask something can carry more weight than the actual question itself.  Zechariah responds to the angel’s announcement of the birth of John the Baptist by asking, “How shall I know this?” Mary responds to the announcement of the birth of Jesus by asking, “How shall this be?” Zechariah’s question has an edge of cynicism… Read More »

We tend to punctuate things by major events. The American Revolution! The Civil War! Jeremiah does the same thing for the people of Judah. Do you remember that great thing God did for the people at the Exodus? God is going to do something equally great in the restoration from exile. “As the LORD lives, who… Read More »

One technique that scientists use to track down diseases is a genogram. Putting the medical history of one’s ancestors on the family tree helps doctors to locate what diseases are inherited and the risk an individual patient might face. They have even used a genogram to track mental health issues; for example, does depression tend… Read More »

Wouldn’t it be great if there was some person so highly respected nowadays that you could go up to him or her and ask, “What should we do?” That’s what the crowds, the tax collectors, the soldiers were able to do with John the Baptist. They had questions about how they should act, how they… Read More »

Elijah is one of the most memorable figures in Judaism. To this day, when a Jewish family sits for their Passover meal they set an extra place “for Elijah.” It is no surprise that the followers of Jesus were curious about Elijah … and only a little surprising that Jesus names John the Baptist as… Read More »