Reflection for the readings of December 24, 2023, the Fourth Sunday of Advent. We’ve made our journey these four weeks of Advent with the people who led up to Jesus. King David is imperfect but chosen. The prophets, men and...
The correct answer to the unconditional question “Who is like God?” is the unconditional response “No one is like God!” Only God is truly infinite. Only God exists essentially. Only God is absolutely perfect. All finite substances have real essential...
In 2017, I came across in article in Church Life Journal titled, St. Maximilian Kolbe and the War Against Indifference. I’m not exaggerating when I say that this is my favorite thing I have ever read about Fr. Kolbe. I’ve read...
Mira il tuo popolo, bella Signora, che pien di giubilo oggi ti onora; anch’io festevole, corro ai tuoi piè. O Santa Vergine, prega per me. I spent about half of May traveling in the Central Mediterranean, the part of the...
What do our many and varied calendars reveal when we pause to examine them? They both impose and reflect rhythms, some of them natural, some invented. The calendar year seems to be one of the latter. There isn’t anything special...
In his prayer for the consecration of Russia and Ukraine to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, Pope Francis lamented the collective sins of our world. We can’t see ourselves as free of guilt; we have all fallen. He said: Yet...
Today, January 1, 2022, is the Solemnity of Mary, the Mother of God, as well as the 55th World Day of Peace. During his homily at Mass today in St. Peter’s Basilica Pope Francis returns to the theme of the...
A reflection on the readings for the Fourth Sunday of Advent — December 19, 2021 (Click here for audio) The Beacons of Light initiative here in the Archdiocese of Cincinnati has been a needed but complex and challenging process. Speaking personally,...
Today, November 1, is the Solemnity of All Saints, and, as in past years, Pope Francis gave a special noon Angelus address to mark the feast. Today, as he does most years, he spoke about the Beatitudes (Mt 5:1-12), the...
A reflection on the readings for Sunday, August 15, 2021 — the Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary Today we celebrate the Feast of the Assumption of Mary. When we look at Mary, we see both the image...
When we moved to California and bought our first home, I enthusiastically set out to decorate it. I knew that I wanted a picture of the Annunciation to hang at the bottom of our stairs so that every morning it...
There is a picture by the Russian painter Nicholas Roerich called “The Mother of the World.” First executed in 1924 and then painted again in 1937, the image shows a haloed woman enthroned on some sort of mountaintop, wearing a...
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