April 2, 2025

Can a mother forget her infant, be without tenderness for the child of her womb? Even should she forget, I will never forget you. These lines from Isaiah immortalized in song, are well-known and loved. They are a needed reminder that our God is not some implacable judge, ready to toss into hell all those […]

April 1, 2025

As our focus shifts to the second part of Lent this week, we recall the baptismal readings that renew our covenant at the Easter Vigil or Easter Sunday liturgies. Our reading from Ezekiel recalls the temple where living water flows and heals those in search of such need. Our psalm echoes that God’s dwelling is […]

March 31, 2025

When you speak, do you use your hands, gesturing to make a point? In today’s gospel, John 4:43-54, a royal official asks Jesus to come to Capernaum and heal his son, who is ill. When I read Jesus’ response, I could hear his exasperation and impatience as he said, “Unless you people see signs and […]

March 30, 2025

4th Sunday of Lent We celebrate Laetare Sunday (in Latin, ‘laetare’ means ‘rejoice’) and pause to reflect on joy in this season of penance and sacrifice. Saint Paul gives us the reason for our joy: Brothers and sisters, whoever is in Christ is a new creation: the old things have passed away; behold, new things […]

March 29, 2025

Whenever I hear today’s Gospel, I think Jesus is talking to someone other than me. However, our Church, filled with so many blessings, allows us to repeatedly listen to the words spoken by Our Savior and try to understand them more explicitly. Amid our Lenten season, we are invited to reconciliation with God and with […]

March 28, 2025

I ponder the scribe’s intentions when he asks Jesus, ‘Which is the first of all commandments?’ After failed attempts by others to entrap Jesus with questions about Rome’s taxes or life after death, the scribe delved into the heart of God’s revelation to the Israelites. Was Jesus merely a shrewd deceiver, or did he truly […]

March 27, 2025

God’s people did not listen. This lament of God is found in the Old Testament. In the gospel, Jesus also complained that his people would not let him gather them up under his protective wings like a mother hen. Even today, this reality continues. God has spoken and is speaking but we do not listen. […]

March 26, 2025

Moses tells the people that they must “observe” the statutes and decrees of the Law and “teach them to your children and your children’s children.” (Deuteronomy 4:1,5-9) Jesus says that he has come to fulfill the Law and the Prophets and that “whoever obeys and teaches these commandments will be called greatest in the Kingdom […]

March 25, 2025

Solemnity of the Annunciation of the Lord Here am I, Lord. I come to do your will. (Psalm 39) These beautiful words of the psalmist introduce us to the spirituality of the Blessed Virgin Mary, who is one of the principal actors in this text. Today, as we celebrate the Annunciation of the Lord, we […]

March 24, 2025

In today’s Gospel, Jesus concludes one of the first days of his public ministry. In the synagogue in his hometown, Nazareth, on the Sabbath, he is handed a scroll and proclaims a passage in Isaiah that is his mission statement as Messiah. Quoting Isaiah, Jesus says he has been anointed “to bring glad tidings to […]