christianity

“Jesus who is called Messiah” will light our way through the homestretch of Advent.

Today in the liturgical calendar of the church we begin the nine days before Christmas as we do each year with Matthew’s account of the genealogy of Jesus. Jesus, the Son of God, is fully divine, while at the same time he is also fully human. Matthew gets us started in the home stretch with the lineage of Jesus’ human line from Abraham to his father Joseph (foster father, in that Joseph was not Jesus’ biological dad, but no one would not have made that distinction in Jesus’ time.) and his mother Mary.

Jesus was part of a people and a family, he was born at a particular time and in a particular place. If you go through this genealogy with a fine-tooth comb, there are gaps, but Matthew was more concerned with the line of faith than a strict historical account. Matthew also included women in this listing, which was not common in ancient patriarchal societies. This was also not common in ancient Jewish genealogies, “which traced lineage from father to son” (Mitch and Sri, 38). Looking at their stories in Scripture will also show that most listed were not the most morally upright, but more importantly, God was still able to work through this imperfect line of humanity and so the genealogy ends with, “Jacob the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary. Of her was born Jesus who is called Messiah” (Mt 1:16).

Though Jesus was conceived in Mary who was a virgin and immaculately conceived, he came from a line that was far from perfect. As Catholics and Christians, this is our heritage as well. We are spiritual Semites. Genealogies have become more popular in recent years as can be seen by the different advertisements for DNA test kits. There is a natural instinct to reach out for these because we want to belong and to be a part of.

To understand who we are and where we have come from, and to continue forward, it is helpful to reach behind. Jesus belonged to the people of Judah. He is a part of the succession from Abraham and his clan, to the twelve tribes of Jacob, to the unified nation of Israel under David. That did not change even as the fall from grace beginning with David, continued with his son Solomon, and most of the other kings.

Joseph was the heir to the thrown that in this imperfect line of succession went underground when Jerusalem was conquered by the Babylonians. This promise of the return of the messiah, the king in the line of David remained even while under occupation for the next five hundred years under Babylonians, Persians, Greeks, and at the time of Jesus’ birth, the Romans. When Joseph died, Jesus was next in line. Jesus’ leadership would become and continues like no other before him or that will ever come again. Jesus brought God’s movement of grace, the seeds of which were planted by some of the prophets like Isaiah, beyond the nation of Israel to fulfill the promise that they be a light to the nations, a universal invitation for all.

Another piece that a careful reading of the genealogy uncovers is that Jesus does not come from a purely Jewish lineage. As mentioned above, women were included in this list of ancestors. The common denominator of each of these four women, Tamar, Rahab, Ruth, and most likely Bathsheba was that each of them were Gentiles. “Gentile blood flowed into the royal line of David. This underscores God’s concern for Gentiles, demonstrating that he brought them into the story of Israel even in the Old Testament” (Mitch and Sri, 39).

God’s invitation of relationship with him was intended from the beginning, and step by step through salvation history God continued to thirst for his children and sought to woo them back, drawing them with his tender chord of love. This would come to fruition in the incarnation. The Son of God became one with us in our imperfect and sinful human condition to set right a world that had gone wrong.

Through our Baptism, we become part of the royal lineage and line of Jesus. No blood test needed. We are not alone, no longer estranged, no longer separate, or on the peripheries. We belong to the Body of Christ. Yet many, even those who profess their belief in Christ, are missing his greatest gift of faith, which is developing a relationship with him now. Let us not be complacent and settle for Christian in name only or walk away from our birthright.

In these final days of Advent, may we set aside a little more time to spend with Jesus. As our schedule revs up, may we bring Jesus into our busy. The Son was willing to draw close to us in the incarnation that we are about to celebrate, let us draw close to him. We all have the same amount of time in our days. Deciding to set aside some time of quiet, to take some deep and slow breaths, and accept the invitation to draw close to Jesus who is at hand will help us to engage better with the time we have and those walking with us.

Those brief moments are a powerful reset. In those moments of turning our hearts and minds to Jesus, we can receive the rest and renewal we desperately need. We can receive his love and invite him to walk with us in all that we think, say, and do. We can yoke ourselves to Jesus so that we do not travel these days alone. Jesus is more than willing to share our burdens, and he will give us the strength to carry on.

By our baptism we are part of the royal line of Jesus. More importantly, Jesus is present in each moment. We just need to remember to turn to him. Each intentional, deep breath will bring our shoulders out of our ears, help us to react less, and experience greater clarity in our choices and decisions. We will also see each other a little different than before, with more understanding, patience, and love.

As we celebrate the birth of “Jesus who is called Messiah”, even in the imperfections and messy moments, Jesus’ light will shine through. We are invited this season to be the calm in the storm of the chaos. “Peace be still.”

Photo: In times of silence we will experience how close Jesus really is.

Mitch, Curtis and Edward Sri. The Gospel of Matthew. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2010.

Link for the Mass readings for Wednesday, December 17, 2025

In choosing God’s will, we will experience more peace and love.

Although the chief priests and elders evaded the question about whether or not John’s baptism was “of heavenly or human origin” (see Mt 21:26) by saying, “We do not know” (Mt. 21:27), Jesus did not let them off the hook. His intent was not to call them out or prove himself right, but to call them to conversion. Jesus, as he does with all he meets, seeks to shine a light on where our hearts and minds are in need of opening and expanding.

And so, in today’s account from Matthew, Jesus offers the Parable of the Wicked Son. The first son says he will not do the will of his father and then changes his mind and does it. The second son said that he would do the work his father asked him to do but did not. “”Which of the two did his father’s will?’ They answered, ‘The first'” (Mt 21:31). Jesus went on to reveal to the priests and elders how those who sinned had indeed gone against his Father’s will, but heard John, came to him for baptism and were willing to repent. They recognized they were off course and made a correction. The priests and elders, saw no need for John’s baptism for themselves, and in also rejecting Jesus, were not only going against God’s will, but his Son.

These men who stood before Jesus and challenged him were likely received the call received by the Pharisees and Sadducees: “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath” (Mt 3:7)? For they, like the chief priests and elders, were not interested in repenting, they thought themselves well and good, thank you very much.

Jesus not only compared them to the second son who did not follow the will of God, but he also said that the “tax collectors and prostitutes are entering the kingdom” (Mt. 21:31) before they would. If their hearts were hardened before, the grip only tightened. They did not take kindly to Jesus’ invitation to repent.

The call for repentance that John, Jesus, and the Apostles all proclaimed was, and still continues to be, an invitation to experience God’s grace and love. We are good but something has gone terribly wrong and we need to set things right. Jesus is the one to help us to do just that. We just need to be willing to admit there is a problem. We need to come to the awareness that Paul came to, when he wrote: “What I do, I do not understand. For I do not do what I want, but I do what I hate” (Romans 7:15).

If we think we are fine and not in need of any help, let alone that are we in need of a savior, then we are going to  keep coming back to Paul’s anguish as he pulled out what little hair he had left. We can’t white knuckle our way to healing, there is no three point plan that will free us from our sin, breathing deep alone will not help us to experience freedom from anxiety.

We have to place ourselves first, less, and Jesus first, more. The more we make that transition, then we can also say with Paul, and keep a little more hair while doing so, “I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me” (Galatians, 2:20). When we are willing to repent, to change our mind, and are willing to be transformed, then like the first son, we will follow the will of the Father. Instead of isolation and unrest, we will come to experience more of his communion and love.

Photo: We still have time this Advent to repent and experience our Father who loves and thirsts for us.

Link for the Mass readings for Tuesday, December 16, 2025

The love of Jesus can help us in our times of conflict.

The question raised by “the chief priests and the elders of the people” regarding what authority Jesus was teaching was not an uncommon question. Rabbis and teachers often began their presentations by sharing with their listeners who was their teacher. It would be comparable today to say what university we received our degree from.

There is also a bit of edginess in their question as well because Jesus has not only consistently been challenging their authority but he had also just purged the temple by driving out the sellers and money changers (see Mt. 21:12-17).

Although Jesus’ authority came directly from God, Jesus did not fall for their trap, wanting him to say just that. Then they could accuse him of blasphemy or force him to say his authority did not come from God and show him to be a fraud. Jesus did not give them the satisfaction. Instead of answering their question, Jesus asked one of his own. “Where was John’s baptism from? Was it of heavenly or of human origin” (Mt: 21:24)?

The answer given by these priests and elders showed further their unwillingness to accept who Jesus was. They were the shepherds of the people of Israel, yet they would not speak the truth. They were like reeds swaying in the wind (see Mt. 11:7). Unlike John the Baptist who stood on the truth and spoke truth to power, these chief priests and elders offered an answer that was calculated and weighed out by taking a quick opinion poll among themselves. Their answer was a lukewarm, “We do not know.” 

In answering this way, their authority as leaders was diminished. For if they were the religious guardians and guides, why could they not answer the simple question regarding the origin of John’s baptism? Jesus was not deflecting the question. He was prefacing his response. For if they recognized that John’s baptism originated from God, then why would they refuse to believe Jesus? They knew the answer, they were not willing to give it.

How about us? Are we like reeds swaying in the wind? Do we weigh our answers solely on a perceived response or do we speak the truth as the Holy Spirit leads us? We want to be liked, respected, to belong and to fit in, to be affirmed and accepted, which is healthy and natural, but at what cost? Sometimes we feel uncomfortable speaking what we believe because we fear another’s reactions. This is even more challenging these days because a simple response can affect a harsh reaction.

To live out our baptismal call as prophets, there will be times that we need to resist the perceived and real pressures we feel, resist our own insecurities, lean into conflicts, trust in God, seek his guidance, and speak the words the Holy Spirit gives.

As we do so, we need to remember to speak from a place of understanding and love. It is better to engage in a dialogue, not just mutually imposed monologues. A good reminder is to follow the lead of Jesus and ask more questions rather than offer ultimatums and pronouncements. Our goal in any encounter is not to impress or prove we are right and the other wrong, but to express what we believe and allow others to do the same. We can grow from one another when we are willing to listen and dialogue even when we disagree.

Sometimes God invites us to be silent and sometimes to speak boldly with passion. The key is to prayerfully pause, then choose to speak or to be silent. It is possible to move away from the extremes of talking past or shouting over one another and avoiding talking altogether. This happens when we listen first, breathe, pray, pause, and respect each other.

Jesus, please forgive us for giving into automatic reactions, not speaking as you have led, and disrespecting others. Help us in each encounter to breathe, to have ears to hear your guidance, to be understanding and respectful. Give us the courage and words to speak with charity and help us to know when to be silent and to listen. Above all, help us to love.

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Photo: Quiet times alone with God help us to experience peace that we can carry with us in times of conflict and disagreement.

Link for the Mass readings for Monday, December 15, 2025

Surrendering to Jesus, we will experience more of his presence, light, and love.

John the Baptist sent his disciples to Jesus to ask him whether or not he was the Messiah. Jesus answered their inquiry with the concrete expressions of what was happening. “Go and tell John what you hear and see: the blind regain their sight, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have the good news proclaimed to them. And blessed is the one who takes no offense at me” (Mt 11:4-5).

The ministry of Jesus was and continues to be today one of personal contact. Christianity is not merely a philosophical idea or even a particular theology. It is a faith tradition of an encounter with the Messiah, the Christ, the Son of the living God. We are walking through Advent to remember again that a light has shone in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it (cf. Jn 1:5).

Sometimes we can be weighed down by the darkness, the negativity, horror, and destruction we see all around us. The world certainly appears to be in a real mess at times. One of the most common critiques, and a valid one at that, is if there is a loving God, why does he allow such horrible things to happen, especially to the innocent?

The Scriptures are clear, all that God has created is good. Evil is a deprivation of the good. It is an absence or distortion of the good that God has made, like a cavity in a tooth. The healings and miracles of Jesus we read about, as he himself describes in today’s Gospel, are the beginning overture of the restoration of that which was lost. God comes to us in our everyday lives and circumstances with the intent to save us, to make things right again for everyone. “God, in Christ, has come to set right a world gone wrong” (Grunow, 175).

No matter what darkness we may be experiencing or witnessing this Advent, let us look for the light of Jesus shining in the midst of it. I can’t offer you a sufficient answer as to why God allows some bad things to happen or why he heals some and not others.

Some six years later, the words of the head of hospice still ring in my ears. “Except for the cancer, JoAnn was in perfect health.” I have no answer as to why she contracted cancer. I don’t ask why any more nor do I cling to the past. I remember and continue to hold JoAnn close to my heart but it has been in letting her go that I have experienced a closeness to where she is now. Especially, in some precious moments in the Mass and at prayer.

This Advent as we look for a light in the darkness, may we also be that light in the darkness for others. As we receive, rest, and abide in the love of Jesus, may we allow him to shine through us, to allow his love to be present in each encounter. We are just passing through this world and need to remember this is not all there is, but there is a life of fulfillment to come. What we see now is just but a hazy image of what is to come in the fullness of the height, depth, and breadth of God’s plan. John knew he was not the messiah, he was the forerunner, the messenger, and he became less so that Jesus could become more.

Jesus began his public ministry after John’s arrest and his healing of the blind, lame, and deaf, the lepers and the three he brought back from the dead, are but a foreshadowing of heaven he opened for us in the humanity he assumed. We live in the in-between time of the first coming of Jesus at his birth and his second coming. May we remain open to receive Jesus daily by rejecting doubt, despair, and fear, and choosing hope, faith, and love. As we encounter Jesus close at hand, may we offer our hand to one another.

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Photo: Blessed with this view walking back to the rectory after morning Mass.

Grunow, Stephen. Introduction to the Gospel of Mark in The Word on Fire Bible: The Gospels. Park Ridge, Illinois: Word on Fire, 2020.

Link for the Mass readings for Sunday, December 14, 2025

Elijah, the prophets, and John prepared the way for Jesus the Way.

The disciples who asked the question, “Why do the scribes say that Elijah must come first?” (Mt 17:10) were Peter, James, and John, who had just witnessed the transfiguration of Jesus. They were walking down from the Mount of Transfiguration, tradition identifying this mountain as Mt. Tabor, and the context of the question had to do with, Moses and Elijah, who they saw with Jesus as he revealed to them his divinity.

As the disciples were attempting to digest this Mystery of the Transfiguration just witnessed, they were drawn back to what they knew. Most likely what they were referring to were the accounts in the Books of Sirach and Malachi. In Sirach 48:10, we too can read that, “You [Elijah] are destined, it is written, in times to come to put an end to the wrath before the day of the Lord, to turn back the hearts of the fathers toward their sons, and to re-establish the tribes of Jacob.” In the last chapter of the Book of Malachi, which is incidentally the last lines of the Christian Old Testament ordering of the canon, are the words: “Remember the law of Moses my servant, which I enjoined upon him on Horeb, the Statutes and ordinances for all Israel. Lo, I will send you Elijah, the prophet, before the day of the Lord comes, the great and terrible day” (3:22-23).

Moses in this encounter represents the Torah, the Law or Teachings, and Elijah represents the line of prophets. Elijah also, as we can read in 2 Kings 2:11, was taken up by God into heaven, amid “a flaming chariot and flaming horses… and Elijah went up to heaven in a whirlwind”, and, it was believed, that he was to return again at the appointed time of the Messiah’s coming. Jesus clarified for his disciples that John was indeed the new Elijah. In the revealing of his divinity to Peter, James, and John, Jesus showed that he was the fulfillment of the salvific paths forged by Moses, Elijah, the line of prophets, and John the Baptist.

Jesus is the fulfillment of the Law and Prophets as well as our fulfillment. We are invited to prepare the Way of the Lord in our hearts and minds, to become less so that Jesus can become more, as well as to help prepare the way for others. When I began to attend church again in my late teens, I went to the Congregational Church that was about a half-mile walk from our home. At the end of that first service I attended, the interim pastor made an appeal for Sunday School teachers.

One of the things he said was that we do not know who Jesus’ Sunday School teacher was and he referenced that we could be teaching Jesus and not be aware. He was not speaking literally but his point rang true: we have the responsibility to continue to pass on the Greatest Story ever told. Also, his appeal was an avenue for the Holy Spirit to speak through him to me, and although I refused the invitation the first week, I accepted the following week. What might Jesus be inviting you to do this Advent? Trust in him and his invitation.

My trusting in the nudge of the Holy Spirit and “yes”, to teaching Sunday School, not knowing the first thing about what I was doing, thinking I was too young and way too inexperienced, both true, would eventually lead me back home to the Catholic Church, to the Franciscans, then leaving and to marriage, becoming a step-father, school teacher, permanent deacon, and now as I am typing, blessed to  be serving as a priest.

Let us all take heed of the invitation from the prophets and John the Baptist, summed up by Jesus, and carried on by the Apostles: “This is the time of fulfillment. The kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the Gospel” (Mk 1:15). My journey has not come to an end and neither has your’s.
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Photo: Blessed to experience an Advent day of reflection and prayer with my brother priests at Our Lady of Florida Spiritual Center. We can notice the kingdom of heaven at hand, when we are still and repent.

Link for the Mass readings for Saturday, December 13, 2025

The least of us are greater even than that John because of our baptism in Christ.

Amen, I say to you, among those born of women there has been none greater than John the Baptist; yet the least in the Kingdom of heaven is greater than he” (Mt 11:11).

Jesus shared that there has been no greater than John the Baptist. John is a bridge from the Old Covenant to the New. To say that John and Jesus played significant roles in ushering in the Kingdom of heaven is an understatement. For they both preached the same message of repentance, of the need for all to recognize how and where they had turned away from and needed to turn back to God. This is a key invitation for us as well during the preparatory seasons of Advent and Lent. May we have the ears to hear!

John lived a life of asceticism giving all to God, rejecting the material comforts of his time, choosing to live in the wilderness, and relying solely on the divine providence of God. He followed in the line of the prophets and he did so with full-throated confidence and fearlessness. Many were moved by his words and came to repent. John though ministered not to put himself on a pedestal, his role was to prepare the way for the coming of the Messiah. He was to assist in ushering in the Kingdom of heaven, as he himself was not the Kingdom. John knew well, Jesus was to increase and he was to decrease (cf. Jn 3:30). John’s words of speaking truth to power also led to his martyrdom. The death of John signaled the time for Jesus’ public ministry to begin.

Jesus recognized the contribution and place of John in his Father’s plan, yet he also shared how “the least in the Kingdom of heaven is greater than he.” The reason Jesus made this claim was that John’s baptism was one of repentance. The Baptism Jesus instituted was one of a new life of communion. Through our being baptized in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, we have been given a new life and are incorporated into his Mystical Body.

Through our Baptism, we, in participation with Jesus, become priests, prophets, and kings. Through the gift of the common priesthood, we are to sacrifice our time, giving of ourselves in prayer, worship, and service; our talent, embracing the unique gifts God has given us to share; and our treasure, being good stewards of the blessings God has given.

As prophets, we are to speak the word of God, speak truth to power as John and Jesus did, we are to be the voice of the voiceless and stand for up for the human dignity of all those who are vulnerable or mistreated from the moment of conception, through each stage of life, until natural death.

We are to be servant kings, resisting the temptation to seek our own power, glory, fame, and riches, and instead surrender ourselves to the will of our Father, and like his Son wash the feet of those in need. There is no service of our brothers or sisters that we ought to feel is beneath us in reaching out in love, which is to will the good of each other.

Advent is our time to repent, to recommit, to rediscover the wonderful relationship we are invited to embrace and are called to share: The infinite, divine love of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit, whose name we have been baptized in.

Advent is also an opportunity to slow down and remember why we do what we do. Each time we pass the baptismal font we bless ourselves with the Sign of the Cross. We are invited to resist the temptation of dipping in our fingers and continuing to move ahead on the fly. Instead, may we stop, dip our fingers and intentionally make the Sign of the Cross calling to mind each person of the Trinity.

This practice also provides us the opportunity to recommit ourselves to our baptismal vows, to renounce Satan and all evil, to affirm our commitment to the Trinity, Jesus Christ our Lord, and one Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church. Just as we do this when we enter, we may repeat the gesture and brief meditation when we depart. We leave as bearers of the Christ who we have received at Mass to go forth into our realm of influence to love one another as Jesus loves us, with an all-embracing, unconditional love!

Photo: Last minute touch ups the eve before opening Holy Cross again for public Mass after completion of our renovation.

Link for the Mass readings for Thursday, December 11, 2025

“I will give you rest.”

Verses that we read, such as: “Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest” (Mt 11:28) really hit the spot, they arrive at the right time. I am sure that if you are reading these words you may also welcome Jesus’ invitation. Yet what is the labor and burden that we need to rest from? Teachers, administrators and students, of which I was a part for decades are coming into crunch time now as the end of the quarter or term is so much closer. Those in other occupations also work long hours, and sometimes, two or three jobs, just to get by.

Many also who oversee and care for their home, others with children, elder parents, family members, and dealing with family issues that can be enormous, especially at this time of year. Add to the above Christmas preparations: decorating, putting up lights, shopping, buying presents, cooking, baking, writing and mailing Christmas cards can also add to feeling weighed down.

Unfortunately, there are way too many who are not so much burdened by work but the lack of access to gainful or meaningful employment. They are burdened with keeping the bills paid and a roof over their heads as the temperatures fall. Some have no home or family, they are burdened with getting from day to day, seeking ways to get food, clean clothes, a place to wash and relieve themselves. Christmas cards are a distant thought. Many others are burdened and living in fear that they or their family member or members may be deported.

Speaking of fear, how many of us are burdened by fear, anxiety, stress, and strain from a myriad of swirling reasons? Concerns about our family, community, country, and the world are a burden that can also weigh heavily. Advent and Christmas, even when life is more stable, are still times in which many buttons can be pressed and many stressors can be triggered. What is the adage that is offered when family and friends gather? Resist talking about politics, religion, and… we all can add a few others.

If you are feeling weary and worn as we draw close to the midway point of this Advent Season, it is a good opportunity to make some time to just stop and take a slow, deliberate breath. Notice your shoulders coming out of your ears. Embrace the invitation of Jesus and rest in him. Allow the burdens to come to mind, then visualize yourself giving them to Jesus, open yourself to his guidance, ask for his help for the day to day challenges, and seek who may be best able to assist you in any particular situation. Slowing down may help us to become more aware of any sins that we feel burdened by. This is a good time to rest and trust in the forgiveness of Jesus and confess to him in the Sacrament of Reconciliation. Jesus will forgive you and bring you a lightness and fresh start!

Our God “does not faint or grow weary, and his knowledge is beyond scrutiny. He gives strength to the fainting; for the weak he makes vigor abound” (Isaiah 40:28-29). We do not have to deal with anything alone. We have help and support. My friend, Pastor Jerry Scott, taught me years ago a life lesson which I still return to, more often now as I begin my sixth decade. When a person is chopping down a tree, exerting a lot of energy and effort, but finding the results insufficient, he or she needs to realize that they need to step back, take a breath, and sharpen their ax. With a little rest, renewal, and a sharpened blade, the job can be accomplished sooner.

Let’s figuratively do the same daily with each of our endeavors. Let’s resist just putting our heads down and plowing through with blinders on and instead take some time to stop and assess from time to time what we need, where we need help, and yoke ourselves to Jesus for his guidance and strength. Sometimes, making time to breathe and plan, we can use our time more efficiently.

When we choose to intentionally breathe more, we can react less. We can bring our challenges to Jesus and he will help us to carry the burden, as we follow his will, we can work smarter instead of harder. In developing a pattern and place of trust and hope in him, seeking his guidance and direction this Advent, we will renew our strength and soar as with eagle’s wings; we will run and not grow weary, we walk and not grow faint (cf. Isaiah 40:31)!

Photo: Spending time outside, taking some breaths, and trusting in God, can do wonders.

Link for the Mass readings for Wednesday, December 10, 2025

Lost in the busyness, anxiety, and noise? Stop, breathe, and pray. Jesus is right there.

“What is your opinion? If a man has a hundred sheep and one of them goes astray, will he not leave the ninety-nine in the hills and go in search of the stray” (Mt 18:12)?

Many of those Jesus asked and us reading or hearing this Gospel today might share our opinion that the man leaving the ninety-nine to find the one would not be a wise choice. Jesus again appears to be turning the normal order of things upside down in painting a word picture of God’s folly. This parable clearly shows the abundant and extravagant love of his Father for each and every one of us. The act of this shepherd can appear not only unreasonable but unbelievable.

Yet, this is not the feeling to the sheep or the one who is lost. This extravagant love is a relief. God as a shepherd is presented in the Old Testament as well. God is the shepherd and Israel his sheep. This was presented in today’s first reading: “Like a shepherd he feeds his flock; in his arms he gathers the lambs, carrying them in his bosom, and leading the ewes with care” (Isaiah 40:11).

This expression of love and care we can also experience if we are willing to resist slipping into judgment and pride, as did the elder son who was not willing to forgive his brother who was lost but found. The father loved the elder son with the same love as the son that was found, but he was closed off from receiving it for years, not realizing that he was just as lost as his younger brother.

God gives us a choice to reject or accept him because of his extravagant love for us. His greatest joy for us is that we will experience being be fully alive. He also knows what will make us so, yet he won’t impose even what is best for us, on us. God is willing to risk us going astray such that we can come to realize the emptiness in any pursuit that ultimately does not bring us closer to him. God does not wish for any one of us to be lost.

God constantly coaxes, invites, and urges us to fulfill who he created us to be. He guides us along as a parent urging his child to walk with tender chords of love. Yet, though he lovingly implores us along, we can be distracted, turn, crawl away, and go in a different direction.

During Advent, we are invited to slow down, to breathe and examine where we have taken our eyes off and turned away from our Father, where we have crawled away from his invitation to walk with him. No matter how far we think we have gone astray, no matter how lost we may think we are, God always remains close, following, watching, ready for us to turn back to him. When we do turn back, we will find him there waiting for us, urging us to run back into his open arms and to experience his loving embrace.

God is eternally present. He is not in the regrets of the past nor the anxieties and insecurities that blur the promise of our freedom in the future. God loves us more than we can ever mess up, more than we can ever imagine, and even in the midst of the committing of our most egregious of sins. God not only refuses to define us by our worst choices and moments, but when we trust in him, when we ask for his help, he will forgive us, offer healing, and lead us a few steps at a time forward, carrying us “in his bosom” if necessary.

Once forgiven, healing, and back on the path, we are to then also follow Jesus and seek out the lost sheep. “Christ follower’s should imitate the Father’s pastoral care, seeking and saving the disciples who have gone astray” (Mitch and Sri, 230).

Photo: Jesus will lead us through the unclarity, insecurity, and stress if we are willing to stop, change course, and follow him.

Mitch, Curtis and Edward Sri. The Gospel of Matthew. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2010.

Link for the Mass readings for Tuesday, December 9, 2025

“The knot of Eve’s disobedience was loosed by the obedience of Mary.” – St. Irenaeus

And coming to her, he said, “Hail full of grace! The Lord is with you” (Luke 1:28).

With these words from the angel Gabriel, we can begin to understand the special and unique gift of grace that God bestowed upon Mary such that we are blessed each year to celebrate this magnificent Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Mary was conceived without sin and she remained not only a virgin all her life, but also sinless and “full of grace” all her life.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church (492), echoes our second reading from St. Paul: “The Father blessed Mary more than any other created person ‘in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places’ and chose her ‘in Christ before the foundation of the world, to be holy and blameless before him in love’” (cf. Ephesians 1:3-4). 

This special grace was bestowed upon Mary such that she could undo the sin of another who was created sinless: Eve. As we saw in our first reading from Genesis, Adam and Eve were created good, without sin, but both fell by disobeying God and bringing sin, suffering, and death into the world. The Church fathers and doctors saw in Mary, the new Eve. As St. Irenaeus of Lyons, (130-202 A.D.) wrote in his great work, Adversus Haereses, “the knot of Eve’s disobedience was loosed by the obedience of Mary.”

Mary’s, “yes”: “May it be done to me according to your word” (Luke 1:38), and her continued “yes” with each of her thoughts, words, and deeds aligned with God’s will for the rest of her life, kept her full of the special grace that God bestowed upon her from the moment of her conception. Adam and Eve fell when their trust in God was shaken by Satan’s temptation. Mary trusted God with Gabriel’s invitation even though she did not understand what was being asked of her. Her question to Gabriel, “How can this be, since I have no relations with a man” (Lk 1:34) was not a demand for proof, but a sincere seeking to understand what was being asked of her, a faith seeking understanding.

Mary embodied faith seeking understanding, though while she pondered, as St. Bernard of Clairvaux put it: “Tearful Adam with his sorrowing family begs this of you… Abraham begs it, David begs it… this is what the whole earth waits for, prostrate at your feet… Answer quickly, O Virgin. Reply in haste to the angel, or rather through the angel to the Lord. Answer with a word, receive the Word of God. Speak your own word, conceive the divine Word. Breathe a passing word, embrace the eternal word.”

When Mary said, “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word” (Lk 1:38), a weary world wounded by the sin of her first parents, exhaled with relief, for the long-awaited savior would now be conceived, born, and come to redeem what had been lost. Mary, in her obedience, loosed the knot of the Sin of Origin committed by Adam and Eve in their disobedience. Mary inmaculatus, Immaculate Mary, was blameless, conceived without sin, for this very moment in time so that of her free will she could say, “yes” and become the new Eve and her Son the new Adam.

Mary, help us to ponder your “yes”, that we may be willing to say “yes” and follow the will of God in all we think, say, and do. Help us to be obedient, to resist a knee jerk reaction to reject outright what we do not understand and choose instead to be open to the possibilities you make available to us that are beyond the realm of our senses and limitations alone. Help us to place our trust in God, Jesus, his Son, and the love of the Holy Spirit in all situations and with every thought, word, and action.

——–

Photo: Mary, pray for us that we may repent, know your Son, his love, and follow our Father’s will.

Quote of St. Bernard of Clairvaux from volume 1, Liturgy of the Hours, p. 345.

Link for the Mass readings for Monday, December 8, 2025

“He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.”

I am baptizing you with water, for repentance, but the one who is coming after me is mightier than I. I am not worthy to carry his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire (Mt 3:11).

John is offering a baptism of repentance. The people are coming to him, some traveling up to twenty miles through the desert. They were not coming to the Temple, the formal place of worship, but to the wilderness. John, the son of a priest, and so a priest, represents an answer to the hunger of the people that is no longer being fulfilled by much of the religious leadership of his time. He is the embodiment of the prophet who has returned – Elijah, who himself also dressed in “a hairy garment tied with a leather belt” (2 Kings 1:8). He speaks for God and the people are willing to listen and follow him because of his authenticity. And in his time he was most likely more popular than Jesus was in his. Jesus himself said that there was no one born on the earth greater than John (Matthew 11:11).

Yet, John the Baptist is clear that he is not the long-awaited Messiah. He is just the precursor as was promised. “John’s appearing in the desert dressed like Elijah would have signaled to the Jews that he was playing the part of the long-awaited Elijah, preparing for the Lord’s coming” (Mitch and Sri, 63). John as with the prophets like Elijah who had gone before him was preaching the need for repentance. He is preparing the hearts and minds of the people, inviting them to repent, to turn away from their sins and self-centered ways so that they will be prepared to recognize the Lord when he comes.

The baptism of Jesus was and is different than John’s. It is a baptism not just of repentance, but also of “the Holy Spirit and fire.” The baptism of Jesus will be wholly transformative. Fire consumes and transforms that which it touches and the Holy Spirit is often symbolized by fire. Within the Jewish tradition and found in the Old Testament, fire is associated with purification. The purifying and transformative fire of the Holy Spirit is love.

Love is an expanding, unitive force. It is a direct counter to the self-focused, curving in upon oneself and divisiveness of the fallen nature of our humanity. Love is an act of the will and draws us out to be engaged with the betterment of others. When we experience the love of God we are changed and transformed. This is not a one time be all encounter, but one that is to be experienced and shared consistently. The more we share the love of God the more we receive, and the more love we receive, the more we are transformed.

John the Baptist reminds those coming to him and us who read the Gospel of Matthew today that none of us are worthy of God’s love. That does not mean that we are bad. We just fall, short on our own, of the glory of God. We do not deserve nor can we grasp God for ourselves. No matter our will power and diligence, we must be willing to receive the Holy Spirit on his terms, not ours. We simply accept the invitation to receive the love of God, allow him to heal and expand us beyond our limitations, and share what we have received with others.

Photo: A quiet moment with the setting sun between the 4:00 and 5:30 Vigil Mass.

Link for the Mass readings for Sunday, December 7, 2025.