It is good for us to be here: Transfiguration The Transfiguration is the last miracle performed by Christ, marking the end of his days on earth. Peter, James and John are invited by Christ up to the peak of the mountain to pray. For weeks, he has warned his disciples that the Son of Man […]
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Giving- Do you still not understand? Tuesday’s Gospel, the day before Lent began, functioned as a bellwether for these forty days of Lent. It’s so for two reasons: a meditation and a homily. Tuesday’s Gospel reading was Saint Mark: Mark 8:14-21 The disciples had forgotten to bring bread, and they had only one loaf with
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The empty sanctuary of ordinary time. The churches were glorious during this Christmas season. For more than twenty days, the poinsettias stayed vibrant, and outside Saint Matthew’s Church in San Antonio, the soaring tribute to the Triune God became, literally, a tower of light. Now, emptied of Christmas decorations, the empty sanctuaries are stark. The
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Christmas Wake-Up Call: Stoning, Massacre and a Trump PS on Becket Wake-up call? Why do we need a Christmas wake-up call? Consider that for much of the world, Christmas starts right after Thanksgiving. Christmas music plays everywhere, shopping ads begin and the Christmas trees go up. Weeks later, when Christmas Day finally dawns, the excitement’s
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What is Christmas? King Ahaz “wearies” not just men but the Lord. We hear his name three times at this time of year: In the daily liturgy of Wednesday, December 17th in the genealogy of Jesus Christ: “…Jotham the father of Ahaz, Ahaz the father of Hezekiah…” That so unbelievably colorful and earthy lineage of Abraham and
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By whose authority? Monday’s Gospel reading, and this phrase, “By whose authority?” remains in my mind days later. There’s a world hidden in that phrase. Jesus was approached in the Temple while he was teaching by the Elders and chief priests. When Jesus had come into the temple area,the chief priests and the elders of
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The blood of the church: love Just as the human heart must have blood to maintain life, so must the church have love to live. The metaphors are not mine but Madeleine Debrel’s, Venerable Madeleine Debrel. The blood of the church: love. She was a poet, this French mystic who poured out her life for
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Wonder: It’s essential place in our hearts There was a time when I had this memorized, the words represented truth to my 20-something atheist’s heart, immersed and lost in the sea of the thoughts of others. Most of the big shore places were closed now and there were hardly any lights except the shadowy, moving
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The shaking reality of Advent Amidst the Hallmark Christmas movies, red bows, tinsel, parties, Christmas music and ubiquitous political clamor, lurks a presence. A whisper deep in our hearts, in our psyches and in our souls. The phrase “the shaking reality of Advent” is not mine, but belongs to Jesuit Priest and martyr, Alfred Delp.
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Feast of Christ the King of the Universe: The Holiness of Ordinary People Just a few moments of reflection about the state of the world in 1925 compels us to stop. And think very hard about the inspiration which led Pope Pius Xl to proclaim the Sunday ending the liturgical year in the Christian liturgy as the
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