Archives for December 2023

“Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, as in all wisdom you teach and admonish one another, singing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God.” (Col. 3:16 ) On this Feast of the Holy Family, I think it’s a good time to reflect upon our family lives, and to examine whether we’re being good family members. When we contemplate the Holy Family, we note the fact that when Jesus became man – when the Word became flesh – He became flesh as a little child within a family. That was a divine choice; because Jesus could have chosen any way he wanted to manifest Himself. He could have arrived on earth as a 33 year old or an 80 year old man. But Jesus was conceived and began his existence in Mary’s womb, and was born as a baby in a family. Mary became the … [Read more...]

“Behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall name him Jesus. He will be great and will be called Son of the Most High.” (Luke 1:31-32a) A number of years I was praying the Rosary with our small group at 11:00am in front of the abortion clinic on St. Charles Avenue near Louisiana (before it closed), and I got yelled at by a Fundamentalist. Although I’m used to experiencing taunting while I’m praying in front of abortion clinics, I’m not used to being yelled at by a fellow “Christian” because I’m praying the Rosary. One would think we could take a moment to set aside our differences in a mutual effort to pray for an end to abortion! The point of the man’s rant was that I was “glorifying” Mary by saying the “Hail Mary.” He was yelling at us “Mary is dead. Why … [Read more...]

[John the Baptist said:] “One mightier than I is coming after me. I am not worthy to stoop and loosen the thongs of His sandals. I have baptized you with water; He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.” (Mk. 1:7-8) One of my favorite books by Archbishop Fulton Sheen is called “Life of Christ.” It’s a book that explores the life of Jesus using a great deal of reason and human history. As a seminarian I recall being taken in by the first words: History is full of men who have claimed that they came from God, or that they were gods, or that they bore messages from God - -Buddha, Mohammed, Confucius, Christ, Lao-tze, and thousands of others, right down to the person who founded a new religion this very day. Each of them has a right to be heard and considered. But as a yardstick external … [Read more...]

Jesus said to his disciples: “Be watchful! Be alert! You do not know when the time will come.” (Mt. 13:33) One might hope that Jesus would announce His Second Coming simultaneously through a text message, Twitter, Facebook, a Google News Alert, PSA’s on all of the broadcast and cable television and radio stations simultaneously! Because if that were the case, He’d be bound to reach 90% of the world population who are immersed in technology through tv, radio, the internet and cell phones. But I don’t think that’s the “watching” that Jesus is calling us to engage in. In fact, I don’t really think He’s talking about our using our “eyes” at all. Jesus does say “watch!” as the last word in this Sunday’s Gospel. And that word comes from the Greek word ?????????? (gregoreite) really has less … [Read more...]