Jesus took his disciples up the mountain and gathered them around. He taught them saying: Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.Blessed are the…
MARY LOOKED UPWARD Mary looked back and saw a surprise, A life unexpected, before her eyes. The angel came with news divine, That she’d bear a Savior, by God’s design. Mary looked inward…
You won’t find John the Baptist at any manger scenes or on a Hallmark card, not even Advent cards. He wears a dusty camel’s hair coat, lives on locust and…
James I. McCord, the former president emeritus of Princeton University Theological School, once told the story of a man who commented that he was never coming back to a particular…
The problem with our society is that we don’t understand the power nor the dynamics of giving a blessing. We underestimate its power and we are not in the habit…
THE ADVENT WREATH During Advent, candles are lit as a sign of hope, Not just a ritual of piety but a way to cope. It’s a political act and a subversive stance, A…
A rabbi was asked, “Which act of charity is higher–giving out of obligation or giving from the heart?” All in the class were inclined to respond that giving from the heart…
Several years ago, a radio station ran a contest. Disc jockeys invited their listeners to tune in their clock radios. “Just for fun,” they said, “when you wake up to the sound of…
A True Servant! Robert Fulghum, who wrote “All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten,” said that he placed alongside the mirror in his bathroom a picture of a woman…
One day a family called their parish priest to come over because their elderly grandfather was very sick and dying. The priest came and sat down in the dying man’s…
On October 24, 2024, Pope Francis came out with a new encyclical entitled, Dilexit Nos, “He Loved Us.” “Encyclical” means a “circulating letter” and popes have been writing them to parts or all…
COUNT YOUR BLESSINGS Lord, thank you for this sink of dirty dishes, For the bounty of food that fills our wishes. Thank you for the pile of laundry so high, For the clothes…
When the Pilgrims celebrated that first Thanksgiving in 1621, they had almost nothing. And yet they celebrated as if they had everything. Most of us Americans have more to be thankful…
The American Civil War lasted for over four years, from April 12, 1861 to May 26, 1865. The Union Army lost 360,222 soldiers and the Confederate Army lost 258,000 troops.…
Every Thanksgiving gathering includes family members and others we cannot wait “To EMBRACE,” and some we have “To BRACE FOR”. This is especially true today with the political divide that exists with families…
Every year the Gospel reading on Thanksgiving Day is from Luke 17:11-19. Jesus cures 10 lepers. Only one of them, a Samaritan, returns to thank Jesus for being cured. Why…
