We have just concluded celebrating some of the most magnificent Feasts of our Church year, and hopefully have grown more deeply in love with the King of Kings as we have done so. Now, we enter into Ordinary Time, whose color is green which is meant for us to indicate a season of hope. As … Read more
“Rise up in splendor, Jerusalem! Your light has come, the glory of the Lord shines upon you!” The meaning of this glorious feast, Epiphany, literally is “to shine upon.” In the Biblical usage, it refers specifically to being physically visible, observable to the senses. As we celebrate the Feast, the Gospel makes clear that the … Read more
“Rise up in splendor, Jerusalem! Your light has come, the glory of the Lord shines upon you!” The meaning of this glorious feast, Epiphany, literally is “to shine upon.” In the Biblical usage, it refers specifically to being physically visible, observable to the senses. As we celebrate the Feast, the Gospel makes clear that the … Read more
“For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given!” For the last few days before Christmas I put my iPhone music app in a constantly repeating loop, treating me to an endless play of the chorus of Handel’s great rendition of that verse. Every time I hear it, there is that … Read more
As we continue our Advent journey, in the Scriptures for the Fourth Sunday of Advent we hear the wondrous prophecy in Isaiah of the Virgin who will bear the great Immanuel, “God with us” and then in the Gospel, we hear unfolding of that prophecy, as Joseph is brought ‘on board’ to share in the … Read more
As we continue our Advent journey, we come across the great St. John the Baptist. We are reminded of the joy of this season when we recall the great joy that marked his first encounter with the Lord Jesus, how his mother recounts how the baby in her womb literally leaps for joy in the … Read more
What does it mean for us to be disciples of the Lord Jesus? This is the most important question in our lives. We see a great variety in the lifestyles and choices of those who are followers of the Lord Jesus; choices that are often incompatible with the choices made by others who also consider … Read more
As we continue in our Advent journey, we hear St. John the Baptist proclaim in the readings for the Second Sunday of Advent: prepare for the Kingdom! Many prophets of old had similar proclamations, but then St. John the Baptist, as the precursor of the Lord, the one who was to prepare His way, takes it to the … Read more
Greetings in Jesus during this joyful season! As I mentioned in the homilies last weekend, the Season of Advent is given to us by the Church as a time of joyful preparation—preparation for a very specific purpose: deeper union with the Lord Jesus Himself. As the Jews longed for the coming of the Messiah, so we … Read more
You notice there is, unfortunately, no catchy title on this article. Perhaps if I had Bishop Boyea’s flare for such things there would be. When he was a deacon, he wrote a regular bulletin article that he titled “the Deacon’s Beacon.” After ordination to the priesthood, he renamed it “Earl’s Pearls.” I thought of a couple but somehow … Read more