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You may have grown up thinking of the Season of Advent as that four-week sprint just before Christmas.  Or, maybe you thought of it as the appetizer whose sole purpose was to get you to the main course—Christmas!  When you’re a kid waiting for presents (present company included), four weeks of Advent can seem like an eternity.  To say that the Season of Advent is four weeks long is liturgically correct albeit a bit short-sighted.  The Reign of God …

We don’t use it in everyday language, but you may have heard the word “apocalypse”. Apocalypse is a Greek word meaning “revelation”— something is being revealed. So, the Book of Revelation, that second reading we heard from, is considered apocalyptic writing. The first reading, from the Book of Daniel, is also considered apocalyptic writing. Apocalyptic writing has to do with the end time (and here we are at the end of the liturgical year) and what will be revealed …

Naïve story #1: As a young child, and listening to music coming from a transistor radio, I thought there was a shrunken jazz band actually inside the radio. I’m pretty sure that’s not how it works, even though I still have no idea how transmitters or receivers work. Naïve story #2: As a young child, when the collection basket was being passed around during Mass, I thought all of the money collected—100% of it–was going to help the poor. …

Only certain songs pass the test of time and are still sung or played on the radio decades after they first came out. One such song is Harry Chapin’s “Cat’s in the Cradle” which made its debut in 1974.  If you’re not familiar with it, the song is centered on a little boy who absolutely adores his father. The child wants nothing more than his father’s attention, but his father is too busy with work and commitments. The father keeps …

This gospel passage was one of the most important scripture stories told to those seeking baptism in the Church in the first few centuries.  It has lots to teach us as well.  Remember, only adults were baptized during the first 350 years of the Church’s existence. Back then, what they called the Catechumenate–and what we call the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults–catechists told those seeking baptism the story of Bartimaeus, the blind beggar.  You could not become a Christian, unless a …

Many people read or listen to these gospel stories as simply stories from the past. When we do that, we easily dismiss them by convincing ourselves that the context of 2000 years ago was so different than our context today, these stories couldn’t possibly have anything to tell us, even if they are the words of Jesus. But I would say, the majority of you, since you come back week after week, are willing to go deeper. Without always …

Children, for the third Sunday in a row, play a prominent role in Jesus’ teaching. Two weeks ago, we heard Jesus say, “Whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me.” Last weekend Jesus warned us not to put a stumbling block before these little ones. And, today’s gospel ends with Jesus gathering children to himself and blessing them after the disciples tried to shoo them away. Children’s ability to be spiritual guides perhaps has something to do with their …

We were once told–during our seminary formation years–95% of all the problems that will come across our desks as future priests (if we were ordained) would stem from two fundamental sources: peoples’ false image of God and peoples’ false image of self. These false images live in all of us, priests included. However, I’m convinced the number is not 95%, but 99.99%. Equally convincing to me is that the false image of God and the false image of self are inherently connected. …

For most of my life I used the terms “soul” and “spirit” interchangeably, as if they meant the same thing.  I have since learned there is a difference.  Our souls refer to the depth dimension of ourselves, a reality that can only be accessed by some kind of descent (going down).  In your soul, you are absolutely unique, a one-of-a-kind creation never to be replicated.  If you listen to your soul, you will discover God’s plan for your life, a plan that nobody else is entrusted with …

Although the Son of Man is guided by the hand of God, he will be killed by human hands. Jesus has come to terms with that; the disciples clearly have not. The problem, with the way the disciples are thinking, is the same problem with the way the disciples were thinking in last Sunday’s gospel when Jesus said, “Get behind me. For you are thinking not as God does, but as humans do.” I always thought we were humans and, therefore, …