December 26, 2025
Feast of Saint Stephen, First Martyr Saint Luke, in the Acts of the Apostles, offers a profound account of the Church’s first martyr, Saint Stephen. His narrative doesn’t just recount Stephen’s death—it reveals the Spirit’s power at work in the early Church. Luke’s incidental mention of a young man named Saul, standing by as Stephen […]
December 25, 2025
Nativity of the Lord (Christmas) Isn’t Christmas a beautiful feast? Christmas is a feast of joy. What gives our Christmas celebration its charm, its joyful songs, uplifts our hearts? Isn’t it the Eucharist? Isn’t Jesus reborn among us, on our altars, though in a different condition? …-Peter Julian Eymard Unless you become as little children, […]
December 24, 2025
Be of good cheer! The end of our waiting time is near! It is no surprise that today’s scriptures focus on prophecies about the coming of our Messiah, the Son of God. One is centuries old at this Nativity: the prophet Nathan bringing God’s word to King David. The second prophecy comes just months before […]
December 23, 2025
Look, the long-awaited day of the nativity of our Lord is almost here. Psalm 25 asks us to look up and raise our heads, because our redemption is near. Let us allow Christmas to renew us this year. Let us reflect more on the simplicity of the birth of our Savior by setting aside other […]
December 22, 2025
“O” Antiphon: “O King of all nations and keystone of the Church: Come and save man, whom you formed from the dust”! These last days before Christmas offer great readings for reflection on the Incarnation and the miracles surrounding it. In the first reading, Hannah, a barren wife who prayed for a miracle, brings her […]
December 21, 2025
4th Sunday of Advent Dreams can be crazy sometimes. Recently, I had a dream that was not. The dream was real, profound, and my resounding response of “no!” woke me from a deep sleep. Despite my response, I knew God was speaking to me. I was to place my trust in him, not in those […]
December 20, 2025
Reading today’s gospel, I tried to put myself in Mary’s place during the Annunciation. It didn’t go well. I got as far as standing before Archangel Gabriel and saying ….” Hold that thought, I’ll be right back…” The incredible trust, faith, and courage it took for Mary to say “yes” to God were incomprehensible. Mary’s […]
December 19, 2025
Throughout the history of salvation, God has raised up individuals to whom he gave a mission related to creating and saving the people of the Covenant. Abraham, Moses, and the prophets each reluctantly accepted God’s call and helped to shape the people, the nation, the remnant. In today’s readings, we are once again reminded of […]
December 18, 2025
Behold, the virgin shall be with child and bear a son, and they shall name him Emmanuel, which means “God is with us.” As we continue our journey through the Church’s liturgical season of Advent in anticipation of the celebration of the birth of our Savior, we are reminded that commencing with the nativity of […]
December 17, 2025
The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham. Not too many are inspired by the genealogy of Jesus. The fact that there are two of them makes it even more difficult to spend much time reflecting on them. Matthew starts with Abraham and works forward, whereas Luke […]