Friar Daily Reflection
Witness
One of the key themes in the Gospel of John is the theme of witness or testimony. So, in today’s Gospel we hear: “This is the testimony of John.” This theme was already announced in the Prologue of the Gospel: “A man named John was sent from God. He came for...
In the Fullness of Time
What would you say if someone asks, can you prove that God exists? Can you provide an empirical, scientific or mathematical proof of the existence of God? St Thomas Aquinas understood that strict proofs in the empirical sense are not possible, he would point out that...
Part Time Believers
Today’s gospel is the Prologue from the Gospel of John. In part, it reads: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” … “What came to be through him was life, and this life was the light of the human race; the light shines in the...
Anna and Simeon
In today’s Gospel Luke continues the description of Jesus’ Presentation in the Jerusalem Temple. In the Infancy Narrative Luke pairs two holy and devout Jews who are full of the holy Spirit. So, we have Elizabeth and Zechariah, the parents of John the Baptist. When...
Joy Complete
Today we celebrate the Feast of St. John the Evangelist. In the midst of the Christmas season today's gospel seems out of place. It recounts Mary Magdalene's experience of Easter morning when she reports to Peter and the other apostles: "They have taken the Lord from...
The First Martyr
Today, the day after Christmas, we move quickly from the joy of the birth of Jesus to the story of the first Christian martyr, St. Stephen. Out 1st reading today from the Acts of the Apostles tells the story of Stephen’s witnessing and death. Luke describes him as...
The Canticle of Zechariah – Hope
Zechariah was the father of John the Baptist. He was born into the clan of temple priests who served in the temple in Jerusalem according to shifts. He and his wife, Elizabeth, did not have a son. This was a disaster for a family during that time in Israel – no one to...
A question as old as the ages
In the midst of all the wonder and excitement of the birth of a child, it is a natural question to ask: “What will this child be?” Tinker, tailor, soldier, sailor? Loving, kind, gentle, brave? …. And the categories and lists are endless. At the beginning all things...
The Annunciation – Living in The Protecting Shadow
I don’t know if any of you have had the opportunity to live in a desert. When I was 25, I went to live in the friars’ Navajo mission along the New Mexico and Arizona border for two consecutive summers. The Chuska Mountains were right in our backyard. Lukachukai is...
The Annunciation
In today’s Gospel we hear an Annunciation Story. It is not the Annunciation Story to Mary of the birth of Jesus but the Annunciation Story to the priest Zechariah of the birth of John the Baptist. Luke has purposely made these two Annunciation Stories as well as...