Last spring, I received a text from a dear niece requesting prayers for a good friend who had a few months previously been diagnosed with a rare form of cancer. Two weeks ago, this young lady died. She was 23. A last Facebook post, presumably written by her family, states: “I’ve been battling cancer for over a year now, it was one mighty battle and I went further than any ...
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14
DEC
2018
Perspective is important. I recently had the experience of visiting Masada National Park in the Judaean Desert looking out over the Dead Sea. Masada is an ancient fortress built by King Herod the Great around 35 BC, and when you are standing at the top of the mountain looking down at the desert and water below, there is a sense you are really rather high in the sky. In ...
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6
DEC
2018
Happy New Year everyone! Today we celebrate the beginning of a new year in our liturgical calendar. It is the beginning of a new cycle of prayers and scripture readings. We start this new year with the next four weeks preparing for the season of Christmas. This preparation time is termed the Season of Advent. What does the word “advent” mean? The ...
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30
NOV
2018
The Church did not celebrate Christmas, at least not liturgically, until the 4th century. The same is true of the great feast of Pentecost. No Marian feast was celebrated by the Church until the 5th century. The martyrs, who willingly laid down their lives for the faith, were not honored with formal celebrations until the 7th century. And the Solemnity of ...
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22
NOV
2018
As we head toward the end of our liturgical year, our readings focus on the “end times”. In today’s gospel, Jesus sets the stage for what we can expect to see when the time for his second coming is upon us. “The sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light.” This, to me, sounds like utter darkness; and pretty scary too. When we think about ...
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17
NOV
2018
Today’s Gospel narrative remembers Jesus’ observation and reflection upon the generosity of the little people in His own day. Jesus pointed out the example of a poor widow who contributed to the Temple’s charitable storehouse not from her excess, but from what she had to live on. Her generosity meant that she would have less to eat herself precisely ...
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9
NOV
2018
“Hear, O Israel! The LORD is our God, the LORD alone!” These words, known as the Shema are the centerpiece of Jewish morning and evening prayer and the focus of all biblical teaching. Because there is only one God we are told: “Therefore, ...
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1
NOV
2018
“What do you want me to do for you?” Jesus asks his disciples in last week’s gospel and again of Bartimaeus in today’s. Their responses couldn’t be more different. The disciples showed that even though they had been with Jesus for a while, they still didn’t understand his purpose or message, for they asked for positions of privilege in his new ...
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25
OCT
2018
It is rather amazing when you think about it – what James and John do. The arrogance of it! Imagine! “Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you … Grant us to sit … in your glory.” I can’t envision ever going to any teacher of mine and asking such a thing. Jesus’ final response is an explanation that for James and John and ...
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20
OCT
2018
Taking care of young people is not an optional task for the Church, but an integral part of
her vocation and mission in history.
(Young People, the Faith, and Vocational Discernment, 1)
Most of you alive in 1985-86 will remember Whitney Houston’s rendition of the grand ballad Greatest Love of All, which began with the ...
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11
OCT
2018
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