(Is.52:13-53:12; Ps.31:2,6,12-13,15-17,25,Lk.23:46; Heb.4:14-16,5:7-9; Jn.18:1-19:42) “He shall be raised high and greatly exalted.” Here is your king: “Jesus the Nazarene, the King of the Jews,” Pilate has written upon His cross. Here He is lifted up, where “many were amazed at Him – so marred was His look beyond human semblance and His appearance beyond the sons of man.” Yet “shall He startle many nations; because of Him kings shall stand speechless.” The Scripture passage is fulfilled: “They ...
Apr 17, 2025•5 min
(Ex.12:1-8,11-14; Ps.116:12-13,15-18,1Cor.10:6; 1Cor.11:23-26; Jn.13:1-15) “This cup is the New Covenant in my blood.” For this cup holds the Blood of our Lord. And, “Seeing the blood, I will pass over you,” says the Lord. “When I strike the land of Egypt, no destructive blow will come upon you.” As the Israelites mark each of their houses with the blood of a lamb, so our bodies are marked by the Blood of the Lamb; and so we are saved by the Lord our God and become temples of His Spirit. “How sh...
Apr 16, 2025•6 min
(Is.50:4-7; Ps.22:2,8-9,17-20,23-24; Phil.2:6-11; Mt.26:14-27:66 or Mk.14:1-15:47 or Lk.22:14-23:56) “His blood be upon us and upon our children.” “The whole people” cry out for the death of Jesus. “Let Him be crucified,” they shout ever more loudly. The sins of us all demand the death of the Son. And though He would have us not bear such guilt – “My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me” – and though even after we have succeeded in our lust for innocent blood, He forgives… yet be...
Apr 12, 2025•6 min
(Is.43:16-21; Ps.126:1-6; Phil.3:8-14; Jn.8:1-11) “Forgetting what lies behind but straining forward to what lies ahead, I continue my pursuit toward the goal.” In times past the Lord opened “a way in the sea” for the Israelites to pass through, while Pharoah’s army He “snuffed out and quenched like a wick.” Afterward, He “brought back the captives of Zion” from the lands to which they had been scattered to rebuild the temple in Jerusalem. “Great things” the Lord has done for His people, but thr...
Apr 05, 2025•6 min
(Jos.5:9a,10-12; Ps.34:2-7,9; 2Cor.5:17-21; Lk.15:1-3,11-32) “Today I have removed the reproach of Egypt from you.” As the Israelites now realize their redemption from slavery in Egypt as they step into the Promised Land, so the prodigal son comes to his own redemption, his own release from slavery as a hired hand in a foreign land, as he returns to his father’s house. Yes, as the Israelites “ate of the produce of the land” for the first time after the feast of Passover, so the prodigal son feas...
Mar 29, 2025•5 min
(Is.7:10-14,8:10; Ps.40:7-11; Heb.10:4-10; Lk.1:26-38) “Behold, I come to do your will.” Today we celebrate the fact that the Word became flesh, that God became man through Mary and dwells among us to take away our sins. In this is fulfilled the words of the prophet Isaiah, “The Lord Himself will give you this sign: the virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall name Him Emmanuel, which means ‘God is with us!’” She is the Virgin; He is the Son – we are they with whom He dwells. Praise God ...
Mar 24, 2025•7 min
(Ex.3:1-8a,13-15; Ps.103:1-4,6-8,11; 1Cor.10:1-6,10-12; Lk.13:1-9) “The Lord secures justice and the rights of all the oppressed.” Thus does the Lord God appear to Moses and call him to rescue the Israelites from the Egyptians. He has “witnessed the affliction of His people”; He has “heard their cry of complaint against their slave drivers” and “know[s] well what they are suffering.” And so, by the hand of Moses, He will lead them to “a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey....
Mar 22, 2025•5 min
(2Sm.7:4-5,12-14a,16; Ps.89:2-5,27,29,37; Rom.4:13,16-18,22; Mt.1:16,18-21,24a or Lk.2:41-51a) “I will be a father to him, and he shall be my son.” It is through Joseph that Jesus is a son of David and so fulfills the promise to the king made by God: “Your house and your kingdom shall endure forever before me; your throne shall stand firm forever,” for He is the heir “raise[d] up” after David “who shall build a house for [His] name.” “In heaven [the Lord has] confirmed [His] faithfulness,” and o...
Mar 18, 2025•6 min
(Gn.15:5-12,17-18; Ps.27:1,7-9,13-14; Phil.3:17-4:1; Lk.9:28-36) “A cloud came and cast a shadow over them, and they became frightened when they entered the cloud.” As darkness thus covered the three apostles, so “a trance fell upon Abram, and a deep, terrifying darkness enveloped him.” Both find themselves surrounded by darkness and filled with fear. In just this way the Lord brings His revelations. For as the Lord is about to pronounce beyond doubt that Jesus is the Messiah, so He is about to ...
Mar 15, 2025•6 min
(Dt.26:4-10; Ps.91:1-2,10-15; Rom.10:8-13; Lk.4:1-13) “To His angels He has given command about you, that they guard you in all your ways.” Can there be any doubt that the Lord God will bear Jesus up through His temptations in the desert, that He “will deliver Him and glorify Him”? For if “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved,” will the Father leave His Son “in distress”? If He has rescued David from “the lion and the dragon,” will He not also “set [Jesus] on high,” apart fro...
Mar 08, 2025•6 min
(Jl.2:12-18; Ps.51:3-6,12-14,17; 2Cor.5:20-6:2; Mt.6:1-6,16-18) “Even now, says the Lord, return to me with your whole heart, with fasting, and weeping, and mourning.” “We implore you, in Christ’s name: be reconciled to God!” Paul exclaims; and the people of God today raise a cry, rending their hearts, begging His forgiveness… turning from their sins to find His healing grace. The trumpet is blown in Zion; the people are gathered as one. Now “let the bridegroom quit his room, and the bride her c...
Mar 04, 2025•6 min
(Sir.27:4-7; Ps.92:2-3,13-16; 1Cor.15:54-58; Lk.6:39-45) “Be firm, steadfast, always fully devoted to the work of the Lord.” Brothers and sisters, “in the Lord your labor is not in vain,” for “the just one shall flourish like the palm tree, like a cedar of Lebanon shall he grow.” If you are “planted in the house of the Lord,” “vigorous and sturdy” shall you ever be, “bear[ing] fruit even in old age.” You shall remove “the wooden beam” that plagues your eye and thus find the vision to remove the ...
Mar 01, 2025•5 min
(1Sm.26:2,7-9,12-13,22-23; Ps.103:1-4,8,10,12-13; 1Cor.15:45-49; Lk.6:27-38) “Who can lay hands on the Lord’s anointed and remain unpunished?” This does David say of Saul the king of Israel – of him who has come into the desert to hunt David down and kill him – even as he stands beside a sleeping Saul, well able to “nail him to the ground with one thrust of the spear.” But even though it seems that “God has delivered [his] enemy into [David’s] grasp,” he foregoes the opportunity, humbly respecti...
Feb 22, 2025•7 min
(1Pt.5:1-4; Ps.23:1-6; Mt.16:13-19) “On this rock I will build my Church.” And Simon’s name is changed to “Peter”, which means “Rock”, to signify that here is the chief shepherd of the Church, upon whom the Church on earth rests. It is he to whom Jesus gives “the keys to the kingdom of heaven.” Though all the apostles are given the power to bind and loose, it is Peter who leads – “a fellow elder” among all the elders and yet the one who speaks for all. It is not by man’s decision that Peter is t...
Feb 21, 2025•6 min
(Jer.17:5-8; Ps.1:1-4,6,40:5; 1Cor.15:12,16-20; Lk.6:17,20-26) “If for this life only we have hoped in Christ, we are the most pitiable people of all.” For His reward is in heaven; His kingdom is not of the earth. And our faith is in His resurrection. It is not to this world we come, not in the things of the earth we make our boast, for he “who seeks his strength in flesh” is he “whose heart turns away from the Lord” and His holy kingdom… but we are among those “whose hope is the Lord.” The cont...
Feb 15, 2025•6 min
(Is.6:1-2a,3-8; Ps.138:1-5,7-8; 1Cor.15:1-11; Lk.5:1-11) “Put out into deep water and lower your nets for a catch.” “Whom shall I send? Who will go for us?” “the voice of the Lord” asks in the presence of the angels and Isaiah. “Here I am… send me!” is the prophet’s response. And so this “man of unclean lips” having been purged of his uncleanness by an ember from the altar of God is ready to speak for “the King, the Lord of hosts!” Grace come through the seraphim prepares his soul to do the will...
Feb 08, 2025•5 min
(Mal.3:1-4; Ps.24:7-10; Heb.2:14-18; Lk.2:22-40) “Suddenly there will come to the temple the Lord whom you seek.” “And He will purify the sons of Levi, refining them like gold or like silver that they may offer due sacrifice to the Lord.” “To expiate the sins of the people” He has come – to bring us light. But to do this “He had to become like His brothers and sisters in every way”; He had to “share in blood and flesh” with us, and so share in our death, to overcome death and make us holy in the...
Feb 01, 2025•7 min
(Neh.8:2-4a,5-6,8-10; Ps.19:8-10,15; 1Cor.12:12-30; Lk.1:1-4,4:14-21) “He opened the scroll so that all the people might see it.” These words are spoken of Ezra the scribe who “brought the law before the assembly” of all Israel as he stood above them preparing to read the word of God, but it surely more distinctly refers to Jesus the Christ, the Incarnate Word of God, who reveals Himself to the souls in the Nazareth synagogue today. As “Ezra read plainly from the book of the law of God, interpre...
Jan 25, 2025•6 min
(Acts 22:3-16 or Acts 9:1-22; Ps.117:1-2,Mk.16:15; Mk.16:15-18) “Go into the whole world and proclaim the good news to all creation.” One would not have expected these words to be spoken so profoundly to the heart of St. Paul. For he, then known as Saul, had spent such time and with such vigor had persecuted the followers of Christ. Why does the Lord shine His light all about him? Why does He speak to him and reveal Himself to him? Why is it this man who is picked to bring the Name of Jesus to a...
Jan 24, 2025•5 min
(Is.62:1-5; Ps.96:1-3,7-10; 1Cor.12:4-11; Jn.2:1-11) “As a bridegroom rejoices in his bride so shall your God rejoice in you.” “There was a wedding at Cana in Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. Jesus and His disciples were also invited to the wedding.” And it is here Jesus “revealed His glory”; here the beginning of His signs would take place in His changing water into wine. But why? Why here at a wedding? And why this transformation as His first miracle? He would have begun His ministr...
Jan 18, 2025•6 min
(Is.40:1-5,9-11; Ps.104:1-4,24-25,27-30; Ti.2:11-14,3:4-7; Lk.3:15-16,21-22) “Heaven was opened and the Holy Spirit descended upon Him in bodily form like a dove.” “Beloved: The grace of God has appeared.” Here we see its clear evidence in the Baptism of our Lord. Here He who “baptize[s] [us] with the Holy Spirit and fire” has the Spirit descend upon Himself. In our stead He places Himself (as He shall on the cross), and by the Spirit’s presence upon Him, we ourselves are made clean. This Jesus,...
Jan 11, 2025•5 min
(Is.60:1-6; Ps.72:1-2,7-8,10-13; Eph.3:2-3a,5-6; Mt.2:1-12) “They were overjoyed at seeing the star, and on entering the house they saw the child with Mary His Mother.” And so our prophecy of Isaiah and our psalm of David come to pass: “Raise your eyes and look about; they all gather and come to you… the riches of the sea shall be emptied out before you, the wealth of nations shall be brought to you.” And “the kings of Tarshish and the Isles shall offer gifts; the kings of Arabia and Seba shall ...
Jan 04, 2025•5 min
(Nm.6:22-27; Ps.67:2-3,5-6,8; Gal.4:4-7; Lk.2:16-21) “The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, just as it had been told to them.” The blessing of God, His holy Son, was upon the shepherds, and it is upon us all. For “God sent His Son, born of a woman” that His “way be known upon earth,” “that we might receive adoption as sons.” And what greater blessing could man know than to fulfill his call as son of the living God? We are blessed, brothers and siste...
Dec 31, 2024•5 min
(1Sm.1:1:20-22,24-28; Ps.84:2-3,5-6,9-10; 1Jn.3:1-2,21-24; Lk.2:41-52) “Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?” If Hannah says of Samuel, “As long as he lives, he shall be dedicated to the Lord” even as she leaves her son with Eli in the temple, should not Jesus be equally dedicated to God, being His true Son? If as John rightfully says of all those who live in God’s love and follow His commandments, “We are God’s children now,” how much greater a child of God is He who serves to ...
Dec 28, 2024•6 min
(1Jn.1:5-2:2; Ps.124:2-5,7-8; Mt.2:13-18) “The blood of His Son Jesus cleanses us from all sin.” And as martyrs of the Church, these innocent children slaughtered by Herod participate in the pouring forth of the blood of Christ. “Out of Egypt I have called my son.” What does the prophet mean but that by the only Son all shall be redeemed of their sins – that out of sin all are called, all are drawn by the Lord? “Broken was the snare, and we were freed” when the child was born, when He died upon ...
Dec 27, 2024•6 min
(1Jn.1:1-4; Ps.97:1-2,5-6,11-12; Jn.20:2-8) “He saw and believed.” And “the eternal life that was present to the Father and became visible to us,” which John now proclaims, is Jesus Christ the only Son of God, risen from the dead and present to us now even as He sits with the Father. John has seen Him. He has believed in Him. His “hands have touched” Him and so he “proclaim[s] the word of life” made so real in his midst. What else could he do but declare that which burns in his heart? What else ...
Dec 26, 2024•6 min
(Acts 6:8-10,7:54-59; Ps.31:3-4,6-8,17,21; Mt.10:17-22) “They proved no match for the wisdom and spirit with which he spoke.” The world cannot stand up to the Word of God; even death has no power over those who trust themselves to His Spirit. A model of faith is Stephen. A perfect trust in the Lord made this martyr shine before the persecution of men. He made the Lord his “rock of refuge” and so the Lord did “lead and guide” him even unto heaven, hidden in “the shelter of [His] promise from the ...
Dec 25, 2024•5 min
(Is.52:7-10; Ps.98:1-6; Heb.1:1-6; Jn.1:1-18) “You are my Son; this day I have begotten you.” The coming of the One prophesied by Isaiah and hailed by John these many days is fulfilled in our midst at this blessed moment in time. And so in our dark world, the light that is God now shines. “Hark! Your sentinels raise a cry, together they shout for joy, for they see directly, before their eyes, the Lord restoring Zion.” To “all the ends of the earth” He makes “His salvation known: in the sight of ...
Dec 24, 2024•6 min
(Is.9:1-6; Ps.96:1-3,11-13; Ti.2:11-14; Lk.2:1-14) “Today in the city of David a savior has been born for you who is Christ and Lord.” Here is the “infant wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger”; here is He who saves all from sin, born into our humble humanity. Yes, “a child is born to us, a son is given us,” and “upon His shoulder dominion rests.” This little one wrapped in our own flesh is indeed named “Wonder-Counselor, God-Hero, Father-Forever, Prince of Peace. His dominion is va...
Dec 24, 2024•6 min
(Mi.5:1-4a; Ps.80:2-4,15-16,18-19; Heb.10:5-10; Lk.1:39-45) “Blessed is the fruit of your womb.” From the womb of Bethlehem-Ephrathah, from the womb of Judah, has come forth “one who is to be ruler in Israel; whose origin is from of old, from ancient times.” Now “she who is to give birth has borne”; now has our Savior come. Though He has existed from time’s beginning, it is now He is made flesh in the womb of this simple virgin. “When Christ came into the world, He said; ‘Sacrifice and offering ...
Dec 21, 2024•5 min
