Monthly Archives: December 2023

In your hands

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In today’s gospel account, it is now forty days after Jesus’ birth. Mary and Joseph are performing their duty as pious Jewish parents by coming to the Temple to fulfill the requirements of Exodus 13. It is a ritual that reminds the parents that this child is now a member of the family that God redeemed from the slavery in Egypt. And so, they come to offer a simple sacrifice as they dedicate their first-born child to the Lord and to the larger, holy covenant family of God. Continue reading →

If you are around later…

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And by later, I mean 5 billion years or so, you just might witness what happens to planet Earth when our sun enters its red giant stage of life. We orbit around a G-type star (yellow dwarf) we call the Sun. When such a star reaches the end of life, it has depleted the hydrogen needed to keep the core nuclear fusion going. The star begins to turn to other internal fuel sources, loses mass, the core gets hotter and the plasma atmosphere expands. Eventually, our sun will grow more than 200 times as wide as its present size. Continue reading →

The prophetess, Anna and going home

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This coming Sunday is the Feast of the Holy Family. This is nothing known of Anna apart from these verses. While the language is not exactly clear if she had been widowed 84 years or was 84 years old, either way she was elderly. There had been no prophet in Israel for hundreds of years, so it is noteworthy that God had raised up this prophetess. Perhaps she was recognized as such by Temple authorities given it is possible to understand that “She never left the Temple” to mean she had quarters in the Temple precincts. Continue reading →

Maybe in my lifetime

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Today’s gospel from St. Luke is the narration of the Presentation in the Temple. The presentation that was required 40 days after Jesus’ nativity to complete Mary’s ritual purification after childbirth, and to perform the redemption of the firstborn son, in obedience to the Torah (cf. Leviticus 12, Exodus 13:12–15). It is then and there that the Holy Family encountered Simeon who had waited a lifetime. Continue reading →

For a new year….

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Here are “10 Guiding Principles” for a new year

THY WILL BE DONE – Are we completely giving ourselves over to God’s will? And embracing the high adventure of His plan, over our plan, wherever that may lead?

LOVE OUR PEOPLE – Are we loving our people above all else and as if they are Jesus in disguise? Are we detached from things, money, power, honor and comfort, so we are free to love people most fully? Are we helping each person take one step closer to reaching their own dreams in this world and becoming a saint in the next? Continue reading →

The Parents

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This coming Sunday is the Feast of the Holy Family. The gospel is part of the infancy narratives of St. Luke and this week is the story of the “Presentation in the Temple.” When the shepherds arrive at the manger in Bethlehem, Luke records: “they made known the message that had been told them about this child. All who heard it were amazed by what had been told them by the shepherds. And Mary kept all these things, reflecting on them in her heart.” (Luke 2:17-19)

Continue reading →

Innocents and Villains

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There is a classic Christmas song known as the Coventry Carol. The carol was traditionally performed in Coventry in England as part of a mystery play called The Pageant of the Shearmen and Tailors. The play depicts the Christmas story the Gospel of Matthew, chapter 2. The carol itself refers to the Massacre of the Innocents, in which Herod ordered all male infants under the age of two in Bethlehem to be killed. It is a lament that is imagined having been sung by the mothers of the children lost to Herod’s cruelty. It combines the sound of their weeping with the gentle cadences of a lullaby. The lullaby is known as “Lully Lullay.” The account of the Holy Innocents is today’s gospel.  You can view a video of the carol being performed by the King’s College Choir. Continue reading →

May your joy be complete

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Today we celebrate the Feast of St. John the Evangelist. In midst of the Christmas season today’s gospel seems out of place. It recounts Mary Magdalene’s experience of Easter morning when she reports to Peter and the other apostles: “They have taken the Lord from the tomb,
and we do not know where they put him.” In that scene she is the first witness to the Resurrection, the first evangelist proclaiming the Good News to those who would be charged with carrying that news to the end of the earth. The scene is as foundational to evangelization as can be. Continue reading →

Focus and Spotlight

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This coming Sunday is the Feast of the Holy Family. The gospel is part of the infancy narratives of St. Luke and this week is the story of the “Presentation in the Temple.” From the Lukan prologue to our present verses, the focus and spotlight of the narrative has moved around highlighting many characters in the infancy stories of Jesus. Upon arrival at the Temple the movement is narrowed, but nonetheless attention needs to be paid to where the author is leading us. Continue reading →