When we look at our communication with God, it isn’t hard to see the many times when we are constantly checking to see if God is listening in hopes that he will respond to our needs.  In reality he hears us, but he asks us to listen to him as well. Twice in the Gospels […]

Each of us is involved in a constant struggle against temptation.  We see from the Gospel that Jesus too was tempted.  Hence, he understands our weakness in the face of temptation.  And because He understands us, he can help us. Hence, we can approach him with confidence, knowing that we will have mercy from him […]

Mass times for Ash Wednesday (February 14, 2018) will be at 7:00 am, 9:00 am and 6:00 pm. Ash Wednesday is a universal day of fasting and abstinence from meat.  “Repent and believe in the  Gospel.”  Those words we must consider are traditionally spoken on Ash Wednesday.  Ashes mark our foreheads, reminding us of our […]

In biblical times lepers were treated as pariahs. Leprosy was believed to be highly contagious.   Because of this they were forced to live outside the community.   Leprosy was the ultimate uncleanness.  It made the victim an outcast not only socially, but also in the religious sphere.  Jesus broke through all the religious and social taboos […]

The Book of Job confronts the problem of suffering.  The common explanation was that suffering was a punishment for sin.  But, though Job is a good man, he suffers greatly.  His suffering causes him to take a gloomy view of life.  This sets the scene for the Gospel.  However, what we see in the Gospel […]

In our second reading today, St. Paul says to the people in Corinth: “I want you to be free from anxieties.”  You might say to him, right, but have you met my boss, spouse, my child or my parents?  Have you seen the problems I am dealing with at work, at home, in school?  No […]

Jesus begins his preaching by calling on people to repent and embrace the Good News. The call to repentance connects his preaching with that of John, the Baptist. If the Ninevites responded so fully to the preaching of Jonah, how much more fully should we respond to the preaching of Jesus. The essence of Jesus’ […]

Even though this is the year of Mark, we begin with a reading from John.  The second Sunday of Ordinary Time respects an old liturgical theme of celebrating different epiphanies or manifestations of Jesus.  John shows us a gradual recognition of who Jesus is – through the testimony of John the Baptist and the confession […]

God revealed himself to the Jews through the Scriptures, and to the Gentiles through nature.  Since the Magi were Gentiles, Matthew shows them receiving a revelation through astrology.  The story highlights the paradox of how the Jews who have the Scripture reject Jesus, while Gentiles come and, with the help of Scriptures, find and adore […]

We call Jesus’ family the Holy Family, and rightly so.  But perhaps we have an idealized picture of it:  angels whispering in the ears of Mary and Joseph, telling them what to do in moments of doubt, warning them in times of danger, and so on.  It’s as if they never had a doubt, never […]