Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary

The readings for today’s glorious feast, the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, offer us an opportunity to look back into salvation history to an earlier event in Mary’s life, the Visitation, and to the “great sign” in the sky in the Book of Revelation, and to the...

The Immaculate Heart of the Blessed Virgin Mary

Yesterday we celebrated the Solemnity of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus and today we follow with the Memorial of the Immaculate Heart of the Blessed Virgin Mary. The Church has chosen to put these two special days back-to-back to impress on us that the essence of...

Solemnity of the Annunciation of the Lord

We have just passed through the richest period of the liturgical year, following Jesus through Holy Week, focusing on his Passion and Death, and then rising with him on the third day and celebrating his Resurrection throughout the Easter Octave and Divine Mercy...

The Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.” This famous line from Charles Dickens’ A Tale of Two Cities seems to apply well to the vivid contrast between today’s first reading and the Gospel. The third chapter of Genesis gives us an account of the terrible...