by Fr. Jim Scullion OFM | Dec 23, 2021 | Friar Reflection
Today we hear the story of the birth and naming of John the Baptist. The response to his birth is the question: “What, then, will this child be?” The people recognized that the “hand of the Lord was with him” and are filled with wonder and expectation. God’s hand...
by Fr. Jim Scullion OFM | Dec 21, 2021 | Friar Reflection
Today’s Gospel is a very familiar Gospel, commonly called the Visitation. Mary, the mother of God, comes to visit Elizabeth. Luke tells us that Elizabeth, like her husband Zechariah, is “filled with the Holy Spirit.” This Spirit guides Elizabeth to proclaim: “Most...
by Fr. Jim Scullion OFM | Dec 17, 2021 | Friar Reflection
Reading today’s Gospel might appear at first sight as exciting as reading the phone book. Today’s Gospel is the “book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ.” What follows is primarily a list of names. Some of these names are probably familiar: Abraham, Isaac, Jacob,...
by Fr. Jim Scullion OFM | Dec 13, 2021 | Friar Reflection
In today’s Gospel Jesus is challenged by some Jewish Temple authorities about His actions in the Temple, specifically His “cleansing” of the Temple. Jesus as a Jew recognized the holiness of the Jerusalem Temple and the presence of God in the Temple. Yet like the...
by Fr. Jim Scullion OFM | Dec 9, 2021 | Friar Reflection
“The Lord is gracious and merciful.” Is God a God of wrath or a God or mercy? We hear in today’s Responsorial Psalm that God’s mercy surpasses his wrath: “The Lord is gracious and merciful; slow to anger, and of great kindness… The Lord is good to all and...
