mary

“Whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother.”

Even a surface reading of the Gospels will offer a glimmer of Jesus making things new. We can read and imagine the scene today. Many are gathered around him. The crowd is large, we might recall a similar scene when the four friends came to get to Jesus and were also denied passage because of the enormity of the crowd packed tightly together. Those gathered were focused intently on Jesus as he taught. His family, presumably the relatives that only a few verses earlier came to seize him because some of them thought he was out of his mind (cf. Mk 3:21), had arrived, were standing outside. They send word to Jesus, thinking they would get the VIP treatment. The message passed among the people was: “Your mother and your brothers [and your sisters] are outside asking for you” (Mk 3:32).

Most would have expected him to immediately get up and welcome his family. Jesus seized on the opportunity for a teachable moment. He looked, not beyond and past the crowd that encircled him to his family, did not wave to them to come closer, but rested his gaze upon those who were nearest to him and said: “Here are my mother and my brothers. [For] whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother” (Mk 3:35).

The true measure of the family in the kingdom of God is not bloodline but faith in and following the will of God. Those who have experienced or still experience the gift of a close, tight-knit, extended family can come close to the dramatic moment of silence that must have followed after this statement. For anyone living in the ancient Near East, familial, clan, and tribal relations were paramount to survival. To say that family bonds were strong is an understatement. Yet, Jesus challenged this societal norm by raising the bar even higher and expanded the bond of family beyond blood or marriage ties.

The relatives of Jesus were not present in this inner circle, they were on the outside. Imagine who might have been sitting in that circle; sinners, the unclean, tax collectors, and possibly even Gentiles – non-Jews, and Jesus said that they were his brother and sister and mother! If his relatives thought he had lost his mind before, I cannot imagine what kind of mental conniption they entered into after these words.

Jesus was not devaluing or delegitimizing family, he was restoring the family to its proper place and extending it out beyond what anyone of his time could have conceived of. As Bishop Robert Barron writes, “when we give the family a disproportionate importance, in short, it becomes dysfunctional” (Barron 2011, 17). We as the baptized are united in a deeper way into the Mystical Body of Christ, which is an even more powerful call to unity here than the blood-line of family, clan, or tribe.

The end goal is that as we draw closer in our encounter and relationship with Jesus, we also draw closer together. As we are conformed more and more to the life of Christ we begin to bear his fruit of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, and self-control (cf. Galatians 5:22).

In sharing the fruit of the spirit, in giving this gift away to one another, our relationships will grow and our bonds will become stronger. Our love grows as we give it away, person to person, out beyond our comfort zones, to the peripheries, where there are those who feel set apart, and/or are on the outside looking in. We are even to share with our enemies. Not possible? True, if we enclose ourselves within our own bubble and focus on protecting our egos. Possible, when we deepen our relationship with Jesus and allow him to love through us.

Too many today are choosing to encase themselves in their own protective bubble wrap. Instead of embracing diversity, we are going backward, we are regressing. By choosing to close ourselves off from other viewpoints, talking over each other and at each other, if we are talking at all, and embracing fear instead of love, we are distancing ourselves from God and each other.

Our strength as a people, as a nation, and as a world increases when we embrace the human dignity of each person, and the rich diversity bestowed upon us through the unconditional love of God. May we embrace the teaching of Jesus who in his emphasis on following God’s will “was insisting that the in-gathering of the tribes into God’s family is of paramount importance” (Barron 2011, 17).

In today’s Gospel account from Mark 3:31-35, Jesus did not define those gathered around him by race, ethnicity, gender, or any other label. He defined them then, as he still defines his family today, as those who are willing to follow the will of God his Father. Mary his mother being the primary model. Imagine what she must have wondered, when she heard Jesus’ words? Mary, “is called to undergo a certain detachment in her earthly relationship to Jesus so that her faith can be stretched to encompass her far greater role in the new family that Jesus is establishing” (Healy, 80).

Jesus, please help us to open our hearts and minds and be stretched, as did Mary, to follow his will even when we may not understand what he is asking of us. Help us to receive the Love of the Holy Spirit, savor, and share that love with others. Help us to sit at your feet, not only to learn from you but also to be empowered and transformed by you, so you may be first in every thought, word, and deed.

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Photo: Who better than Mary follows the will of Jesus and the will of our Father? She who followed Jesus all the way to the cross and beyond.

Barron, Robert. Catholicism: A Journey to the Heart of Faith. NY: Image, 2011.

Healy, Mary. The Gospel of Mark. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2008.

Link for the Mass readings for Tuesday, January 28, 2025

Theotokos! – We are invited to ponder.

Mary offers us a wonderful gift through the words of Luke as we begin the new year together. “Mary kept all these things, reflecting on them in her heart” (Lk 2:19). Gabriel shares with Mary that she will conceive a child through the power of the Holy Spirit. Her relative Elizabeth, past childbearing years, is six months pregnant when Mary and Elizabeth meet. In their encounter, John leaps in the womb of Elizabeth. The shepherds convey the message they received from the angels that Mary’s baby is the long-awaited Messiah. Simeon and Anna offer prophetic confirmation that Jesus is the Messiah.

These are the events we have been hearing or reading about again during Advent and this Christmas Octave. May we, like Mary, also ponder them, not to just read or listen and move on. The Church at her best has followed the model of Mary’s reflection, pondering, and meditating upon what these words mean and has come to call this day the Solemnity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Mother of God. This title says more about Jesus than it does about Mary. This is the teaching that the Church Fathers confirmed during the council of Ephesus in 431 AD:

Mary is the Mother of God, in Greek – Theotokos – the God-bearer.

From the pondering of Paul we receive his words, “God sent forth his Son, born of a woman” (Galatians 4:4). Paul did not say, born of man and woman but of a woman. The second Person of the Trinity was sent by his Father through the overshadowing of the Holy Spirit and was conceived in the womb of Mary. Jesus is the Son of God in his divinity and the son of Mary in his humanity. He remained fully divine as the second Person of the Trinity and the Holy Trinity was not diminished in any way as he developed as a human being in the womb and was born of Mary. This truth and reality is the Mystery of the hypostatic union: Jesus is one divine person subsisting in two natures the human and divine.

Theological insights such as Mary being the Mother of God and the hypostatic union of Jesus, are easily missed or worse dismissed if we conform ourselves to the present age of instant gratification, instant access, surfing, swiping, absorbing sound bites from social media platforms and amassing information overload. These technological avenues along with the growing influence of AI can be one more distraction, diversion, and temptation that can lead to horrific outcomes or if we slow down, discern well and allow ourselves to think critically and prudently, we can experience some benefits.

If we still read books, do we do so with pencil and highlighter in hand, take notes and go back to those points underlined, highlighted, and/or annotated and ponder the insights we have received, and then put them into practice? Or do we just have a moment of pause and say hmm, interesting, and then move on to the next page, paragraph, and book, seeking more?

Let us begin the first day of the new year by taking a few deep breaths, allow ourselves to stop before getting back on the roller coaster of chaos and chronic stress, and allow ourselves to follow Mary’s guidance, and ponder. We can reflect on a word, a phrase, or a short statement that we write down and return to it often. The phrase could be as simple as a paraphrase from today’s reading: Mary pondered these things in her heart.

We can ponder a mystery of Scripture that touched us at some point in our lives and see what the deeper relevance to our lives God has invited us to experience when he moved our hearts and minds to carry this memory. We can go to today’s reading, read it again a few times and allow the Holy Spirit to overshadow us so that Jesus made be revealed present and comfortable awaiting our waking to his presence.

This reality can be deepened by meditating on one word such as: Theotokos, expressing the truth that Mary is the God-bearer, the Mother of God, and what that means to us. How can we be Theotokos? We can meditate on a picture like the one I posted with this reflection, one you may have on the wall or a precious moment on your phone or a dusty untouched photo album.

If we seek to live a life of joy, fulfillment, and meaning in 2026, we would do well to follow Mary. Following her lead would entail pondering more, slowing down, and reflecting on life, on what is important, what has value, where we are putting our time, energy, and effort, and recognizing where we do not follow God and where we do welcome God into our lives. We can reflect upon where we resist and where we follow his will.

Reflecting upon our lives helps us to move away from the automatic pilot of survival mode and experience more intention and agency. Otherwise, we may allow ourselves to float along through another year indecisively or stagnantly with indifference or cynicism, merely reacting to situations that arise, or just plodding along in survival mode or merely bored and listless. Being still can be scary because as we do so, our fears, our past hurts, and our loneliness can come to the surface.

If so, that is a gift. We are human and in experiencing our emotions, we can heal. When we experience them with Jesus whose celebration of his incarnation we have been experiencing, then there is a path lit by the light of his love that reveals a way where in the past we thought there was no way, no hope. In an intentional act of slowing down and even coming to a complete stop, the Holy Spirit can overshadow us in these very real emotions with his love, so we can begin to heal and transform beyond merely existing and set a healthier course of being more alive and grateful for the gift of our lives.

Hand in hand with Jesus and Mary, we can face and embrace our fears, and heal from our wounds. Surrendering and conforming our lives more to the life and love of Jesus, we will realize that we are not alone, and so can build more authentic and intimate relationships. We can act more decisively and with greater clarity, and experience more fully what we are here for, to bring a little more tenderness, mercy, understanding, forgiveness, and love to the many others around us who are also wounded.

May 2026 be a wonderful new year of healing, joy, and fulfillment, as we, like Mary, come to experience God’s presence in the silence of our hearts, his love that he seeks to embrace us with, so that we may become a people of faith, hope, and love in contemplation and action. Mary Mother of God, pray for us.

Here is a blessing to receive and ponder for us all for today and each day of this year. May “the LORD bless you and keep you! The LORD let his face shine upon you, and be gracious to you! The LORD look upon you kindly and give you peace!” (See Numbers 6:24-26)

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Photo: My favorite icon of Jesus and Mary, St. Mary’s Chapel, St Vincent DePaul Regional Seminary, Boynton Beach, where I was blessed to spend many hours reading, pondering, mediating, praying, and healing.

Link for the Mass readings for January 1, 2026

“My spirit rejoices in God my savior”.

“My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord; my spirit rejoices in God my savior, for he has looked upon his lowly servant. From this day all generations will call me blessed: The Almighty has done great things for me, and holy is his Name.” (Lk 1:46-49).

These verses from Luke are the beginning of the Canticle of Mary or the Magnificat. These words are recited or chanted daily each evening for those who pray Vespers or Evening Prayer in the Liturgy of the Hours. We are still able to read and recite these words, again and again, generation after generation because Mary and Elizabeth were moved by the Holy Spirit and acted upon his leading. They did not remain silent, they did not hold back their words for fear of being rejected. Mary went in haste to come to be with Elizabeth, she did not hesitate and think things over. She was clear and she went.

Mary’s words of greeting were heard by John and he leaped in the womb of Elizabeth who then, moved by the Holy Spirit, confirmed the encounter of the Annunciation when she said: “Most blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb” (Lk 1:42). Mary then responded glorifying the Lord for what God had done for her, for us, for the whole created order.

Present in this hymn of praise, thanksgiving, and hope, are words that we can make our own. We too can proclaim “the greatness of the Lord”. We can do so by thanking God for what he has done in our lives, as St Irenaeus did so when he recognized this and wrote that God sent his Son to open up heaven for us in the humanity he assumed.

Mary embodies for us Jesus’ clarification that “blessed are those who hear the word of God and observe it” (Luke 11:28). Mary has done just that all her life. She has and continues to point all generations to her Son, directing not only the attendants at the wedding feast of Cana but all of us to “do whatever he tells you” (cf. Jn 2:5).

May we rejoice with Mary today by reading and praying with Mary’s Magnificat, (Lk 1:46-56), as we prepare to remember and celebrate the birth of her Son, only a few days away. Let us open our ears to hear and do whatever Jesus tells us, such as: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength. The second is this: You shall love your neighbor as yourself” (Mk 12:30-31).

Loving our neighbors also includes anyone that really gets under our skin. We need to learn again how to have civil and respectful dialogue. We can disagree but still respect one another without belittling or dehumanizing. We can also love another, while choosing to keep at a distance if we have been belittled or demeaned. We can listen to one another’s points of view, without shouting at or over one another, and maybe we can learn from each another again. Wouldn’t the gift of respecting the dignity of another be nice to wrap, place a nice bow on, put under the tree, and open this Christmas?

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Photo: Mary reflected the light of Jesus to others even at the moment of his conception in her womb.

Link for the Mass readings for, Monday, December 22, 2025

Joseph and Mary trusted, followed the will of God, and gave us our Savior.

Joseph had an interesting twenty-four hour period. First, he learned that his betrothed, Mary, was “with child”. Betrothal in ancient Judaism was not what we think of today as being engaged. Betrothal is the first step in the marriage process in which the man and wife give consent to marry before at least two witnesses. The wife remains with her family while the husband builds a home for them. Once the time for the second stage of the marriage arrives, they will celebrate for about a week and then at the end, there is a procession of the husband and wife and all present that leads to their home. The couple enters their new home and consummate the marriage.

The key point is that even in the first stage of the marriage, the betrothal period, the couple is considered to be married and have formed a covenantal bond. If on the night of marriage it was uncovered that the woman was not a virgin or that she had conceived a child with another man, the punishment could be as severe as stoning. Although, by the time of the Roman occupation, it was not allowed for the Jews to enact capital punishment. This is why the Jewish leadership brought Jesus to Pilate to get permission for his crucifixion and why the crucifixion was enacted by the Roman centurions.

Providing this context may help us better understand that when Joseph hears the news from Mary that she is pregnant, and knowing that he was not the biological father he decided, to “divorce her quietly.” This could have been because he did not believe Mary, that she conceived this child through the power of the Holy Spirit. He also could have believed Mary, recognizing this was a miracle, but did not feel himself worthy to take on this roll. Either way or if there was some other thoughts swirling in his brain, before being able to act on his decision, the angel Gabriel had a few things to say.

“Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary your wife into your home” (Mt. 1:20). Gabriel confirmed Mary’s story and was asking Joseph to fulfill his vow to Mary and to commence with completing the second stage of their marriage. Gabriel also called Joseph, “Son of David.”

These words reveal that the royal line of David did not die out at the destruction of the Temple in 587 BC at the hands of the Babylonians. Joseph was an heir to the throne of David. Gabriel continued, “You will name him Jesus” (Mt. 1:21). In calling Joseph to name Jesus, even though he was not his biological father, meant that he was asking him to adopt him legally and that meant he was just as much his son as if by blood. Meaning that Jesus would be part of the royal lineage and an heir to the throne as Joseph was.

The end of Gabriel’s message was the most powerful. Jesus or Yeshua in Aramaic, means God or the LORD saves, and this son of Joseph and Mary was not just to be the long awaited Messiah, he is: “Emmanuel, which means ‘God with us'” (Mt. 1:23) and he be the savior of the children of God, he would save them from their sins. If Joseph did not know how to respond to Mary’s version of her account, what about now? Joseph followed Gabriel’s opening line and was not afraid. Joseph fulfilled his word, trusted in God, fulfilled the second stage of marriage, and was willing, ready and able to provide and protect his young family from the challenges that were about to unfold.

Both Joseph and Mary awaited the coming of the Messiah just as so many of their kinsmen, yet neither could believe the part they were asked to play in being the parents of the Son of God. Yet, once they were clear of the plan that God had for them they faithfully assumed their responsibility. Because of Joseph and Mary’s faith and trust in God, their ascent to follow the will of God, the second person of the Trinity, the Son of God, took on flesh and became man in the virgin womb of Mary.

As Jesus would later speak during his public ministry, “Blessed are those who hear the word of God, and observe it” (see Luke 11:28). Joseph and Mary did just that and continued to do so with each thought word and deed going forward. They are models for us and Jesus their Son is more than a model, but the one who saves us, gives us the strength, guidance, and hope when we may feel weak, lost, or experiencing sorrow.

There are so many anonymous people within and without of the Church who are just like Mary and Joseph. They quietly and diligently go about their daily lives as pencils in God’s hands. They are not only open to hearing but also following the guidance of the Word of God. They ascent to the truth and follow through with their actions. They may not have even be aware of the profound effect that their choices have had on others.

Throughout the Bible, God calls those who are not necessarily worthy, but humble and willing to play their part in salvation history. Each one of us is invited to participate as well. If our heart aches about a particular issue and we may wonder why God does not intercede and correct a certain situation, he may be convicting our conscience, moving our hearts to compassion. The injustice that tugs at our heartstrings could be an invitation from the Holy Spirit to be the hands and feet of Jesus to help to make right what has gone wrong.

Mary and Joseph waited with great expectation for the Messiah, never in their wildest dreams would they have imagined that they would play a central role in his birth. Never would they have dreamed that he would be more than the Messiah, he would be “Emmanuel, God with us.” Jesus remained fully divine while he became fully human. If it were not for the care, guidance, and support of Mary and Joseph, things would have gone badly for Jesus and for us all.

May we allow our hearts and minds to be conformed to the movement of the love of Holy Spirit as did Mary and Joseph. Jesus, Mary, Joseph, and the saints have paved the way of salvation history for us to follow. We are invited to walk on, even if with baby steps in the beginning, and play our part by daily allowing each thought, word, and action to be filtered by the Holy Spirit so that we can engage in small acts of great love with each choice we make.

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Painting: “All is Calm” by Gabriel Heaton from havenlight.com

Link for the Mass readings for Sunday, December 21, 2025

Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, please help us to follow the will of God as you did.

Joseph heard the news that Mary, his betrothed, was with child. In ancient Judaism, a betrothal was the first stage of marriage in which the couple exchanged their consent before at least two witnesses. They were considered to be legally married and yet the woman would still live in her home for up to a year. The second stage happened when the bride moved into the groom’s home and they consummated the marriage.

In Matthew sharing the information that Joseph and Mary were betrothed, indicated that the child was not biologically Joseph’s. Matthew does disclose the thoughts or emotions of Joseph about what he felt when he found out this news. Whatever inner turmoil he had, he chose not to bring Mary’s case to a public hearing, he did not want expose Mary to any shame. He was not going to make a public spectacle of Mary, but instead decided to “divorce her quietly.” Before he made his final decision though, Joseph made an excellent choice regarding the discernment of serious matters. He slept on the idea before acting.

During Joseph’s sleep, the angel of the Lord delivered a message. “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary your wife into your home. For it is through the Holy Spirit that this child has been conceived in her. She will bear a son and you are to name him Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins” (Mt 1:20-21). When Joseph awoke, he was obedient to the angel of the Lord. Joseph was willing to change his mind and took his wife into his home (Mt 1:24).

We may hear this so many times, we may miss the power of Joseph’s choice. He could have felt anger that the child was not his own and that Mary was unfaithful, which is what most of us go to when we read this account. There is another interpretation of the “reverential fear view,” which “was held by Sts. Thomas Aquinas, Bernard, Basil, and Ephraim. In this view, Mary told Joseph about her conceiving by the Holy Spirit and he responds with religious awe over the mystery of what God is working in Mary” (Curtis and Sri, 44). Joseph, like many of the prophets when encountering the work of God concretely do not feel worthy to follow through on what is being asked of him.

We don’t know what was going through Joseph’s mind before the angel, but we do know that he as did Mary once he was clear of God’s will trusted in God’s will, and “that has made all the difference” to quote Robert Frost’s poem, “The Road Not Taken.” Because of Mary and Joseph’s, “yes”, to God and to family, the Son of God became man and opened up heaven for us in the humanity he assumed.

God often works in the same way when dealing with us. What may appear to be absurd, unimaginable, or downright impossible, is indeed possible when we align our will with God’s will. This is the week of Joy in Advent.

The source of joy does not come from external experiences but from an encounter with and acceptance of God’s invitation. Joy is an experience of communion with the love of God. This has been given to us in greater measure because Jesus became one with us, and so upon his ascension into heaven, we too can experience the loving communion he experiences with his Father. We can also experience the love of the Holy Spirit in our encounter with family and friends, this exchange of giving and receiving of ourselves in conversation, shared experiences, and in resolving challenges and conflicts together.

Mary and Joseph both received incredible news, that neither of them fully comprehended. They could have easily responded in a different way. They could have given into very real fears. Instead, they trusted in and obeyed God, they chose family, and because they did, we can rejoice not just during this week but we can rejoice always! The same God who sought out Mary and Joseph has a plan for us as well.

Mary and Joseph followed God’s lead and were willing to allow their unborn child, Jesus, to come to full term. Because they were willing to risk public ridicule and worse, Jesus entered into our human condition. There may be a difficult situation we are dealing with, we may feel like we are on our own, and that there is no way out, and/or no help on the horizon. God will make a way when there appears to be no way, and reveal it to us through his Son. We may not understand either, but like Mary and Joseph, let us trust in God, one another.

Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, please intercede on our behalf this Advent Season such that we will resist the temptation of taking each of our family members for granted, and instead give others the benefit of the doubt, appreciate and be thankful for one another. Help us to react less and breathe deeply more. Help us to be more understanding, patient, and willing to forgive, such that even though we have experienced past hurts, conflicts, disagreements, and different points of view, we may ultimately experience time and again the joy of being there for one another, through thick and thin.

Photo: Blessed to spend time with the Holy Family each evening for my holy hour.

Link for the Mass readings for Thursday, December 18, 2025

“Of her was born Jesus who is called the Christ.”

The Book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham (Mt 1:1).

Many may gloss over the long genealogy of names that follows verse one. Matthew certainly had a reason, Luke also had his, as did other ancient writers for compiling genealogical lists, “for the ancient Jews, a genealogy was nit merely a catalogue of old names. Each name told a story and recalled key events in salvation history. Biblical genealogies also conferred identity and privileges on members of a family, bestowing a sense  of mission and responsibility” (Mitch and Sri, 33).

Matthew placed the context of the incarnation of the Son of God in history, in time, and in a place. Jesus belonged to a people. All of us, as human beings, have the same desire and yearning for belonging. Knowing where we come from, sharing stories of our families, of our culture, ethnicity, race, language, customs, celebrations, rituals, and religion, provide a place for us, provide stability and security. On the flip side, the more we lose the connectedness to our roots, the more we may feel adrift. The need to belong is primal.

Matthew penned for his community the roots of Jesus’ genealogy. Matthew invites us to hear them again, to recognize our place in the same saga of salvation history, for this is our genealogy also. The Church chose this Gospel today as we remember and celebrate the nativity of Mary. The whole of the Bible is a rich library of faith and a part of, not separate from, but an integral part of sacred Tradition. The Bible, from Genesis to Revelation, is a compilation from Mary and our ancestors who encountered God and shared their stories. They passed them on, generation after generation, to provide for us a foundation, so we can know that we are never alone, that we have a place, that we are a people, we stand in solidarity with one another, that we belong. We are a part of something greater than ourselves.

That rings out from the very first line of this genealogy. The announcement that Jesus is connected to Abraham the father of faith and David the prototype of the King who unified the twelve tribes of Israel. Matthew also adds, Christ. This is not Jesus’ surname, but the Greek title of “Anointed One” from the Hebrew, Messiah. Jesus is no mere teacher. He is the Christ the Son of the living God.

One thing that can weaken the richness of the foundation of our roots and identity is when it is corrupted by a lack of integrity. We see this time and again in the pages of the Bible continuing up to our present day. Those who not only turn their back on but usurp their faith, tradition, and God’s message for their own selfish means and purposes. Yet, even in the darkest of times, in those same pages there have been those judges, prophets, and people of integrity who have stood up to speak truth to power, to give voice and access to those on the peripheries.

Even today when we may feel like our country, world, or even our own lives are spinning out of control, let us remain faithful, seek courage and strength from our ancestors in the faith, those people of integrity who remained true, remained faithful, and did not turn and flee, but drew closer to God. Through our ancestors in faith and through Mary and Joseph, we are given rich models who because of their faithfulness, brought to us the gift of Jesus.

Jesus is more than a model of faith. Calling upon his name can be a prayer in itself. Jesus is Emmanuel, God with us. Proclaiming the name of Jesus places us in the very presence of the Son of God. Where the Son is, so is the Father and the Holy Spirit. We can also find refuge in the Son who became one with us in our humanity as the Son of Mary because he intimately understands each of us and our needs and challenges. He is present to us when we call upon him through the power of his name. Our lives are transformed when we allow Jesus to conform our hearts and minds to the will of his Father and become one with him in his divinity.

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Photo: Mary, Mother of God, as we celebrate your birthday, we thank you for the greatest gift you could have given us, Jesus.

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

“Holy Mary Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death.”

There was no one on this earth closer to Jesus than Mary. He was conceived in her womb, she bore him, nursed him, raised him, initiated his public ministry, held him in her arms as he was taken down from the cross, and she was with the Apostles in the upper room when the Holy Spirit descended upon them. Mary from her own beginning, through God’s grace, experienced an Immaculate Conception. When her time came to leave this life, who better than Mary to have experienced the “singular participation in her Son’s resurrection and an anticipation of the resurrection of other Christians” (Catechism of the Catholic Church 1997, 966)?

Today we celebrate the official dogmatic constitution issued by Pope Pius XII in 1950, the Assumption of Mary, acknowledging what the Church has recognized from the beginning, the special grace she received from her Son. Jesus is the promise and Mary is the hope that we will live eternally with our heavenly Father, for Mary is now where we will one day be, body and soul.

Jesus and Mary have undone the sin of Adam and Eve. They, in their continual faithful life of saying yes to the will of God, opened up heaven for us. In our darkest trials, when the storm clouds of injustice, racism, violence, division, and polarization gather, when a situation or conflict does not appear to be getting any better, when death may be imminent, and/or when a loved one has died, even then, death does not have the last word because we are not alone.

As St. Paul wrote to the Church in Corinth, “Christ has been raised from the dead” (1 Corinthians 15:20). Jesus is the first born of the new creation. We are invited to join Jesus in participating in his new Kingdom on earth as it is in heaven, preparing ourselves in this life for eternity in the next. How? By doing what Jesus and Mary did. We are to open our hearts and minds to God, hear and observe his word, and put into practice what we receive.

Mary was not blessed so much because she gave birth to the Son of God but because she heard the Word of God, pondered it in her heart, obeyed, and put it into practice. This is why the Church calls Mary the model of discipleship. Just as the moon does not radiate because of its own light but reflects the light from the Sun, so Mary reflects the light of her Son.

Mary radiates the light of Jesus in her thoughts, words, and deeds and we are to do the same such that when people look at us they no longer see us but the love of Jesus radiating from us. How do we radiate Christ to others? We become deified, our likeness to God is to be restored through our participation in the life of Jesus. This happens when we make a daily commitment to meditate, pray, and contemplate the words that God has given to us in Sacred Scripture, so as to allow the Holy Spirit to transform us by the holy fire of his love.

A simple way to begin is to commit to a time and place every day to ponder the mysteries of Jesus and Mary. One beautiful way is to practice the Rosary which embodies all three of the traditional forms of Catholic prayer, vocal, meditative, and contemplative. You may feel that praying a Rosary in one setting is too much of a task to undertake, then start with one mystery. Make the Sign of the Cross, take in three, deep breathes for each Person of the Trinity, announce the mystery and begin to ponder the mystery you have chosen.

Since today we are celebrating the Solemnity of the Assumption of Mary, ponder this beautiful mystery. The Lord’s Prayer helps to quiet our minds so we can ponder. Each Hail Mary, like background noise in a movie, helps our minds to resist distraction. Then as our mind stills we can stop the vocal part of the prayer and just imagine Mary’s final hours, maybe with the Apostle John by her side. We can imagine ourselves joining him and experiencing the peace of not only her passing but of her Assumption into heaven, body and soul. We can contemplatively rest in God’s peace that we have received from our time with Mary and the promise that she is where we will one day be and remember who we are, beloved daughters and sons of our loving God and Father.

Photo: “… by her Assumption, she goes ahead like her son to prepare a way for us.” – From The World’s First Love, by Fulton J. Sheen.

Link for the Mass readings for Friday, August 15, 2025

Jesus the Christ, the Son of God, will make all things new.

Hospitality was a key virtue for people of the ancient Near East. Martha approached Jesus as he was teaching looking for support from her sister Mary in preparing the meal. Mary was sitting at Jesus’ feet with the male disciples gathered around him while Martha appeared do be doing all the work. Martha was hoping that Jesus would support her in her request. Jesus not only did not, but said that Mary had chosen the better part and that Martha was “anxious and worried about many things” (cf. Luke 10:38-42).

We don’t know how Martha reacted to Jesus. A subtle key in today’s Gospel account from John may shed light on their last encounter and Martha’s reaction. Martha’s boldness was on display again. As soon as she was aware that Jesus was coming near, she did not wait for him to arrive but “went to meet him” (Jn 11:20). Martha’s brother, Lazarus, had now been dead for four days and Jesus, who had the time to arrive before his death, was not present to help his friend, her brother, Lazarus in his time of need.

How many times have we been in Martha’s position? Feel that Jesus was not there when we needed him most? Why do bad things happen to good people? Part of the answer is that we live in a fallen world of sin and self-centeredness. God does not bring about suffering but he does allow it. God loves us so much that he is willing to give us the free will to reject him. The cost of our freedom to choose means that there are consequences to our choices which can be detrimental or beneficial. We are all interconnected so when we choose to act on our own apart from God’s guidance and the welfare of others, the damage that ensues affects not only those around us but everyone. On the other side of the coin, there is the presence of grace, forgiveness, and love when we choose to draw close to God, especially in challenging times.

When we choose God, we will find out that we are not alone in our suffering, especially, when we do as Martha did and go out to meet Jesus. She most likely did not holding back any of the full range of her hurt and pain. Martha’s words expressed her anguish, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died” (Jn 11:21). We can only see from our limited point of view, especially with our own experiences of grief. Yet God sees far beyond our finite perspectives and Jesus helps to not only bring about a greater good, though it may take time to come to understand and experience, he accompanies us in each agonizing breath of our suffering.

Jesus came too late to heal his friend, which Martha and Mary could not understand. What he came to do, was beyond their wildest imaginings. Jesus came to restore Lazarus to life, which would also be a foreshadowing of his own Resurrection. The difference being that Jesus would not merely be resuscitated as Lazarus was and die again.

Martha was not holding a grudge from their last exchange. She came directly to him. She knew he could have healed her brother if he had been there, but did not say so accusingly. Martha immediately followed instead with: “But even now I know that whatever you ask of God, God will give you” (John 11:22). Then even before Jesus called Lazarus back to life, Martha showed her faith. Jesus asked if Martha believed. Martha, as did Peter, made the affirmation of our faith: “Yes, Lord. I have come to believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God” (John 11:27).

We have been blessed by the witnesses of Martha, Mary, and Lazarus. Each show their trust in Jesus in their own unique way and follow his guidance. Those of us who have suffered the loss of a loved one, or more, know something of the pain that Martha and Mary experienced. May we also all trust in Jesus, the Son of God, the “resurrection and the life” who conquered death and became the firstborn of the new creation. We need not fear our time of suffering or death, our own, or for our loved ones as long as we give our lives to him. When we call on Jesus he will give us the strength to endure and overcome, in this life and into the next.

Painting: The Raising of Lazarus – Caravaggio, Martha, Mary, and Lazarus help us to trust and have faith in Jesus as you did. Pray for us!

Link to the Mass readings for Tuesday, July 29, 2025

“Woman, behold, your son.” Then he said to the disciple, “Behold, your mother.”

Today’s memorial, Mary the Mother of the Church, began with the decree released on February 11, 2018, by Cardinal Robert Sarah while he was still the head of the Congregation of Divine Worship. Pope Francis called for the Church to celebrate this memorial on the Monday after Pentecost. Not only is Mary the Mother of Jesus, but since we as the People of God participate in the life of Jesus as members of the Body of Christ, she is our mother too.

The New Testament records time and again how Mary reveals by word and action that she is the model of discipleship.

Mary answered Gabriel’s request to conceive and bear Jesus, with her response, “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word” (Lk 1:38). Mary then went with haste to share the good news with Elizabeth and to assist her in her pregnancy of John the Baptist. Mary, after the birth of Jesus, is visited by the shepherds and upon hearing their news from the angelic host, she “kept all these things, reflecting on them in her heart” (Lk 2:19). Mary and Joseph cared for, protected, and guided Jesus in the Jewish faith as he matured and grew into a young man.

Mary was also present at the beginning of his ministry when she said to the servants at the wedding at Cana, “Do whatever he tells you” (Jn 2:5). Mary was also present at the crucifixion, as recorded in today’s reading from the Gospel of John: When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple there whom he loved, he said to his mother, “Woman, behold, your son.” Then he said to the disciple, “Behold, your mother.” And from that hour the disciple took her into his home (Jn 19:26-27). Mary was pierced with sorrow when the centurion’s lance was thrust through the side of Jesus, her son, as blood and water flowed. Mary was then present as the Church was birthed at Pentecost during the coming of the Holy Spirit (cf. Acts 1:14).

Mary is the mother of Jesus, the Mother of the Church, and so she is also our mother. We do not worship Mary but seek her intercession and guidance as we would our own earthly mothers. We also look to her as a model for living as disciples of Jesus. We too are to ponder the wonders and mysteries of God working in our lives. As with Mary at the cross, may we too not run from suffering but embrace it so that we also can then receive her Son, Jesus, whose arms are wide open to receive us in the midst of our pain, so that he may bestow upon us his consolation and healing.

But may we not stop there. May we open ourselves to the love and empowerment of the Holy Spirit such that we may say, “Yes”, to bearing Christ and going with haste to share the Good News of he has transformed our lives. May we resist the temptation of indifference and uncaring and instead help and support those we come into contact with who are in need. May we follow the last words of Mary recorded in Scripture and do whatever Jesus tells us to do to make his Church relevant and vibrant in our time. May we, as did John, receive Jesus’ invitation to receive Mary as our mother and take her into our home.

Mary, Mother of the Church, our mother, pray for us now, and at the hour of our death!

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Photo: Taken while on my canonical retreat for the priesthood December of 2023 at Bethany Center in Lutz, FL.

Link for the Mass readings for Monday, June 9, 2025

Life is a fragile and precious gift to be respected and celebrated.

Mary “traveled to the hill country in haste” (Lk 1:39) and as she drew close and called out to announce her arrival: Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, [and] the infant leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth, filled with the Holy Spirit, cried out in a loud voice and said, “Most blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb” (Lk 1:41-42). This is an encounter of joy. Elizabeth’s response is a confirmation to Mary’s, “Yes”, to the angel Gabriel, that she has indeed conceived in her womb the Son of God who was taking on flesh and becoming one of us, a human being, as she traveled to the hill country. Elizabeth’s son recognized him, and in leaping with joy, helped to get the celebration started!

The encounter and interaction between Mary and Elizabeth, Jesus and John, at the Visitation is a model for us of discipleship. Touched by the Holy Spirit we are to go out to share the Good News that God our Father loved us so much that he sent his Son to be one with us. He was willing to enter into our humanity. Some of the earliest heresies in the Church, which are still perpetuated today, were birthed because of an unwillingness to accept this gift, that God entered into and embraced our humanity, that God would become human was and is still for too many, inconceivable.

Yes, we have been wounded by sin, but we have not been destroyed and completely undone. The coming of the Son of God as one of us is an opportunity to be healed, to be born again from above, and this can happen through the same love of the Holy Spirit that inspired John to leap in Elizabeth’s womb and for her to rejoice.

May we resist the mind noise from within, and without from other people who tell us overtly and/or covertly that we are worthless or nothing. Not true! Through our very being, we are created in the image and likeness of God, we have been created by love, to receive and to share love. We are a living craving hunger and desire to be in communion with God and one another. This is true for the atheist and the believer alike. We are called to will the good of the other as other as they are, unconditionally. If we have fallen short, a little or a lot, in the way we have been treating ourselves and/or others lately, today is a new day to take Jesus’ hand and begin anew. Let us celebrate with Jesus, Mary, Elizabeth and John.

We are celebrating that Jesus was born for us, he lived that we might not only be shown a better way, but know that he is the Way. Jesus became vulnerable for us, a key ingredient in unconditional love: to be willing to risk being authentic to who God called him to be, even to being willing to be rejected, even if that meant that all might walk away from him. May we be willing to be vulnerable, to risk, to share with others who we are, free of masks and pretense. May we be present to, and also walk and accompany one another. Being there for our family and friends is important, and if we take our Christianity seriously, we must come to acknowledge, in concrete ways, person to person, that we are all brothers and sisters, that in Christ we are all related.

Just as the sun shines on the good and the bad alike, Jesus died for each and every human being, all of us. After his resurrection and ascension into heaven, he sent the Holy Spirit, the love shared between the Father and the Son, to empower us to live as he did, in communion with his Father, so to better actualize our communion with one another.

An invitation for the transformation of all humanity and creation happened at the Galilean hill side when two simple women said yes to God and embraced with joy. They came to embrace not only each other, but their vocation. May we join them in saying, “Yes”, to God, follow his will with joy as Mary and Elizabeth did and with them, celebrate the gift of life, because as each of these mothers would experience all too soon, life can be taken quicker than they could or we can ever imagine.

We do not know the time or the hour, so let us like Mary go in haste to tell those we care about that we love them. Let us make that call, send that card, email, or text, and/or invite that person for a walk, to sit down and visit. Especially amidst the expansion of divisive and polarizing darkness, may we be a light to all we encounter. Empowered by the love and joy of Jesus, may we encourage, empower, and lift one another up so as to treat each other with dignity, respect, kindness, and understanding. The easiest way to start is when you catch the eye of another, smile. In that simple gesture, we say to the other person that we care enough to make the time to acknowledge their dignity, their worth, and to let them know that they exist and have meaning.

On this feast day of the Visitation, may Mary and Elizabeth intercede on our behalf that we may honor all life from the moment of conception, through each stage until natural death. We start simply by appreciating and respecting the dignity of each other a bit more today than we did yesterday. “All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us” (Gandalf said to Frodo in The Fellowship of the Ring, JRR Tolkien). Let our choice be to build a culture of life.

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“The value of the person from the moment of conception is celebrated in the meeting between the Virgin Mary and Elizabeth, and between the two children whom they are carrying in the womb” (St. John Paul II, Evangelium Vitae, 45, in Gadenz, Pablo T. The Gospel of Luke. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2018). Photo credit: OSV News photo/Giancarlo Giuliani, CPP

Link for the Mass readings for Saturday, May 31, 2025