“And Mary kept all these things, reflecting on them in her heart.”  This is the second time in a week that we heard about Mary keeping all these things and reflecting on them in her heart.  You’ll recall that we heard this same phrase in Sunday’s gospel passage after Mary and Joseph found Jesus in the temple.  You will remember that Jesus was surprised by his parents’ concern and explained that he must be in his Father’s house.  Both on that occasion and the occasion we hear about this morning […]

Once again, let me wish all of you a Merry Christmas.  That’s exactly what we’re doing right now: celebrating a Merry Christmas.  Have you ever wondered what the word “Christmas” means?  Originating from the Old English phrase, “Cristes Maesse,” a phrase that can be traced back to at least the year 1038, it means “Christ’s Mass.”  Yes, we are celebrating Christ’s Mass with great merriment as we recall the great work God has done for us from the very beginning of time and especially through sending his son – Jesus, […]

Let me wish all of you, once again, a very blessed Christmas!  We gather this evening to celebrate the most blessed event of all time: the birth of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.  We hear, once again in today’s Gospel, the story of his birth.  It is the story of Joseph and Mary putting their trust in God and cooperating in his plan of salvation for all of us.

In the minds of all of you children, I’m sure Christmas has taken forever to get here.  Soon, you’ll be opening […]

On this, the last Sunday of Advent, the great mysteries and personalities we have heard from over the past weeks suddenly converge in new ways. The prophetic promises made by Jeremiah, Baruch, Zephaniah over the past three Sundays and today, Micah to Israel foretold a just shoot from the house of David, a messenger of comfort, a mighty savior and a strong shepherd become stories of two children to be born, one the son of an elderly woman beyond child-bearing years, the other the son of a young virgin, conceived […]

“What must we do?”  We hear that question asked three times in today’s gospel account.  What must we do?  Much like the Jewish people in the time of Jesus, Christians have asked that question down through the centuries, as if we could achieve salvation and redemption by ourselves.  It is easy – in our pride – to think that whether or not we will go to heaven is tied to the sum of our good deeds.  Of course, as we humbly admit our sinfulness, we come to recognize that we […]