Friar Daily Reflection
The Word Fulfilled
When Jesus returns to this hometown at the beginning of his public ministry, he chose the reading from the prophet Isaiah that we just heard. It was obviously a reading that set the tone for his whole ministry. As such it should also be foundational in our own...
Overcoming Fear with Faith
It’s a new year and each time January brings a mixture of hope and anxiety. We have hopes for 2026, but we carry unresolved worries, unanswered questions, and fears that did not politely stay behind in 2025. The readings for today come at the right time. In the...
The Compassionate Shepherd: Teaching and Feeding
Today we look at one of the most iconic moments in the Gospel. We generally call it “the multiplication of the loaves”. The whole event is centered in the first verse that we just heard: his heart was moved with pity for them, for they were like sheep without a...
Discerning the Light
In today’s Gospel, Matthew deliberately situates the beginning of Jesus’ public ministry in a very particular place: “The land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali… Galilee of the Gentiles.” This is not just geography. There is a meaning: Galilee was not Jerusalem. It...
Testimony
John the Baptist’s role in John’s Gospel is to be a witness and to give testimony. In the Prologue to the Gospel, we hear: “He came for testimony, to testify to the light, so that all might believe through him. He was not the light, but came to testify to the...
Mary, Mother of God
Today as we celebrate a New Year, we look to Mary, the servant of the Lord and the Mother of God. Mary was part of God’s eternal plan which comes to fulfillment in the fullness of time as Paul describes it in today’s second reading: “When the fullness of time had...
The Beginning
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...
What we love
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...
Maybe in my lifetime
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 obedience...
The Costs of Christmas
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...