The baptism of Jesus by John was a pivotal moment in the life of Our Lord. It marked the beginning of his public life. Each of the gospel writers reflects a particular understanding of the experience when they report on the incident. St. Mark, for example, emphasizes the divine commission given to Jesus at the… Read More »

when I was in California, many years ago, I used to do youth ministry. With the teen club we would do mock trials pretending we were in Roman times during the persecutions. The judge would ask, is there enough evidence to convict this person of being a Christian? The prosecutor and the defense attorney would… Read More »

In St. John’s Gospel the first words spoken by Jesus are a question: “What are you looking for?” That question, of course, echoes in each human heart. I’m looking for love, looking for peace, looking for a home, looking for forgiveness. A different answer for each one of us. And despite the seemingly infinite variety… Read More »

“See what love the Father has bestowed on us that we may be called the children of God. Yet so we are… Beloved, we are God’s children now.” St. John in his first epistle stresses our God-given identity. We don’t need to do anything to be a child of God — say a prayer or… Read More »

We begin our new year with a question: “Who are you?” This question posed by the priests and Levites from Jerusalem was addressed to John the Baptist but we should take it personally. Who are you? We tend to define ourselves by our relationships. I’m this one’s wife, son, uncle, niece. Or we define ourselves… Read More »

St. Luke begins this particular scene: “the shepherds went in haste to Bethlehem.” Of course they did. The angel told them to. They wanted to get to the action. But that is not the whole story. They can’t stay in Bethlehem. They can’t bask in the glorifying and praising. They can’t remain in amazement. No,… Read More »

Those of us of a certain age recall the Prologue of the Gospel according to John as “the last gospel.” At the conclusion of every Mass the celebrant would proclaim John 1:1-18 before leaving the altar. (Since it was all in Latin, not many people knew what was going on!) The fact that this text… Read More »

Joseph, Mary and Jesus were refugees. They fled from a dangerous situation in their own country to find a safe haven. In this they are no different from refugees fleeing from a civil war in Syria or a regime of gang terror in El Salvador. (And, there is no mention in the gospels that St.… Read More »

During the night prayer of the Church (compline) the prayer of Simeon is recited: “Lord, now let your servant go in peace; your word has been fulfilled.” Simeon is saying that he has completed his bucket list. When we recite our night prayer we are asked to reflect on our spiritual bucket list. Are we… Read More »

It is easy to think of Herod as a monster. Only a monster could kill innocent children, right? But then I think of our own history as a nation. We glorify the Pilgrims — yet because of racism and greed for land within two generations the native peoples of New England were all but wiped… Read More »