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News - January 2021 RSS Feed
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January 31, 2021A celibate religious or priest is set apart, consecrated, for the Lord, primarily. St. Paul explains that the unmarried are anxious about the things of the Lord and the married seek to please their spouse. Read more...Read More -
January 10, 2021The Feast of the Baptism of the Lord concludes the celebration of the Christmas season. After today, our churches will take down their festive Christmas decorations including the prominence of the manger scene. The baptism of Jesus marks the shift in the focus of the liturgical year from the infant Jesus to the adult Jesus. The heavenly voice proclaims Jesus to be "my beloved Son." With his baptism in the Jordan by John, Jesus begins his adult ministry of preaching, teaching, and healing. He proclaims the Kingdom of God in word and deed.Read More
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January 9, 2021The goal of every disciple of Jesus is to disciple another person. By baptism we are all Evangelizers. How do you disciple a man or woman? Jesus' typical call to the seekers of his day was, "Follow me!"Read More -
January 8, 2021Lepers and Wise Men? Who would have thought the light of the Epiphany would shine on both, so strategically close together in the liturgy? We’re tempted to assume there is some mistake in the choice of this Gospel for the Friday after Epiphany…Read More
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January 7, 2021Both the reading and the Gospel today speak to a central claim of Christian life: love of God and love of neighbor are inseparable. It is often tempting to think that as long as we stay spiritually clean and upright with God, we can treat people however we like. Yet this is fundamentally opposed to the teaching of the Church as illustrated in these readings. God loved us before we loved him and created each of us out of love.Read More
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January 6, 2021Today's gospel picks up from yesterday's story about feeding the five thousand. The disciples had returned tired and hungry from being away on ministry and Jesus had taken them away for rest. We read, too, that it did not work out that way. Jesus had a change of plans. I wonder how that went over with the tired disciples. I wonder, too, if the suggestion that Jesus dismiss the crowd to find food may have come from human weariness; the sooner the crowd left, the sooner we get our rest. I don't imagine Jesus' response - feed them yourselves - went over too well as they saw themselves going into the cities to shop. Perhaps, a little tension in the air?Read More
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January 5, 2021After a long day of teaching the crowd, I can only imagine that Jesus is quite hungry too. Standing in that deserted place for hours, Jesus, fully God and fully human, had a stomach rumbling just as much as those gathered. Jesus must have also sat down with the people to eat after the disciples set out the loaves he had blessed. Sensitive to this human need for sustenance, Jesus was moved with pity to look out on the horizon to see his own sheep in need. The translation of the term “moved with pity” from the Greek draws on the idea that he experienced an abrupt, forceful compassion, from deep within his gut. Jesus nourished that crowd with his Word and with the loaves that were taken, blessed, broken, and given, just as he does for us who gather at the Feast of the Eucharist.Read More -
January 4, 2021May the soul of Fr. Andrew, and the souls of all the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace.Read More -
January 4, 2021As we bid farewell to another Advent and Christmas season, in today’s Gospel we see Jesus’ healing power at work and hear him call his followers to “Repent! The Kingdom of God is at hand.” What do these words that Jesus spoke to the Galileans some two thousand years ago mean to Christian people today as we bid 2020 – which will be forever known as the year from hell – farewell? A lot of people these days are complaining they have “COVID fatigue.” I think this means that we are tired of dealing with all the restrictions that are being placed upon us including the demands to be vigilant about wearing masks, and social distancing, and constantly washing our hands – those pesky practical and symbolic gestures that keep us safe and ask us to put the needs of others before our own. Truth be told, trying not to let our guard down is exhausting, and we all want our freedom of activity and movement back.Read More -
January 3, 2021There is nothing like the sight of a Christmas tree dumped by the curb, to dull the joy of this season. All too quickly, valentine cards are now on full display in every local drug and grocery store. It is tempting even as Christians, to wrap up our sentiments of good cheer and peace on earth with the decorations. But with the feast of Epiphany, we welcome the magi, those mysterious figures from the East who pose their question to each of us: “Where is the newborn king of the Jews?”Read More
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January 2, 2021It is GOD who grants our salvation, as the Psalm proclaims, He has done wondrous deeds, remembered His people, spoken to us through prophets and ultimately through His Son Jesus! John declares plainly he is not the Christ but calls us to prepare for His coming.Read More
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January 1, 2021In the second century of the Church, the ancient Fathers of the Church, inspired by God, developed their understanding of the received revelation from God about the Virgin Mary, as they contemplated and studied the Virgin in relationship to her Son, Jesus Christ in Scripture and Tradition. Read more...Read More -
January 1, 2021Advocate of Eve. Seat of Wisdom. Cause of Our Joy. Help of Christians. Mother of Sorrows. We know her under other names as well: Our Lady of Guadalupe, Our Lady of Knock, Queen of the Americas, and Our Lady of Prompt Succor. All of these titles and names would be meaningless without her first name, her first title: Mary, Mother of God.Read More
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