The readings for today provoke us to reflect on forgiveness. Have I forgiven those who have harmed me? Have I asked forgiveness of those I have harmed? Yet more importantly, lost at times in our focus on woundedness and hurt is a deeper truth: Forgiveness is the place where we…
Today’s readings remind us that Christ, rather than death, has the last word. In the Old Testament reading, the writer presents the story of Absalom and his father, David. At this point in the story, Absalom has received counsel to kill David, his father, so that he might ascend the…
The Nunc Dimitis is a Latin phrase that means “Now let your servant depart.” The phrase comes from the first two words of Simeon’s prayer. Today, we celebrate the Presentation of the Lord Jesus Christ in the temple. During this beautiful event, as recorded in the Gospel of Luke (Luke…
You may already know that the Sermon on the Mount is more than the Beatitudes. The Beatitudes form its opening movement, not its entirety. Yet, like a doorway into a house, they shape how everything else is understood. As Jesus begins with the Beatitudes, he tells us immediately what kind…
It is never easy to speak about death. Even when it is mentioned lightly, the atmosphere often becomes tense and may be followed by some light knocking on the wood. What lies behind these reactions is fear, that even a quiet resort to little superstitions that have no real power…
Here is sage advice from Saint Francis de Sales. Saint Francis de Sales recommended frequent mental prayer that has our Lord’s life and passion as its objects. Frequent meditation on Christ will fill our soul with Him, teach us His ways and frame all our actions on His divine model.…
Sermon on the Mount (Christian Baer, 1909)1 A lamp to my feet is your word, a light to my path. (Ps 119: 105) We are still at the very beginning of the liturgical cycle. The transition from Christmas up to this coming fourth week in Ordinary Time, Cycle A, has…
Today’s Saint of the day is one of the church’s greatest theologians and a Doctor of the Church: St. Thomas Aquinas. It would be hard to overstate his impact on both the Church and the world. St. Thomas was born in Italy in 1225. When he was 19 years old,…
I always understand believing as entering into a relationship. In John 15:16, Jesus says: “You did not choose me. I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit—fruit that will last.” This expresses the very heart of the covenant between God and humanity. It is precisely for this…
There is a lot going on in the third chapter of Mark. Jesus had healed a man with a withered hand on a Sabbath in the synagogue, prompting the Pharisees to plot against him. He withdraws to the Sea with the disciples, and a great multitude follows him. He heals…