Most Recent Posts
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Our New Eve
Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception, Tuesday in the 2nd Week of Advent: Genesis 3:9-15, 20, Ephesians 1:3-6, 11-12, Luke 1: 26-38. Today the Roman Catholic Church celebrates the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception in a more codified manner than any other Christian denomination, including our Orthodox brethren. The story is long, essentially going back to…
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The Parched Land Will Exult
Monday in the 2nd Week of Advent: Isaiah 35:1-10, Luke 5:17-26. Yesterday, we reflected that part of Advent’s preparing the way for the Lord is to keep a burning vision of the heavenly Kingdom at the forefront of our minds and desires. I noted that there is a bit of a failure of the Christian…
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Leveling Mountains and Valleys
Sunday in the 2nd Week of Advent: Isaiah 40:1-5, 9-11, 2 Peter 3:8-14, Mark 1:1-8. The second week of Advent is marked by this phrase: Prepare the Way of the Lord! We hear it from Isaiah, and 800 years later from St. John the Baptist, and 50 years later from St. Mark in his gospel,…
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The Generous Harvest Without Cost
Saturday in the 1st Week of Advent: Isaiah 30:19-21, 23-26, Matthew 9:35-10:1, 5a, 6-8. In today’s readings, there are many themes to explore, from the richness of God’s promise to the use of agricultural imagery. In order to keep this reflection from ranging all over the place, I’d like to focus on how God’s compassion is…
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The Mystery, As We Live It
Friday in the 1st Week of Advent: Isaiah 29:17-24, Matthew 9:27-31. Today’s readings juxtapose more of Isaiah’s brilliant prophecy of Christ’s entrance into human history with St. Matthew’s deceptively concise illustration of how we can meet this great mystery in our lives: the healing of two blind men. In many ways, I feel that we…
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An Eternal Rock
Memorial of Saint Francis Xavier, Priest (Thursday in the 1st Week of Advent): Isaiah 26:1-6, Matthew 7:21, 24-27. Today’s readings ask us to consider how we use the word “strong” when it comes to our faith life. It seems reasonable that we encourage one another to keep our faith strong, or, as George Michael famously…
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On Feasting, Being Saved, and Recognizing
Wednesday in the 1st Week of Advent: Isaiah 25:6-10a, Matthew 15:25-37. In today’s readings, again we encounter Isaiah’s stunning prophecy of the Christ Event and a passage from the gospel that illustrates Christ’s prophesied reign at work in the world. On Advent days like these, we are reminded that Jesus Christ’s miraculous actions 2,000 years…
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Glimpsed by Prophets
Tuesday in the 1st Week of Advent: Isaiah 11:1-10, Luke 10:21-24. Imagine what it must have been to be a true prophet! Someone like Isaiah, Joel, or Jeremiah – given glimpses of God’s will and the heavenly kingdom. Today we hear an important prophecy of Advent: Isaiah sees Jesus, sprung from the “root of Jesse,”…