I find it humorous the way Luke begins his Gospel… "Since many have undertaken to compile a narrative of the events...I too have decided, after investigating everything accurately anew, to write it down in an orderly sequence for you,...so that you may realize the certainty of the teachings you have...
So we are beginning the long stretch of Ordinary Time in the Church. Now, Ordinary Time is not to be conflated with Boring Time. Let’s face it, most of our lives could be called ordinary and thank goodness we aren’t living day to day with such incredible high expectations. If...
In Luke’s version of the Baptism of Jesus, he really doesn’t talk about Jesus’ actual baptism, although it could easily be implied. He describes Jesus baptizing along with John the Baptist, presumably in the Jordan River, not far down the hill from Jerusalem. Luke tells us that Jesus was baptizing and...
“There is a wisdom in the openness of a child, an insight in its vulnerability. A child must trust us and rely on our fidelity. A child teaches us to forgive and to ask forgiveness. A child seals and expresses our love, our commitments. A child shows us how to...
Back in 1995 while still going to school in Chicago, I spent a weekend at a parish on the near West Side of Chicago. It was in a very bad neighborhood, not far from The Stadium, where the Bulls and Black Hawks play. It is also near the huge abandoned...
“He came, but not in splendor bright. Not as a monarch, but as a child…” These are some of the lyrics from the Advent hymn “Creator of the Stars at Night.” These words draw up some of the sentimental feelings associated with Christ’s birth and we may be tempted to...
The Third Sunday of Advent is also know as Gaudete (“Rejoice”) Sunday. The word Gaudete is the first word in today’s Entrance Antiphon that was used regularly as part of the liturgy back in the day. We light the rose candle today and sometimes priests will wear rose colored vestments...
New Year’s Eve Mass, December 31, 7:00 p.m. New Year’s Day, January 1, 9:00 a.m.
There is a saying in Christian Theology in describing the mystery of God as, “the already” and “the not yet.” In many ways we have already encountered God in certain ways and not yet in other, deeper ways. As I was saying last week in the homily about Advent, in...
Happy New Year! That is, happy new liturgical year. We begin another new year and another start to our Advent Season. For too many, Advent is a countdown to Christmas, but really Advent is a season unto itself. In many ways most our lives are operating in an Advent mood,...