Feast of the Baptism of the Lord Matthew 3:13–17 REFLECT When Jesus approached John the Baptist and asked John to baptize him, John tried to prevent him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and yet you are coming to me?” (Mt 3:14). We […]
Epiphany of the Lord Matthew 2:1–12 REFLECT Italian priest and philosopher Fr. Luigi Giussani famously once came upon a young couple kissing in the street. Interrupting their romance, he asked them, “What does what you are doing have to do with the stars?” Fr. Giussani […]
Saint Raymond Penyafort, priest 1 John 5:14–21 REFLECT At the age of sixty, Raymond retired. A Dominican priest, having served popes and kings as a confessor and advisor (he was a canon lawyer), he wanted to spend his twilight years in seclusion. And then his […]
Saint André Bessette, religious 1 John 5:5–13 REFLECT There are a number of saints and blesseds, holy men and women, who were porters (doorkeepers) of their religious communities. Saint André is one of them. He famously quipped, “When I joined this community, the superiors showed […]
Saint John Neumann, bishop 1 John 3:11–21 REFLECT For longer than I would like to admit, I confused St. John Neumann with St. John Henry Newman. The latter is the brilliant Anglican theologian who became Catholic and died a cardinal. The former is the saintly […]
Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton, religious 1 John 3:7–10 REFLECT One day before her conversion to Catholicism, St. Elizabeth Ann Seton found herself thinking about the Eucharist during a service in her Episcopalian church. In fact, during the service there, she found herself looking out the […]
The Most Holy Name of Jesus 1 John 2:29-3:6 REFLECT In 1972 comedian George Carlin outlined seven curse words you could never say on television. A recent psychological study examined the use of expletives in print from thousands of books from 1950–2008. The study found […]
Saints Basil the Great and Gregory Nazianzen, bishops and Doctors of the Church 1 John 2:22–28 REFLECT Basil the Great, his younger brother Gregory of Nyssa, and Gregory of Nazianzen were all very good friends. To this day the group is collectively called — by […]
Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God Luke 2:16–21 REFLECT A new year. As we look back at the year that has been and look forward to this next year in hope, it’s easy to lose sight of where God has been or where we’ll find […]
Seventh Day in the Octave of Christmas John 1:1–18 REFLECT “And the word became flesh,” writes Saint John in his Gospel. But what does this mean? Pope Benedict XVI explains, “The word ‘flesh,’ according to the Hebrew usage, indicates man in his whole self, the […]