Holy Family

Today we celebrate the Feast of the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph. It is fitting to celebrate this feast during the Octave of Christmas, for Jesus was truly born into a human family, founded on the marriage of Mary and Joseph. The Gospel today presents St....

Christmas

Jesus Christ is born! With the birth of the Savior, God has burst into the darkness of our human condition as a light, to lead all people home to him. He has entered physically, in bodily form, into his creation. God has come as a helpless newborn baby to be seen,...

Fourth Sunday of Advent

In the first reading, God sends the prophet Isaiah to bring a message of Good News to the troubled and fearful King Ahaz, who is facing a looming crisis. God invites Ahaz to have faith and rely completely on him. And to strengthen the weak king’s faith, he offers to...

Third Sunday of Advent

The clergy may don rose-colored vestments at today’s Mass – one of only two times in the year that they do so. Rose represents joy (gaudium in Latin); hence the Third Sunday of Advent is also known as Gaudete Sunday. What does joy have to do with the season of Advent?...

The Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary

The document that declared the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary as a “doctrine revealed by God” is aptly titled Ineffabilis Deus, that is, “ineffable God.” When something is “ineffable” it is too great or extreme to be expressed in words. Certainly God...

Second Sunday of Advent

“Whatever was written previously was written for our instruction, that by endurance and by the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.” When St. Paul wrote this to the Romans, he was referring to what we know as the Old Testament. We, however, apply his...