Families are complicated. Certainly Jesus’ was. Those who knew him best did not understand him. He was amazed at their lack of faith. I must confess to a similar amazement that the next generation in my family no long practices the faith. Being raised in a Catholic home and attending Catholic elementary and high schools did… Read More »

Today is something of a liturgical potpourri: the presentation of the Lord, fulfilling the Mosaic Law to redeem the first born child; the purification of Mary, forty days after the birth of a child a mother is restored to full participation in Israel; candlemas, since Simeon named Jesus the light of the nations this day… Read More »

The story of the man possessed by “legion” is one of the more unusual in the gospels.  One side note to the miracle is Jesus’ admonition at the end: “Go home to your family and announce to them  all that the Lord in his pity has done for you.” Most times after performing some mighty sign… Read More »

Alec McGowen, the famed Shakespearean actor, developed a one-man show where he would recite St. Mark’s gospel. It was a mesmerizing experience according to the critics, bringing a familiar story to new life. After the performance, he would ask if anyone had a favorite selection that they would like for him to recite. Usually they… Read More »

Faith is the realization of what is hoped for and evidence of things not seen. To be a Christian is to be a person of faith. Most times we think that means assenting to an idea, a proposition, like believing that the world is not flat. “I believe in God. I believe in Jesus.” What would… Read More »

Several years ago when I was in leadership we brought in a consulting firm to help us develop a strategy for fund raising. They wanted to know all of the plans for the wonderful things we were going to accomplish. That made me think of the parable of Jesus: a man would scatter seed on… Read More »

We should not stay away from our assembly,  as is the custom of some, but encourage one another. Of course we have all be condemned to stay away from the assembly during the pandemic. How we yearn for the day when we can once again gather as a community and raise our voices in joyful… Read More »

Because of the explanation of the Parable of the Sower we tend to concentrate on what happened to the seed. How was the word received? What obstacles exist to keep the seed from flourishing? But the parable as it was delivered was about the sower, not the seed. Jesus suggests that the sower’s job is… Read More »

The scripture readings for this day remind us that family relations can be complicated. On the one hand, it is in family that we receive the faith, the values, the morality that shapes our life. St. Paul says to Timothy:  I recall your sincere faith that first lived in your grandmother Lois and in your… Read More »

The conversion of St. Paul was a really big deal in the Church’s history, the only such feast in the liturgical year. St. Luke in the Acts of the Apostles tells the story three different times and Paul himself gives his take in the letter to the Galatians. The three accounts in Acts differ in… Read More »