It all begins with God, and it will all end with God. This is the theme proclaimed in today’s Gospel from the Prologue to John’s Gospel: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” While everything begins and ends with God he...
St. John’s words in today’s reading are at once tender and challenging. He begins not with correction, but with reassurance: “I am writing to you, children, because your sins have been forgiven for his name’s sake.” (1 Jn 2:12) Before John asks anything of us, he...
Today’s gospel from St. Luke is the narration of the Presentation in the Temple. The presentation that was required 40 days after Jesus’ nativity to complete Mary’s ritual purification after childbirth, and to perform the redemption of the firstborn son, in...
Yesterday the Church sang of angels, shepherds, light, and joy. Quite jarringly, today we are shown stones, hatred, and death. On the very day after Christmas, the Church places before us St. Stephen, the first martyr. This is not accidental. It is profoundly...
I hope you have been following the readings here during the final week of Advent. These have been the gospel readings: Friday: the “annunciation” of the birth of Zechariah, the father of John the Baptist Saturday: the Annunciation to the Blessed Virgin Mary, the...
