"Though the fig tree should not blossom and there be no fruit on the vines, though the yield of the olive should fail and the fields produce no food, though the flock should be cut off from the fold and there be no cattle in the stalls, yet I will exult in the Lord, I will rejoice in the God of my salvation." (Habakkuk 3:17-18) For the last three Sundays I had to endure the homilies of a certain deacon. But I correct myself: I had to endure three times the same homily by the same deacon. He … [Read more...]
Sunrise in the land of grace
“If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness! ” Matthew 6:23 We live in a world that resulted from the ideas of the Enlightenment, a period in history when the philosophies of Illuminism dominated most of the intellectual landscape of the West. The Enlightenment, French Siècle des Lumières (literally “century of the Enlightened”), German Aufklärung, [was] a European intellectual movement of the 17th and 18th centuries in which ideas concerning God, reason, nature, and h … [Read more...]
God’s man for Christmas
When Israel was a child, I loved him, and out of Egypt I called my son. (Hosea 1:1) When they had departed, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, “Rise, take the child and his mother, flee to Egypt, and stay there until I tell you. Herod is going to search for the child to destroy him.” Joseph rose and took the child and his mother by night and departed for Egypt. He stayed there until the death of Herod, that what the Lord had said through the prophet might be … [Read more...]
A Mother’s Generous Gift
Some thoughts on chapter 21 in the Gospel of Luke. Some say that the Gospel of Luke should be called the Gospel of Mary because Luke wrote his account from the point of view of the Blessed Mother. The chapter begins with the story of the widow’s mite. By the time this lesson takes place, Mary is a widow. She has contributed her only offspring, Our Lord Jesus, to the service of God. The widow remains in the Gospel forever as an example of faith and generosity. Her kind little gift is enough to … [Read more...]
Seen with the eyes of God
The Mass readings for today truly paint a beautiful picture of the world renewed by the Holy Spirit, infused forever with the love of God and free from sin. Through all the readings there is a common thread: the extolling of smallness. That is a very fitting reflection in this first week of Advent. Soon we will be celebrating Christmas, the glorious occasion when the God the Son became a little baby and was born in a humble manger from poor parents led there by a powerful mandate of Augustus … [Read more...]
