Category Archives: Christmas

Jan 01 2022

The Clock of Salvation

Click here for daily readings Welcome to 2022!!! Likely you are exhausted from staying up late to celebrate a new year with your friends and family. This day always brings to mind resolutions, diet programs, calendars, t...

Dec 31 2021

In 2022 God Will Never Stop Loving You

Click here for daily readings Today we stand on the threshold of 2022, breathing a sigh of relief that we are another few months through the general crisis that the world is collectively living. …the li...

Dec 30 2021

Turning Ourselves Toward God

Click here for daily readings I hope that your Christmas season is full of joy! As I read today’s readings, I was struck by the last verses in both the First Reading and the Gospel. They both point to doing the will...

Dec 29 2021

Radiate Joy

Click here for daily readings In the First Reading today, John tells us: “Do not love the world or the things of the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. . . . The world ...

Dec 28 2021

The Martyrdom of the Holy Innocents

Click here for daily readings Today, on the Feast of the Holy Innocents, we remember the massacre of young boys in Bethlehem by King Herod the Great in the time of Jesus. Herod orders the death of innocent children out of...

Dec 27 2021

Can We Do This?

Click here for daily readings What a great day! It is the feast of John the Evangelist. John’s passion for the Lord is what I call “all in”. He gave his whole self to the Lord Jesus. In the First Reading, Jo...

Dec 26 2021

What Once Was Lost

Click here for daily readings The parish where I grew up, where I made all my sacraments and where I first became a youth minister is called Holy Family Church. So, for the longest time, this Sunday’s celebration was my ...

Dec 25 2021

The Grace of Christmas

Click here for daily readings Christmas morning, we wake to gifts under the tree, gifts nestled into stockings, and the celebration of the greatest gift of all—Jesus. God’s gifts are abundant; there is no spen...

Dec 24 2017

Christmas is the Fulfillment of God’s Promise

When I was little, I really wanted piano lessons. My parents said I could have them when they could find a piano and a teacher we could afford. They kept their promise, but it took a lot longer than I would have liked. First, we found a used p...

Dec 23 2017

You will be Called to Your Unexpected Bethlehem

We’re nearing the end of the Advent days of waiting. Soon it will be Christmas Eve. A busy night. Christmas trees and gifts and Christmas Eve dinners. Christmas family traditions, decorating, preparation for Christmas Day cooking. Christ...

Dec 22 2017

The Joy of Gift

One Thanksgiving when I was a child, our family prepared food at the local homeless shelter. I’ll never forget the smiles on the faces of the workers as well as the recipients. In spite of the hard work put into preparing the meal, the g...

Dec 21 2017

Allow the Incarnate Love Into Your Heart

In recent years Advent has started to mean something more to me. In the past, Advent was just a time for lighting candles and singing “Oh Come Oh Come Emmanuel”. However, that changed one year when I was in spiritual direction and ...

Dec 20 2017

That We May Become God

Last week my oldest son turned five. I remember five years ago it hit me just how totally helpless babies are. I was terrified when we were being discharged from the hospital because somehow those crazy nurses trusted me to take care of this i...

Dec 19 2017

Fear and Joy

A few things have kept coming to me during my prayer with today’s readings. “Do not be afraid; do not fear” and Joy; praise and glory, rejoice, Emmanuel. In both readings an angel of the Lord appears announcing the birth of a...

Dec 18 2017

Joseph, a Just Man

This Gospel is the Annunciation to Joseph. We are dealing with the greatest mystery to ever happen on earth: the Incarnation of the Lord, that God became a man. Before this mystery, we have to put aside our human way of thinking and ponder the...

Dec 17 2017

We’re Going to do Something Different Today!

I seem to remember my teachers in grade school using this line periodically: “We’re going to do something different today!” they would say. Whatever we did usually didn’t seem all that different, really, but I thought o...

Dec 16 2017

Don’t Miss Jesus in the Bethlehem of your Life

It all began quite spontaneously, unintentionally. One of those things that settle on you like a gentle night or a soft dew. Peace. Possibility. We sit there a long while, holding hands, our fingers curled together protectively, vuln...

Dec 15 2017

Some People Are Never Happy

After several years of destructive behavior because of his addiction to drugs, a man changed his life. He went to 12-step meetings. He came back to the Church. He made amends to those he had hurt and reconciled with his estranged wife. When sh...

Dec 14 2017

Fear Not, I Will Help You

San Juan de la Cruz, a Spanish Carmelite priest and monk of the 16th century, so perfectly incarnated that element in Christianity we call mystical that, on this day, we celebrate him not only as a Saint but also as a Doctor of the Church. The...

Dec 13 2017

Welcome the Mystery

New life is exciting… But it’s also scary. It’s alluring. And enveloping. And fulfilling. It’s all of these things. There is many a theological point to be made about why Christ chose to enter the world as a baby&helli...