(Is.55:1-11; Is.12:1-6; 1Jn.5:1-9; Mk.1:7-11) “A voice came from the heavens, ‘You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.’” Brothers and sisters, God “has testified on behalf of His Son.” With His own voice and by “the Spirit, the water, and the blood,” He has borne witness that Jesus is the Christ. And should we not believe and so conquer the world? To the waters Jesus comes, and by His baptism makes them holy, that we in turn might be made holy by our baptism in them. Upon Him the Spi...
Jan 07, 2024•6 min
(Gn.15:1-6,21:1-3; Ps.105:1-9; Heb.11:8,11-12,17-19; Lk.2:22-40) “The child grew and became strong, filled with wisdom, and the favor of God was upon Him.” What child is this of whom Simeon the prophet, filled with the Holy Spirit, declares to the Lord, “My eyes have seen your salvation, which you prepared in the sight of all peoples,” even as he holds Jesus in his arms? This indeed is He who is the “light for revelation to the Gentiles, and glory for [His] people Israel”; this indeed is the ful...
Dec 30, 2023•5 min
(2Sm.7:1-5,8b-12,14a,16; Ps.89:2-5,27,29; Rom.16:25-27; Lk.1:26-28) “The Lord God will give Him the throne of David His father.” “I have made a covenant with David my chosen one, I have sworn to David my servant: forever will I confirm your posterity and establish your throne for all generations.” Here is the promise made to King David. Upon his seeking to build a house for the Lord, “the Lord… reveals to [David] that He will establish a house for [him].” Through the prophet Nathan, the Lord dec...
Dec 23, 2023•6 min
(Is.61:1-2,10-11; Lk.1:46-50,53-54; 1Thes.5:16-24; Jn.1:6-8,19-28) “A man named John was sent from God.” Here is the one of whom the prophet speaks, and who can rightly proclaim the words inscribed by Isaiah: “The spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me.” Here is he who has come “to announce a year of favor from the Lord and a day of vindication by our God.” The Spirit is upon him and he speaks of the coming Messiah. He has been sent by God to “testify to the light.” ...
Dec 16, 2023•6 min
(Is.40:1-5,9-11; Ps.85:9-14; 2Pt.3:8-14; Mk.1:1-8) “Behold, I am sending my messenger ahead of you; he will prepare your way.” And so, “John the Baptist appeared in the desert proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.” And so comes “the voice of one crying out in the desert,” in the desert that is our fallen lives: “Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight His paths.” Turn from your sins, brothers and sisters. Repent. It is the Lord’s will that “all should come to repent...
Dec 09, 2023•6 min
(Is.63:16b-17,19b,64:2-7; Ps.80:2-4,15-16,18-19; 1Cor.1:3-9; Mk.13:33-37) “Would that you might meet us doing right, that we were mindful of you in our ways!” “O Lord of hosts, look down from heaven, and see.” “Rouse your power, and come to save us.” Do not “let us wander, O Lord, from your ways, and harden [not] our hearts so that we fear you not.” We are your fruitful vine, but “we have all withered like leaves… for you have hidden your face from us and delivered us up to our guilt. Yet, O Lor...
Dec 02, 2023•6 min
(Ez.34:11-12,15-17; Ps.23:1-6; 1Cor.15:20-26,28; Mt.25:31-46) “Whatever you did for one of the least brothers of mine, you did for me.” Jesus is King. It is He to whom the Father has “subjected everything” and who “must reign until He has put all His enemies under His feet,” until He has “destroyed every sovereignty and every authority and power”; and it is He who then “hands over the kingdom to His God and Father… that God may be all in all.” Yes, “when the Son of Man comes in His glory, and al...
Nov 25, 2023•6 min
(Prv.31:10-13,19-20,30-31; Ps.128:1-5; 1Thes.5:1-6; Mt.25:14-30) “When one finds a worthy wife, her value is far beyond pearls.” And so the Lord is pleased to bless His “good and faithful servant[s]”; for His Church is as His Bride and Her faithful members He invites to share His joy. With more than the talents of “a man going on a journey” are we entrusted by the Lord. To us He is more like the husband “entrusting his heart” to his wife. All He gives over to us, even His very life, His absolute...
Nov 18, 2023•5 min
(Wis.6:12-16; Ps.63:2-8; 1Thes.4:13-18; Mt.25:1-13) “Stay awake, for you know neither the day nor the hour.” O Lord, “through the night-watches I will meditate on you: you are my help, and in the shadow of your wings I shout for joy.” “As with the riches of a banquet shall my soul be satisfied, and with exultant lips my mouth shall praise you”; for though “my soul thirsts like the earth, parched, lifeless and without water” for you, O Living God, I have “gazed toward you in the sanctuary to see ...
Nov 11, 2023•6 min
(Mal.1:14b-2:2b,8-10; Ps.131:1-3; 1Thes.2:7b-9,13; Mt.23:1-12) “Have we not all the one Father? Has not the one God created us?” And should not those who serve in His stead, bringing the word of God to waiting hearts, be as He is, loving all as He does and thus giving “glory to [His] name”? “I have stilled and quieted my soul like a weaned child. Like a weaned child on its mother’s lap, so is my soul within me,” King David declares, thus revealing the blessed relationship of the faithful, humble...
Nov 04, 2023•6 min
(Ex.22:20-26; Ps.18:2-4,47,51; 1Thes.1:5-10; Mt.22:34-40) “If ever you wrong them, and they cry out to me, I will surely hear their cry.” In this simple statement by the Lord is revealed the essential nature of our God in His relation with His people. It demonstrates certainly what He says of Himself, “I am compassionate,” for what is He telling us but that He has an ardent care for the poorest among us and the injustice they suffer? But it also demonstrates the justice of God itself, for what d...
Oct 28, 2023•7 min
(Is.45:1,4-6; Ps.96:1,3-5,7-10; 1Thes.1:1-5b; Mt.22:15-21) “I am the Lord and there is no other, there is no God besides me.” Oh brothers and sisters, how clear our Scripture today makes it that “great is the Lord and highly to be praised; awesome is He beyond all gods.” Indeed there is no other God. It is He who grasped the “right hand” of even the pagan king, Cyrus, “subduing nations before him, and making kings run in his service.” The heart of this king and all kings and all lands are in His...
Oct 21, 2023•8 min
(Is.25:6-10; Ps.23:1-6; Phil.4:12-14,19-20; Mt.22:1-14) “On this mountain the Lord of hosts will provide for all peoples a feast of rich food and choice wines.” “The kingdom of heaven may be likened to a king who gave a wedding feast for his son.” It may be equated with “juicy, rich food and pure, choice wines,” with “calves and fatted cattle ready to be eaten.” A great banquet is the kingdom of heaven! But, of course, though we speak here of food and eating, we know that it is not this we shoul...
Oct 14, 2023•6 min
(Is.5:1-7; Ps.80:9,12-16,19-20,Is.5:7; Phil.4:6-9; Mt.21:33-43) “The kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people that will produce its fruit.” “Let me now sing of my friend, my friend’s song concerning his vineyard. My friend had a vineyard on a fertile hillside; he spaded it, cleared it of stones, and planted the choicest vines; within it he built a watchtower, and hewed out a wine press. Then he looked for the crop of grapes, but what it yielded was wild grapes.” Of course...
Oct 07, 2023•9 min
(Ez.18:25-28; Ps.25:4-9; Phil.2:1-11; Mt.21:28-32) “Tax collectors and prostitutes are entering the kingdom of God before you.” Why? How can it be that such sinners gain such privilege, such grace? Is it for their sins? Shall we all become as they? We should be like them, but not in sin – in repentance. For it is because they have “turned away from all [the] sins that [they] committed” that they are saved; it is because they are “tax collectors and prostitutes” no more. And so we are all called ...
Sep 30, 2023•6 min
(Dn7:9-10,13-14 or Rv.12:7-12; Ps.138:1-5; Jn.1:47-51 I shall treat of both first readings) “You shall see the sky opened and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.” And who shall see such visions? He whose own vision is pure, he who is as Nathanael – he who has “no guile in him.” Such is the case both with Daniel and John the Evangelist, of whose visions we hear in either first reading. The angels are with them, indeed, and they lift them up to look upon the Most High God...
Sep 28, 2023•6 min
(Is.55:6-9; Ps.145:2-3,8-9,17-18; Phil.1:20-24,27; Mt.20:1-16) “You too go into my vineyard, and I will give you what is just.” Our readings today reveal that the Lord is near, merciful, and just, and that these three qualities are one in God. For the Lord’s justice is shown in His mercy, and His mercy in His nearness to us. And so we should “praise [His] name forever.” Isaiah conveys to us that the Lord’s thoughts and ways are “as high as the heavens are above the earth” with respect to our own...
Sep 23, 2023•8 min
(Sir.27:30-28:9; Ps.103:1-4,8-12; Rom.14:7-9; Mt.18:21-35) “Should you not have had pity on your fellow servant, as I had pity on you?” How like the Lord’s own wisdom is that of Sirach; how like His teaching. For have we not heard the Master say, “Forgive your neighbor’s injustice; then when you pray, your own sins will be forgiven,” in His instruction to His disciples on how to pray? And does He not impart this same lesson by parable today? “Wrath and anger are hateful things, yet the sinner hu...
Sep 16, 2023•6 min
(Ez.33:7-9; Ps.95:1-2,6-9; Rom.13:8-10; Mt.18:15-20) “O wicked one, you shall surely die.” The Lord declares to the prophet Ezekiel: “You, son of man, I have appointed watchman for the house of Israel.” He is to “speak out to dissuade the wicked from his way,” that the sinner might not “die for his guilt” and that the prophet himself might not be “responsible for his death” by his silence. As the Lord calls Ezekiel, so He requires all the Church to “warn the wicked, trying to turn him from his w...
Sep 09, 2023•6 min
(Mic.5:1-4 or Rm.8:28-30; Ps.13:6,Is.61:9; Mt.1:1-16,18-23 Note: I shall treat of both first readings) “It is by the Holy Spirit that she has conceived this child.” “God is with us,” brothers and sisters, and how has He chosen to come among us but through a woman, but through a virgin found with child? And this Virgin daughter of Israel from “Bethlehem-Ephrathah, too small to be among the clans of Judah” – she the humblest of the chosen people, the meekest servant of our race – has been thus gre...
Sep 07, 2023•6 min
(Jer.20:7-9; Ps.63:2-6,8-9; Rom.12:1-2; Mt.16:21-27) “Offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God, your spiritual worship.” Paul says the same as Jesus when the Lord calls us to “take up [our] cross,” to lose our lives for His sake. And as Paul instructs the Romans: “Do not conform yourselves to this age but be transformed by the renewal of your mind,” so Jesus teaches Peter, and all His apostles and disciples, when He insists he think as God and not as man. Why? Why is the...
Sep 02, 2023•6 min
(Is.22:19-23; Ps.138:1-3,6,8; Rom.11:33-36; Mt.16:13-20) “I will give you the keys to the kingdom of heaven. Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.” Thus the Lord grants principal authority in His Church to His rock, Peter. Thus He prophesies what He has promised: the power and teaching given those who sit on Moses’ seat shall pass to this new leader He appoints to guide the flock of the New Jerusalem. And is this designati...
Aug 26, 2023•5 min
(Is.56:1,6-7; Ps.67:2-3,5-6,8; Rom.11:13-15,29-32; Mt.15:21-28) “God delivered all to disobedience, that He might have mercy upon all.” (In love let me speak, O Lord.) Brothers and sisters, the Lord has said, “My house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples.” Yet our scholars and leaders make it a den of unbelief. Like the scribes and Pharisees of Jesus’ day, they are deaf and blind to the light of God. We must not follow in their steps, but speak the truth of the presence of Christ t...
Aug 19, 2023•8 min
(1Kgs.19:9a,11-13a; Ps.85:8-14; Rm.9:1-5; Mt.14:22-33) “When he heard this, Elijah hid his face in his cloak and went and stood at the entrance to the cave.” For the Lord was in the “tiny whispering sound.” God speaks in silence. His Word sinks deeply into our souls, piercing the spirit within us, and so what can we be but afraid? His still, small voice brings us into His awesome presence. Brothers and sisters, it is the same NAME of God revealed to Moses the lawgiver that is spoken to Elijah th...
Aug 12, 2023•6 min
(1Kgs.3:5,7-12; Ps.119:57,72,76-77,97,127-130; Rm.8:28-30; Mt.13:44-52) “The revelation of your words sheds light, giving understanding to the simple.” Wisdom. The “pearl of great price.” How precious the ability “to distinguish right from wrong” by the grace of God, and to choose the right way at all times. For finding the pearl is one thing, a gift from the Lord, but wisdom is revealed in him who “goes and sells all that he has and buys it,” knowing there is no treasure greater than the heaven...
Jul 29, 2023•6 min
(Ws.12:13,16-19; Ps.86:5-6,9-10,15-16; Rom.8:26-27; Mt.13:24-43) “First collect the weeds and tie them in bundles for burning; but gather the wheat into my barn.” Such are the Lord’s instructions to the harvesters, His angels that come “at the end of the age,” when “just as weeds are collected and burned up with fire,” so will “all who cause others to sin and all evildoers” be thrown “into the fiery furnace, where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth. Then the righteous will shine like th...
Jul 22, 2023•5 min
(Is.55:10-11; Ps.65:10-14,Lk.8:8; Rom.8:18-23; Mt.13:1-23) “The seed sown on rich soil is the one who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit.” Comes the Word of God. To our eyes, to our ears. A seed sown within our hearts. May it find rich soil in which to grow, that we might know “the redemption of our bodies.” “The rain and the snow come down and do not return there till they have watered the earth… so shall [God’s] word be that goes forth from [His] mouth.” For indeed it ma...
Jul 15, 2023•7 min
(Zec.9:9-10; Ps.145:1-2,8-11,13-14; Rom.8:9,11-13; Mt.11:25-30) “Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest.” A remarkable confluence of Scripture today, extolling the “great kindness” of our King, who comes to us “meek, and riding on an ass, on a colt, the foal of an ass,” and inviting us to take refuge in Him and in His blessed humility. Yes, upon a beast of burden, upon the young offspring of a beast of burden comes He who bears the burden of all our sins. Not on...
Jul 08, 2023•7 min
(2Kgs.4:8-11,14-16a; Ps.89:2-3,16-19; Rom.6:3-4,8-11; Mt.10:37-42) “Whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.” The Lord encourages us today to “take up [our] cross and follow [Him],” to place Him first in our lives to find the reward He holds. And in our second reading Paul says the same, reminding us that “we were indeed buried with Christ through baptism into death,” that we have “died with Christ… to sin once and for all” – this is our cross – and that laying down our lives before the ...
Jul 01, 2023•6 min
(Jer.20:10-13; Ps.69:8-10,14,17,33-35; Rom.5:12-15; Mt.10:26-33) “For your sake I bear insult, and shame covers my face.” Jeremiah “hear[s] the whisperings of many” who seek to “denounce him”; those who “watch for any misstep” plot his destruction: “Perhaps he will be trapped, then we can prevail, and take our revenge on him.” Like David he has “become an outcast to [his] brothers, a stranger to [his] mother’s children.” And for what does he suffer such persecution but for speaking the truth of ...
Jun 24, 2023•7 min
