Click one of the following for a specific menu: ADVENT CHRISTMASTIDE LENT EASTERTIDE SOLEMNITIES, FEASTS, ETC. OUR LADY ORDINARY TIME OTHER CELEBRATIONS ..read more

The Third Sunday in Ordinary Time [B] Jonah 3:1-5,10  +  1 Corinthians 7:29-31  +  Mark 1:14-20 January 21, 2024 A few years ago, this Third Sunday in Ordinary Time was given an unofficial name:  the “Sunday of the Word of God”.  The Church focuses our attention this Sunday upon what the Word of God is all about. So reflect upon the Word of God from three different perspectives.  Reflect first upon the Word of God in relation to God the Father, and then upon the Word of God made Flesh, and finally upon the Word of God in relation to us who are Christians. +&n ..read more

Homily for the feast of St. John, Apostle & Evangelist December 27, 2023 Holy Mother Church privileges St. John’s Gospel account.  At the Sacred Liturgy, she reserves the proclamation of John for the more important times of the Church year.  While the Gospel accounts of Matthew, Mark, and Luke share many passages in common, much of St. John’s Gospel account is found only in John.  In case you’re considering a New Year’s resolution of reading more Sacred Scripture in the new year, and in case you’re trying to decide which book of the Bible to start with, let me give you three ..read more

It’s easy to see how today’s Gospel passage can cause confusion.  This passage describes the sacred event of the Annunciation:  the First Joyful Mystery of the Rosary.  We see St. Gabriel the Archangel and the Blessed Virgin Mary in this scene.  St. Gabriel announces to Mary what God the Father wants to bring about through Mary.  For her part, Mary gives her consent, declaring, “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord.  May it be done to me according to your word.”  Those beautiful words, spoken by the most beautiful woman to walk this earth, are the heart of t ..read more

In southwestern France, alongside the Pyrenees mountains, rests a small town called Lourdes.  In the year 1858, a fourteen year old girl named Bernadette started to see apparitions of a “small young lady” holding a rosary .  It wasn’t until the sixteenth apparition that Bernadette learned the name of the lady, who told Bernadette:  “I am the Immaculate Conception.” Years after the final apparition, once the local bishop and civil authorities accepted Bernadette’s claims, the decision was made to create a statue of the Immaculate Conception.  It stands today in the center of ..read more

The Twenty-fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time [A] Sirach 27:30—28:7  +  Romans 14:7-9  +  Matthew 18:21-35 Pride and anger have something in common.  Both can be either good or evil. Take pride, for example.  A student ought to take pride in a report card with very good grades.  A sports team ought to take pride in winning a championship.  A farmer ought to take pride in completing the season’s harvest.  All of these forms of pride are morally good, and deserved, even though each demands qualification.  Each requires the exercise of the virtue of p ..read more

The Seventeenth Sunday in Ordinary Time [A] I Kings 3:5,7-12  +  Romans 8:28-30  +  Matthew 13:44-52 Saints are an important part of our lives as Catholics.  We pray to a patron saint for a particular need.  We name our children after saints.  We celebrate, throughout the year, the feasts of saints who inspire us by their struggles as much as by their accomplishments. If you were to look online at what’s called the “General Roman Calendar”, you’d see the list of saints whose feasts are celebrated at Holy Mass throughout the world.  However, the list of s ..read more

The Sixteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time [A] Wisdom 12:13,16-19  +  Romans 8:26-27  +  Matthew 13:24-43 Very likely, at some point you’ve asked a priest to pray for you or one of your intentions.  Whenever a priest is asked this, as he often is, he generally fulfills that request in one of a few ways. The most powerful prayer that a priest can offer, of course, is the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.  Because Holy Mass is central to our lives as Catholics, there’s a formal schedule for Mass intentions that’s organized in the parish office weeks ahead of time. However, if ..read more

The Fifteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time [A] Isaiah 55:10-11  +  Romans 8:18-23  +  Matthew 13:1-23 If there’s one part of Sunday Mass that gets overlooked, it is the Gospel Acclamation.  This sentence or two that’s sung before the Gospel Reading, in between the Alleluia being sung, is very brief.  Because it occurs when people are still standing up and finding their place in the missalette, its words often escape our notice.  But as a way to start reflecting upon today’s Gospel Reading, consider what today’s Gospel Acclamation declares. “The seed is the word of ..read more

The Fourteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time [A] Zechariah 9:9-10  +  Romans 8:9,11-13  +  Matthew 11:25-30 “Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest.” There are three ways in which the Lord Jesus wants to give us rest.  Each of these three types of rest corresponds to a certain type of labor and burden. First off, there are those who labor and are burdened like Martha in the famous Gospel passage about Jesus visiting the home of the sisters Martha and Mary.  Do you remember this story?  When Jesus arrives, Mary sits at the feet of J ..read more