Sunday Gospel Reflections

Your light must shine before others. (Matthew 5:16) As we launch into this day, many of us have a number of things planned. Our “to do” list looms before our mind’s eye, waiting for us to begin. We do our best to keep up with our daily…

In only a few instances in the New Testament, do we catch a glimpse of Jesus’ life within the Holy Family. In the Gospel for the Feast of the Presentation of the Lord that the Church observes on Feb. 2, we see Mary and Joseph, observant…

I urge you, brothers and sisters ... that all of you agree in what you say ... that you be united in the same mind and in the same purpose. (1 Corinthians 1:10) For the approximately past 15 years I have periodically attended one week of…

I will make you a light to the nations, that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth. (Isaiah 49:6) When I hear the word “salvation,” my first thought is of a kind of personal benefit, something that I or another person can claim…

My daughter was baptized 10 years ago on this very feast. Wearing a flowing white baptismal gown that goes back several generations in my wife’s family, she was quite the fussy baby, and she cried during the entire rite. Except,…

The mystery … has now been revealed. (Ephesians 3:3, 5) Here’s the “mystery”: God was revealed to a particular people — the Jewish people — but all along, God intended to to be revealed eventually to everyone. For a long time this plan was…

Mary kept all these things, reflecting on them in her heart. (Luke 2:19) May the Virgin make our hearts humble and submissive like her son’s heart. In her, the heart of Jesus was formed.  Let us learn to be humble, accepting humiliations…

There’s a lot we can learn from St. Joseph — humility, patience, obedience to God, the importance of silence, and devotion to family. This Sunday, the Church celebrates the Feast of the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph. In Year A, the…

This will be a sign for you: you will find an infant wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger. (Luke 2:12) I confess I sometimes sympathize with the Grinch. I look for ways to stop Christmas from coming. The closer it gets, the…

This is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about. (Matthew 1:18) This introduction leaves us waiting in expectation of a story that will leave us mesmerized. We anticipate some logical explanation about the Incarnation. But this does not…