There are still several openings for those who wish to spend the Sacred Triduum at our Retreat House. Arrival is on Wednesday, April 5 and departure after lunch on Easter Sunday, April 9. Reservations can be made at 540-955-4383 or you can leave a message at information@hcava.org

Fifth Sunday, Year A, 5 February, 2023: Isaiah 58:7-10; 1 Corinthians 2:1-5; Matthew 5:33-46      Salt does not choose to be salty nor does light make any effort to shine: it is part of their natures. I believe the problems begin when, hearing this parable, we force ourselves to imitate the salt of the earth […]

Let faith be for us, then, like the first day on which we believers are separated from unbelievers, as light from darkness.  Let hope be the second day:  through it, dwelling in the heavens and through the merits of faith hoping only for things above the heavens, with God urging us on, we are distinguished […]

Monday of the 2nd WK of the Year: Hebrews 5:1-10; Mark 2:18-22       In a country like ours, with no compelling sense of restraint or self-mortification, fasting for no good reason could wake us up to our habit of self-appeasement. The attempt could actually generate a solid motivation for the practice.       Fasting is never […]

Second Sunday, Year A, 15 January, 2023: Isaiah 49:3, 5-6; 1 Corinthians 1:1-3; John 1:29-34

Thursday of the 1st WK of the Year: Hebrews 3:7-14; Mark 1:40-45 There have been many theories about why in Mark’s Gospel Jesus imposes silence on those he cures. Perhaps the best explanation is that identifying Jesus as a miracle worker, who fixes problems, is a misunderstanding. That expectation puts me in the wrong relationship […]

Saturday, 7 January: 1 John 5:14-21; John 2:1-11      I scrapped the reflection I’d already typed when I reread the Gospel out loud last night: I was touched by this miracle Jesus wasn’t planning. I was touched that he didn’t hesitate to overcome his reluctance, that he caught the appropriateness of his mother’s concern—and her […]

The eternal existence of God, which is one that preceded all of creation (if one may speak thus), does make Mary’s unbelievably exalted title of “Mother of God” seem rather ridiculous. After all, according to our human thinking a mother always exists prior to the child she bears. Clearly, Mary as one among many of […]

Christmas Day Mass: Isaiah 52:7-10; Hebrews 1:1-6; John 1:1-18      The Russian author, Paul Evdokimov, wrote that the life of Christ begins, heightened by wonders: his conception announced by an angel, conceived of the Virgin, lauded by a choir of angels, marked in the heavens by a star, worshipped by Magi from the East…But then […]

Malachi 3:1-4, 23-24; Luke 1:57-66       The name John means The Lord is gracious. Elizabeth’s insistence on the name confesses her recognition that her child is a gift from God, not a given. John is a sign that God is not our speculation, a probability posited by our questions, but is here before our questions […]