December 12, 2024
Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe Be Inspired. In Sue Monk’s award-winning The Secret Life of Bees, a ship’s masthead recovered and renamed and dubbed ‘The Black Madonna’ plays a significant role as a statue character. Every year, during the feast of the Assumption, women gather and rub honey on the statue as honey is […]
December 11, 2024
“Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest.” Matthew’s Gospel verse reminds us this short Advent season that we are not required to act on all the commercial hype we are bombarded with across all forms of media between Thanksgiving and Christmas. Listening to the morning news […]
December 10, 2024
Memorial Our Lady of Loreto Pope Francis added the memorial of Our Lady of Loreto to the liturgical calendar in 2019. Loreto is a place of pilgrimage where the faithful believe the house that the Blessed Mother grew up in, was visited by Gabriel, said yes to the Incarnation, and raised Jesus, which is now […]
December 9, 2024
Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary It stuns me that everything on this planet constantly changes as much as our Creator is constant, giving us guidance and stability. John’s gospel starts with “In the beginning was the Word,” and Genesis begins with “the earth was a formless void.” A lot of […]
December 8, 2024
Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be made low. The winding roads shall be made straight, and the rough ways made smooth. These words are found in both readings today. God’s promise to the people in exile and those awaiting a savior gave hope to those who bore the weight […]
December 7, 2024
Memorial of Saint Ambrose, Bishop and Doctor of the Church O people of Zion, who dwell in Jerusalem, no more will you weep;…with your own eyes you shall see your Teacher, While from behind, a voice shall sound in your ears: “This is the way; walk in it” (Isaiah 30:19) These readings move our attention […]
December 6, 2024
And out of gloom and darkness, the eyes of the blind shall see. The lowly will ever find joy in the LORD, and the poor rejoice in the Holy One of Israel. This passage from Isaiah was chosen to fit with the gospel of Jesus healing two blind men. Many of the readings we will […]
December 5, 2024
“A strong city have we; he sets up walls and ramparts to protect us. Open up the gates to let in a nation that is just, one that keeps faith. A nation of firm purpose you keep in peace; in peace, for its trust in you.” (Isaiah 26:1-3) When we partake of the Eucharistic banquet […]
December 4, 2024
We are moving forward in our Advent observance as we anticipate once again the incredible Mystery of the Incarnation, in which the Son of God chose to take on our humanity so that through him, we could be gifted to share in his divinity. We are gifted this year (2025) with a Jubilee of Grace, the […]
December 3, 2024
On our third day of Advent, we remember new births and dawns and being pilgrims of hope and God’s promise never to leave us. Isaiah paints a picture for Israel of a better life that will come when they, like that tree stump, grow toward God’s vision out of the dormancy of their souls. God […]