This week we celebrate the solemnity of All Saints on Thursday, 1 November. It is a non-work day for us and we follow the Sunday schedule, so Mass will be celebrated at 10:00 AM and Benediction of the Most Blessed Sacrament will follow Vespers (5:30 PM). Friday is the annual Commemoration of All Souls. We […]
Friday of the 29th Week of the Year
The psalmist reminds us how good and how pleasant it is when brothers live in unity and in seeking this unity Paul offers three important exhortatory words: bear, strive, and preserve. Although the perfection of unity in community is one which will only be fully realized in the heavenly kingdom, we are called to strive […]
Reflection for Thursday of the Twenty-ninth Week
Readings: Ephesians 3:14-21; Luke 212:49-53 I have come to set the earth on fire…Do you think I have come to establish peace on the earth? No, I tell you, but rather division. The divisiveness described in today’s Gospel seems a very apt description of the current state of affairs. I look at the contradictory ways […]
Tuesday of the 29th Week of the Year
Servants and offering service do not, typically, conjure up thoughts of privilege or enjoyment. And yet, Jesus seems to align his own eternal happiness with girding himself and waiting upon those who have faithfully longed for his return and opened immediately to his knock. In this we encounter the Christian paradox whereby service and the […]
Reflection for the Wednesday of the 28th Week
Readings: Galatians 5:18-25; Luke 11:42-46 Dante called St. Luke’s the “Gospel of mercy.” However, were I one of the Pharisees or Scribes in today’s Gospel, I probably wouldn’t register “mercy” as Jesus levelled with me. It can be a relief to see Jesus express his anger, though that’s no justification for my own outbursts. What […]
Friday of the 27th Week of the Year
Jesus is not typically associated with either/or thinking and black and white categories; but today is one instance when he does: Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters. Interestingly, Jesus doesn’t say whoever is not for me is against me, but whoever is not with me […]
Reflection for Monday of the 27th Week
Readings: Galatians 1:6-12; Luke 10:25-37 I recognize three strong emotions behind today’s parable, known as “the Good Samaritan.” The first is operative before the narrative begins: anger. There must have been anger–resentment against the system or family, frustration of being unable to get ahead–motivating the robbers who stripped and beat up this traveler to Jericho. […]
Fr. James’ Homily for the Twenty-Seventh Sunday, Year B
Readings: Genesis 2:18-24; Hebrews 2:9-11; Mark 10:2-16 Today we begin Chapter Ten of Mark’s Gospel, when Jesus begins to travel to Jerusalem. For Mark, the holy city represents the unwillingness to believe Jesus; to the religious leaders of this city, Jesus is the hick from Galilee. Acknowledging the opposition, Jesus initiates an extensive teaching on […]
Monthly Eucharistic Adoration, now and hour earlier, an hour longer
Today is the First Sunday of October and from today the monthly Eucharistic Adoration will begin an hour earlier at 3:00 PM. As always, it will continue through Vespers (5:30 PM), followed by Benediction of the Most Blessed Sacrament. All are invited to join us.
Friday of the 26th Week of the Year
Saints whose lives were filled with direct and frequent experiences of the divine, along with an abundance of supernatural encounters with angels and saints, can evoke a holy envy in those whose spiritual lives seem to be one long, obscure, and arid journey in the darkness. However, if this describes you, Jesus makes a point […]