From Season to Season

John was standing with two of his disciples, and as he watched Jesus walk by, he said, “Behold, the Lamb of God.” The two disciples heard what he said and followed Jesus. —John 1:35-37 If you’re anything like me, the recent celebrations of Epiphany and the Baptism of the Lord have already faded into memory. I find myself continually distracted by the ceaseless news cycle, the unrest across the nation, the continuing devastation being wreaked by the coronavirus pandemic, as well the “quick succession of busy nothings” of my own life (to borrow a phrase from Jane Austen). And now, here we are in Ordinary Time again, with a very adult Jesus in the early days of his ministry. The Gospel assigned for the Second Sunday of Ordinary Time opens with John the Baptist in conversation with some of his disciples. In a sense, John helps to form a bridge between Advent and Christmas and these first days of Ordinary Time (see Pope Francis, Angelus Address for January 14, 2018). John will...

It happened in those days that Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee  and was baptized in the Jordan by John. On coming up out of the water he saw the heavens being torn open  and the Spirit, like a dove, descending upon him. And a voice came from the heavens,  "You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased."   —Mark 1:9-11 To be baptized is an act of humility. After all, no one baptizes himself or herself. In accepting John’s baptism, Jesus fully embraced what it means to be a human person, with all of humanity’s weakness, limitations, and suffering.  That Jesus, the Incarnate Word, humbled himself in this way shows that he chose humility as the way he would redeem us. The Baptism of Christ by Giotto (1305) As we have heard time and again in these Christmas days, the Savior of the world did not come with any sort of fanfare or grandeur. He came quietly into the world as a baby, the lowest and the least of humanity. Then, after spending thirty years in an...

 And behold, the star that they had seen at its rising preceded them,  until it came and stopped over the place where the child was. They were overjoyed at seeing the star,  and on entering the house they saw the child with Mary his mother. They prostrated themselves and did him homage. Then they opened their treasures  and offered him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh .  —Matthew 2:9b-11 When Saint Luke wrote his account of the birth of Jesus, he spoke of shepherds tending their flocks by night. Inspired an angelic messenger and the multitude of the heavenly host with their songs of God’s glory, these shepherds “went in haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the infant lying in the manger” (Luke 2:16). We hear this story in the gospels proclaimed in the Masses of Christmas “ During the Night ” and “ at Dawn .”    Saint Matthew’s account of the birth of Jesus has a very different tone. Concerned as he is with demonstrating how Jesus was the fulfillm...

Jesus went down with them and came to Nazareth, and was obedient to them; and his mother kept all these things in her heart. And Jesus advanced in wisdom and age and favor before God and man.   —Luke 2:51-52 Christmas is a time for family. Whether we are spending the holidays with our biological families, religious communities and parish families, or “chosen” families of friends, Christmas is a season when we come together with those whom we love to celebrate love, especially God’s love enfleshed in the gift of his Son. This truth of Christmas was brought into sharp focus this year, as the realities of the coronavirus pandemic kept us from being with our families and those we love.  Contemporary icon of the Holy Family  by Marko Ivan Rupnik, SJ (2012) The Feast of the Holy Family, celebrated on the Sunday within the Octave of Christmas, is an invitation to reflect on the lives and relationships of the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, and on how God’s grace is at wo...

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God…  And the Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us,  and we saw his glory, the glory as of the Father’s only Son, full of grace and truth.  —Luke 1:1-2, 14 The Gospel of the Christmas Mass “During the Day” Every Christmas we celebrate the truth that God became a human being. This belief is so essential that to deny it or to try to explain it away is to give up the foundational belief of Christians. The Solemnity of Christmas invites us to pause and reflect on what these words really mean.  It is one thing to simply repeat the words of the Nicene Creed: “and by the Holy Spirit was incarnate of the Virgin Mary and became man.” It is quite another to allow these words to effect a change in our lives. As Cardinal Basil Hume observed, “The words are simple and direct, but their meaning is far beyond our power to comprehend… But it is not flesh and blood...

In her book, The Jesus Wisdom , Cythia Bourgeault writes: Seeking leads to finding, yes, but the result of that finding is often to plunge you into confusion and disorientation as the new information rattles the cage of your old paradigm. Only gradually, as you can make room for what this gospel calls "wonder," does a new universe begin to knit itself together around you, and you come to rest on a new foundation. The Feast of the Baptism of the Lord, which marks the end of the Christmas Season, is a feast that is actually part of the broader celebration of the Epiphany of the Lord. Although we in the West associate the great solemnity of the Epiphany with the three "kings" and their gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh, the Early Church saw the Epiphany as including three great mysteries in the life of Jesus: the visit of the Magi, the Baptism of Jesus, and the wedding at Cana (the occasion of Jesus' first miracle). But of these mysteries, the Baptism of ...

During his 1964 pilgrimage to Nazareth, the city that was the home of the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, Blessed Pope Paul VI offered these words: Here we can learn to realize who Christ really is. And here we can sense and take account of the conditions and circumstances that surrounded and affected his life on earth: the places, the tenor of the times, the culture, the language, religious customs, in brief, everything which Jesus used to make himself known to the world. Here everything speaks to us, everything has meaning. Here we can learn the importance of spiritual discipline for all who wish to follow Christ and to live by the teachings of his Gospel. Blessed Pope Paul VI celebrates Mass in the Basilica of the Annunciation in Nazareth on January 5, 1964 How I would like to return to my childhood and attend the simple yet profound school that is Nazareth! How wonderful to be close to Mary, learning again the lesson of the true meaning of life, learning again...

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God … And the Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us, and we saw his glory, the glory as of the Father’s only Son, full of grace and truth. —John 1:1–2, 14 The Gospel of the Christmas Mass “During the Day”   The Lord said to me: “You are my son; today I have begotten you.”   As unlikely as these words (the Entrance Antiphon for Christmas Mass  in the Night ) may seem, they are a powerful reminder that there is more to the celebration of Christmas than the birthday of Jesus. Every Christmas we celebrate the truth that God became a human being. This belief is so essential that to deny it or to try to explain it away is to give up  the  foundational belief of Christians. The Solemnity of Christmas invites us to pause and reflect on what these words really mean. It is one thing to simply profess the words “and by the Holy Spirit w...

You who fear the Lord trust him, And your reward will not be lost. You who fear the Lord, hope for good things, For lasting joy and mercy. You who fear the Lord, love him, And your hearts will be enlightened. — Sirach 2:8-10 In these final days of the Christmas Season, there are a handful of “American” Saints that we are celebrating: St. Elizabeth Ann Seton (on January 4), St. John Neumann (on January 5), and St. André Bessette (on January 6 in the United States and January 7 in Canada). “It is with the smallest brushes that the Artist paints the best paintings.”—Saint André Bessette Born in Saint-Grégoire d’Iberville, Canada, in 1845, “Brother André” was orphaned at the age of twelve. Unable to attend school, he was forced to support himself and worked as an unskilled laborer in various textile mills in New England.   In 1867, André returned to Canada and entered the Congregation of Holy Cross as a lay brother. Known for his generosity and credited with man...

At the name of Jesus, every knee should bend, of those in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess That Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. — Philippians 2:10-11 Buried deep within the Catechism of the Catholic Church , in the fourth part—“Christian Prayer”—are three brief paragraphs that teach us something fundamental about prayer: 2664: There is no other way of Christian prayer than Christ. Whether our prayer is communal or personal, vocal or interior, it has access to the Father only if we pray "in the name" of Jesus. The sacred humanity of Jesus is therefore the way by which the Holy Spirit teaches us to pray to God our Father. 2665: The prayer of the Church, nourished by the Word of God and the celebration of the liturgy, teaches us to pray to the Lord Jesus. Even though her prayer is addressed above all to the Father, it includes in all the liturgical traditions forms of prayer addressed to Christ. ...

I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, a stranger and you welcomed me, naked and you clothed me, ill and you cared for me. —Matthew 25:35-36 In 1995, Saint John Paul II canonized two very different saints from the Czech Republic. The first was Jan Sarkander , a Jesuit priest and martyr who was killed by militant Protestants in 1620, partly because he refused to reveal what he had heard in the confessional. The other person canonized in that ceremony was Zdislava (or Zedislava) of Lamberk, a wife and mother whose commemoration is celebrated on January 1. Zdislava was born in the early part of the thirteenth century in Bohemia (now part of the Czech Republic). There are stories about her piety as a child and of her desire to live a life of prayer and solitude. However, her family prevailed upon her to marry Count Havel of Lamberk, with whom she had four children. Zdislava lived a life centered on prayer and charity. She was especially devoted...

This reflection on the Holy Family is slightly adapted for one written for the community at Seaside Community Church, UCC, in Torrance, California,  for their service on the Sunday after Christmas (the Feast of the Holy Family), December 28, 2014. Merry Christmas! There’s lots of talk about family these days. And, I don’t only mean this “holiday season” of Thanksgiving and Christmas. For years now politicians, churches, and civil rights groups have been debating how we can and should define the important realities of marriage and family. These are important conversations for all of us to be having and they have to continue. But, even with these ongoing conversations about family, Christmas brings “family” into focus in a special way. Think about how many holiday movies center on family: “It’s a Wonderful Life,” “A Christmas Story,” “The Family Stone,” “White Christmas,” and pretty much everything on the Hallmark Channel. And all of these movies celebrate some of th...