The Gospel reading today fits perfectly with the call for protection of children living in the womb. Such advocacy is at the heart of the Gospel and of Jesus’ mission. “He has anointed me to bring glad tidings to the poor, to proclaim liberty to captive…to let the oppressed go free.” Nobody is more oppressed…
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The wedding at Cana is not just about Jesus helping a couple in need. It is about his wedding to us, fulfilling the prophecy of Isaiah in the first reading: “Your Builder shall marry you.” Jesus, by revealing his glory publicly in this way, and having his disciples begin to believe in him, inaugurates the…
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Today we are presented with the mystery of Christ’s baptism and our own. Jesus is baptized in order to reveal himself as God’s only Son, and to reveal his mission of sharing that sonship with us sinners. The reality of his mission, and our status as baptized Christians, help us understand our commitment to a…
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The opening and closing prayer, the Preface, and the readings of today’s feast all work powerfully together to enable us to communicate the message of the sanctity of life. Epiphany is about “revelation” and “manifestation,” and that, of course is what Christ does. Not only does he reveal the Father to us, but he reveals…
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The family is the “Sanctuary of Life” and the basic cell of society. The Holy Family, of course, is unique. One member is God, another is sinless, and the third is a saint. But the great lesson of today is that although God could have come into the world in any way he pleased, he…
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In today’s readings, we see that Christmas is linked to Easter. Christmas is the Feast of the Incarnation (not only of the event of his birth), and Christ takes on a human body precisely to offer the sacrifice of that body that saves the world. In fact, his sacrifice is not limited to Calvary. It…
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As Christmas draws closer, the Church’s liturgy today emphasizes the theme of joy, which is not simply a happiness based on good circumstances, but a profound exultation of spirit based on the salvation that comes from God himself. Every human spirit long for joy, but often does not know how to find it. Instead, we…
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God has “begun a good work” in each of us (2nd Reading) when he called us, through faith and baptism, to live in Christ and to be “filled with the fruit of righteousness.” Advent is meant to accomplish growth in this fruit in our lives. By that growth, we then work together to “prepare the…
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The beginning of the Season of Advent provides a powerful opportunity to highlight pro-life themes in our Sunday liturgy. First, the theme of the Second Coming of the Lord – a theme particularly strong in the first part of Advent – calls us as individuals and as a society to repentance in preparation for the…
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Two ways of approaching the theme of the sanctity of life on the Feast of Christ the King are to approach it in the light of Christ’s dominion over human life, and in the light of his victory over sin and death. Christ’s Kingship is all about his dominion. All of today’s readings reflect that.…
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