The first reading for today’s Mass is from the Book of Tobit, chapter 3. There in verse 6 is a simple phrase - in the Greek it is oneidismous pseudeis. Depending on the New American Bible...
I’m only asking…
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Friar Reflection
Taxes, Church and State, hypocrisy
Today’s Gospel is the classic text that is cited to describe the relationship between church and state. Jesus’ answer seems simple and direct: “Repay to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God...
A piece of the mosaic
Today we celebrate the Feast of the Visitation when the Blessed Virgin Mary visited her cousin Elizabeth immediately after the events of the Annunciation when the Angel Gabriel proclaimed the...
Trust, Prayer, and Bearing Fruit
When one hears the story of Jesus and the fig tree in today’s gospel, it has to strike you as one of the strangest in the Gospels. It seems completely out of character for Jesus to curse anything...
Now I See
Samantha had just finished college. The only job she was able to find after graduation was as a nanny to a wealthy and extremely likable family. It was a great job for a nanny – but not what she...
Your Baptism
I recently celebrated a birthday. There were plenty of years I did not celebrate it - not because of any reason other than I was not with a group of people for whom it was a memorable date. As best...
Sacrifice, Peace and Justice, Liturgy
Liturgy and Life must always go together. We should bring our life, our joys and our sorrows, our hopes and our doubts, to our liturgical celebrations. We are also called to live out what we...
Mary, Mother of the Church, Servant
Today we celebrate the feast of Mary, the Mother of the Church. The title “Mother of the Church” for Mary was proclaimed by Pope Paul VI on November 21, 1964, at the conclusion of the Second...
I LOVE YOU!!
I LOVE YOU! Have you ever thought why these three words are so powerful that they could make or break a relationship? I LOVE YOU! Three words that we all say to those we love. What is really in this...
Jesus, Unity
“I pray not only for these, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, so that they may all be one, as you, Father, are in me and I in you, that they also may be in us.” Jesus...
Looking Beyond Ourselves
Victor Frankl was an Austrian neurologist and psychiatrist who chronicled the horror of three years in four Nazi concentration camps, in his book “Man’s Search for Meaning.” He writes about finding...
Who prays for you?
In the Confiteor, we hold up the things we have done and what we have failed to do. The first reading for today’s Mass is certainly a list of what St. Paul has done for the sake of the Gospel. He...