Pentecost is one of our highest feasts — marking the anointing and confirmation of the Church by the Holy Spirit. It is a true turning point for humanity, when God begins to interact with us in a new way. The Church’s liturgy for Pentecost is so full of the mystery …
You may have seen the recent information about the falling numbers of Americans who consider themselves Christian. The younger the group, the less they consider themselves Christian, even if they were baptized in the Church. The figure below is from an April 3, 2024 article in The Pillar. The main …
Feast of St. Augustine, Monday of the Twenty-first Week in Ordinary Time, Year A: 1 Thes 1:1-5, 8b-10, Mt 23:13-22. Apart from St. Paul, it’s hard to think of a more pivotal early figure for the Roman Catholic Church than St. Augustine of Hippo. Even in the heady time of …
Sixteen miles northeast of the town of Abiquiú, New Mexico, just two and a half miles past the road to Georgia O’Keefe’s famous Ghost Ranch, is Forest Road 151. If you take this unassuming dirt road the length of its 13 miles, the sage, juniper, and cholla cactus flatland gives …
Thursday of the Fourth Week of Advent, Year A: 1 Samuel 1:24-28, Luke 1:46-56. Today the Church reminds us how humanity has been working in concert with God, 1,000 years apart; specifically, how unlikely mothers bore a child who would be a special link for the people to their God …
Wednesday in the Fourth Week of Advent, Year A: Song of Songs 2:8-14, Luke 1:39-45. Today’s readings are pregnant (pun intended) with the mystery of the divine waiting to burst forth. Both Old Testament and New present us with figures full of a happy anxiousness for meeting their ultimate love. …
Tuesday of the Fourth Week in Advent, Year A: Isaiah 7:10-14, Luke 1:26-38. Today’s reading from Isaiah can come across a bit odd. Not the bit about the future Emmanuel, but the bit about Ahaz being offered whatever kind of sign he wants. As a kid, I read a lot …
Thursday in the Third Week of Advent, Year A: Isaiah 54:1-10, Luke 7:24-30. We are traveling today, so I have to keep this reflection short before we head to the airport, but I did want to write something about that venerated group in the Apostolic Age and the Patristic Age, …
Memorial of Saint John of the Cross, Wednesday in the Third Week of Advent, Year A: Isaiah 45:6C-8, 18, 21C-25, Luke 7:18B-23. I want to consider Saint John of the Cross in just a short reflection. I have always admired his writings. I am drawn to the mystical side of …
Memorial of Saint Lucy, Virgin and Martyr, Third Tuesday of Advent, Year A: Zephaniah 3:1-2, 9-13, Matthew 21:28-32. Alongside the great promise of our covenant with God – that we will be saved and granted eternal life with Him – there is an ominous warning. If we don’t come to …
