Sunday Reflections

The last verses from the Prophet Malachi, which concludes the Old Testament, looks forward to the “Day of the Lord.” This is the long-awaited day of salvation. It is the day when God will turn the hearts of fathers and mothers to their sons and daughters, and the hearts of sons and daughters to their fathers and mothers. This day will be a day of peace and of great rejoicing for God will visit God’s people!

The reading from John 2 is very well known and certainly a profound example of one of Jesus's many spiritual gifts.  But as Paul reminds us in 1 Corinthians every one of us has received at least one gift from the Holy Spirit be it: wisdom, faith, healing, and prophecy to name just a few.  Our challenge regarding these gifts is two-fold.  First of all we should be discerning (through in part asking the Holy Spirit) which of our gifts is called for in a specific situation and how should we employ it.  Second of all and especially regarding those who we may not hold in high

There usually comes a time in one’s life when one asks “Who am I?”  Our response is dependent, greatly, upon not only what we have discovered, but what other people have told us about who we are.  In our gospel today, Jesus hears who He is.  The voice of the Father proclaims: “This is my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased”.  Indeed, he was the Son of God, and He came to fulfill the will of the Father.  Our First Reading, from the Prophet Isaiah, speaks so beautifully about how we are “endowed with His spirit” and “formed” us, to become who He has created us to

This Feast of the Epiphany proclaims that the salvation of God, through our Lord Jesus Christ, has come to all.  Of course, in the Old Testament the promised Messiah was to come for the chosen people alone.  The coming of the (pagan) Wise Men to pay homage to the King of the Jews, we recognize that this miraculous coming of the Christ Child is to bring new and eternal life to all God’s people.  The prophet Isaiah speaks of the coming of faithful from the east, obviously pagans.  St.

I am sure it may have happened to you, as it happens to me, that once and a while I pick up a song that keeps coming back to me, and I end up humming or singing throughout the day.  One of these particular Christmas songs is one that appeared in 1994 (by Marian Carey), “All I want for Christmas is you”.  As I think of this most holy day, the Nativity of the Lord Jesus, I imagine that this is the birthday gift that the Lord hopes from each one of us – our very selves!  If we have lived faithfully the Advent season we have prepared ourselves for this moment of giving ourselves

In his book The Hospitality of God: A Reading of Luke’s Gospel, Brendan Byrne points out that the Canticle of Zechariah announces that “the Lord, the God of Israel, has visited and brought redemption to his people” (Lk 1:68). As the Gospel of Luke plays out, we will see that some will welcome and offer hospitality to this “visitor from on high” and some will not. Those who do offer this hospitality, those who have some openness to Him—no matter how small—will in turn be welcomed into the hospitality of God.

Gaudete Sunday Greetings!  The Entrance Antiphon in the Liturgy is Philippians 4:4-5 “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I say, rejoice.  Indeed, the Lord is near.”  “Rejoice” is the English translation of the first Latin word of the Antiphon: Gaudete.  This first word of the Antiphon then came to name the entire Sunday.

“The Congregation of the Resurrection announces and gives witness to the Paschal Mystery.”  These words comprise the first sentence of the mission statement of the Resurrectionists.  Like all Christians, the Resurrectionists are able to accomplish this mission because they hope that God has the power and will to bring about, in us, new life from suffering and death.   We see this theme in each of our readings this 2^nd weekend of Advent.

Advent begins a new liturgical year, and a new exposure to significant passage of Sacred Scripture.  Our gospel is what I like to call one of the ‘doom and gloom’ readings, portraying disasters and suffering.  However, in the midst of this, we see glory proclaimed in the coming of “the Son of Man”, Jesus.  In this season of grace we are told to “watch”, “stay awake”, and “stand erect”.  To prepare ourselves to celebrate the birth of the Saviour, we need to be on our best ‘spiritual’ behaviour, united to God in prayer, and conscious of the sources of sin and evil around u

In our first reading, Daniel has a vision of four beasts, each worse than the one before, who emerge from the sea. The sea is a place of chaos, and these beasts emerging from the sea represent different nations that have brought destruction and war upon the earth. Finally, Daniel has a vision of one like a Son of Man who comes from the clouds of heaven. Unlike those who emerge from the chaos and darkness of the sea, this one like a Son of Man will bring about a different type of kingdom: peace, justice and love.