Sunday Gospel Reflections

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…

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 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…

Be patient, brothers and sisters, until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, being patient with it until it receives the early and the late rains. (James 5:7) I gave a talk in a parish on…

Many of the Marian doctrines and feasts — so troublesome to those who hold that Scripture is the sole source of what can be known about Jesus and Mary — have roots in the earliest centuries of the Christian faith. These Christians seem to…

John the Baptist appeared, preaching in the desert of Judea saying, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!" (Matthew 3:1-2) There are times my children’s faults weigh heavily on me. Why does she procrastinate so? Why don’t they pick…

They shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks (Isaiah 2:4). The prophet Isaiah wrote this verse in the eighth century B.C., a critical time in the Israelites’ history when they were being invaded by…

The Solemnity of Christ the King seems at times to be out of place in democratic societies. If a king is understood to be one who rules with absolute power, this image runs counter to what we consider the ideal government. The readings of…

It is not always easy to follow the Gospel, especially when many persons who seem to live only for themselves appear to be thriving. That’s one of the reasons why this Sunday’s Scripture encourages all of us to try to live justly and…