In today’s gospel, Jesus shows compassion for the multitude in the desert likening them to sheep without a shepherd – and He began to teach them many things. There are many lessons to be learned but...
When the carols are stilled
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Friar Reflection
Faith and Love
In today’s first reading John echoes Jesus’ twofold commandment of love of God and love of neighbor: “And his commandment is this: we should believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and love...
In the Beginning
How did it all begin? We can ask this question about many things. The most important answer to the question of beginnings is that it all began with God. “In the beginning, when God created the...
Looking Beyond Appearances
The world says that Christmas is over. Decorations are down in stores where there are the “after holiday sales.” Radio stations are back to playing only their regular type of music with no Christmas...
Nunc Dimittis
The gospel for today is one of my favorite passages: Luke 2, the Nunc Dimitis, or the encounter with Simeon in the Temple. The moniker of the passage comes from the opening words in the Latin...
Villains and Innocents
The video above is a classic Christmas song known as the Coventry Carol. The carol was traditionally performed in Coventry in England as part of a mystery play called The Pageant of the Shearmen and...
The call to be Good News
Did you ever consider that as Christians we are called to write the Gospel of our lives? Gospel means “good news”. Our lives are or should be a Gospel, good news for others. The values we live,...
What… will this child be?
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...
It all began with Mary’s Yes!
Today Mary prays, perhaps even sings that most beautiful prayer, the Magnificat. In the birth of her son Mary tells us that God is about to turn the world upside down. He scatters the proud in the...
Blessed are you
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...
The Annunciation
Today’s Gospel is a familiar part of the Christmas story - the Angel Gabriel inviting Mary into the plans of God for redemption and salvation of the world. Given its proximity to Christmas, I...
Genealogy
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. ...