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The Light of the Infant Jesus
The streets are beautiful this time of year. Homes and shops are decorated with colorful lights and festive decorations. Cities and town are filled with life as people prepare for the coming of...
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Spending My Christmas in Whoville
In the Christmas classic, Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas, the residents of Whoville wake up on Christmas morning to find none of their Christmas trimmings in place. The Grinch has stolen...
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Finding God in the Lake Effect Snow
It came earlier than usual this year. Typically the “lake effect” snow doesn’t hit until January and then comes regularly through April. It takes the cold clippers from Canada to come down and blow...
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The Gift of Unanswered Prayer
We all have things that regularly appear in our prayer petitions. Some are wants, some needs, and some are desires. As the saying goes, “God has three ways to answer our prayers – yes, no, and not...
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Christmas Afterthoughts: God Made Flesh
The Message First Delivered to Poor Shepherds Of the whole gamut of myths, legends and fairy tales that have been told in human history, not even the most outrageous or outlandish can compare with the...
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Eat, Drink And Be Merry
Eat Drink And Be Merry Eat drink and be merry for tomorrow we die. There are several places in holy Scripture where this sentiment is expressed. The one that has been bouncing around my mind since I...
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Ever Ancient, Ever New: The Gift of the Liturgical Year
On a plane ride a few weeks ago, I found myself seated next to the founder of a Protestant church. He laughed because he was sandwiched between two Catholics, a married man who had been in Catholic...
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I’m Guilty And You May Be Too
I’m Guilty And You May Be Too I’m guilty and I bet you are too. I put people in baskets. It seems to be innate human nature. We boil people down into groups and put them into baskets. We put ourselves...
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Austerity for Christmas
I recently realized how I naturally put on the classical, jazz or fado (traditional Portuguese music) radio stations in my car, without any sacrifice at all. This might seem like an inconsequential...
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Christ Be Our Light! Reflections on Christmas, Chanukkah, and Strange Physics
This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. First Letter of John 1:5 (KJV) And they made new holy vessels, and...
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Advent Lessons from an Old Testament Priest
The Scriptures in Advent present us with a number of excellent role models of faith, but the father of John the Baptist is not one of them. Zechariah, a priest of the Law of Moses, serves rather as a...
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Are You Hoarding Your Blessings?
The Parable of the Rich Fool began, “There was a rich man who had a good harvest.” I knew the passage well but had never really applied it to myself. It was about a “foolish” man who wanted to store...
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Our Advent Journey — Days of Comfort and Restoration
Comfort, give comfort to my people, says your God. Speak to the heart of Jerusalem, and proclaim to her that her service has ended, that her guilt is expiated, That she has received from the hand of...
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An Advent Devotional: God’s Promises and The Second Coming
But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.—2 Peter 3:8 The Second Reading at Mass last Sunday, 10th December,...
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The Masculinity and Mortification of Auden’s St. Joseph
After two millennia, our veneration of Mary might make it somewhat difficult to imagine how St. Joseph might have seen her when he first heard of her pregnancy. Our familiarity with the joy of...
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The Crib of Greccio – Bringing Christ back into Christmas
A friend took me to a Christmas dinner at a local pub noted for its good food. It was also noted for something else too that nearly forced me into a fight. I am referring to its seasonal cider punch,...
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Mary the Blessed Mother, Full of Grace
Mary, the mother of Jesus, was the ultimate expression of both mother and believer. Her immaculate character, her sacrificial love, and her total surrender to God’s plan should draw us to God and His...
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Persevering This Christmas
In the first weeks of Advent, my intellect and faith have been assaulted by many things going on outside and inside the Church. Its been a challenging time of preparation for Christmas. These things...
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Christmas Movies: It’s a Wonderful Life and Charlie Brown
I recently bumped into an old friend from grammar school and we began reminiscing about our favorite Christmas movies. Apart from realizing that all of the candidates were over 50 years old(not...
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Advent: A Time for Being Molded in Love
Recently before the start of Mass, I was going over the readings. Though I don’t normally pay attention to the reflection above the first reading, this time I took notice. It said Advent is a time to...
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