“The Son of God became man for our salvation but only in Mary and through Mary.”

"The world being unworthy to receive the Son of God directly from the hands of the Father, he gave his Son to Mary for the world to receive him from her."-- Saint Augustine, Father and Doctor of the Church

Gospel Text: (MT 1:18-23)
This is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about.
When his mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph,
but before they lived together,
she was found with child through the Holy Spirit.
Joseph her husband, since he was a righteous man,
yet unwilling to expose her to shame,
decided to divorce her quietly.
Such was his intention when, behold,
the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said,
“Joseph, son of David,
do not be afraid to take Mary your wife into your home.
For it is through the Holy Spirit
that this child has been conceived in her.
She will bear a son and you are to name him Jesus,
because he will save his people from their sins.”
All this took place to fulfill
what the Lord had said through the prophet:

Behold, the virgin shall be with child and bear a son,
and they shall name him Emmanuel,
which means “God is with us.”

The Church has celebrated Mary’s birth since the sixth century, not only to honor her as the Mother of God but also to mark a unique moment in salvation history. As the Fathers of the Second Vatican Council put it, “After a long period of waiting, the times are fulfilled in her, the exalted Daughter of Zion, and the new plan of salvation is established” (On the Church, 55).

Today’s feast tells us that God always keeps his promises. Mary and Joseph knew this truth. What a shocking message the angel Gabriel delivered when he told Mary that she, a virgin, was to bear God’s Son! She didn’t know how it would happen, yet she believed.

We have to try to put ourselves in Mary’s place. I bet she could certainly sense how uneasy, indeed how anxious, Joseph was about the whole thing. Her parents too I bet noticed her bulging tummy and perhaps suspected Joseph, even if they may have chosen not to confront either Mary or Joseph. And Mary could not explain... who would believe her? What could she do? She did what the gospel tells us later that she did: she pondered in her heart. It was this trusting pondering that led her from not understanding to not needing to understand. It was this that carried her through the moments of darkness in her life, especially at Calvary – how can a mother understand the cruel execution of her innocent Son? But she no longer needed to understand and she held her ground at the foot of the cross.

A very good grace to pray for is this idea of trusting despite our life’s difficulties, when we find ourselves not understanding what is happening in us and around us.

Today is also a great day to imitate Mary with our own yes to God. It’s a great day to tell him that we want to try our best to follow Mary’s example. We may not be perfectly sinless or completely understand everything, but Christ still lives in us. Let’s honor him today by taking his mother’s advice: “Do whatever he tells you” (John 2:5).

“One must love God first, and only then can one love one's closest of kin and neighbors”

How can you love God whom you do not see, if you do not love your neighbor whom you see, ... – Mother Teresa

Scripture Text: (ROM 13:8-10)

Brothers and sisters:

Owe nothing to anyone, except to love one another;

for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law.

The commandments, “You shall not commit adultery;

you shall not kill; you shall not steal; you shall not covet, ”

and whatever other commandment there may be,

are summed up in this saying, namely,

“You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”

Love does no evil to the neighbor;

hence, love is the fulfillment of the law.

We all have to deal with people who try our patience or rub us the wrong way. Then there’s the pull of the world, urging us toward a self-centered approach to life. And all the time, we hear in the back of our minds Jesus telling us to love one another, even to prefer one another to ourselves.

In today’s readings from Mass, God is inviting us to do a little self-examination. How have you done lately in loving your neighbor as yourself? Think about hurtful things you may have said about another person. Think about ways you may have failed to defend a friend or judged someone unfairly. Or maybe you have neglected to help a friend who needed you because it was inconvenient.

These are uncomfortable questions to ask, to be sure. But God knows your heart. He knows how much you want to do good, even though you fail at times. He also knows that he has placed his Spirit in you to give you divine strength and to make changes that seem impossible. So don’t be afraid to open up to him and ask him to help you. Remember: God is love. And that love is generous and overflowing. Let him love you, and you’ll find yourself loving other people more and more.

“Don't judge a man by his opinions, but what his opinions have made of him.”

“If God were our one and only desire we would not be so easily upset when our opinions do not find outside acceptance.” ― Thomas à Kempis, The Imitation of Christ



Scripture text: (1 COR 4:1-5)

Brothers and sisters:

Thus should one regard us: as servants of Christ

and stewards of the mysteries of God.

Now it is of course required of stewards

that they be found trustworthy.

It does not concern me in the least

that I be judged by you or any human tribunal;

I do not even pass judgment on myself;

I am not conscious of anything against me,

but I do not thereby stand acquitted;

the one who judges me is the Lord.

Therefore, do not make any judgment before the appointed time,

until the Lord comes,

for he will bring to light what is hidden in darkness

and will manifest the motives of our hearts,

and then everyone will receive praise from God.

A saying made famous by Alcoholics Anonymous goes like this: “What others think of me is none of my business.” That’s a good reminder to all of us that people’s opinions about us shouldn’t rule our lives. When they speak something negative about us, it really says more about who they are than it does about who we are. Conversely, what we say about other people reflects back on us. In the final analysis, the only person we have to please is God. What a peaceful world this would be if everyone adopted this philosophy!

However, it’s not that opinions don’t matter. We all have likes and dislikes. We may disagree strongly with a co-worker, a political figure, or a family member. We may not like the way a particular ministry is run. We may even have a favorite priest or homilist. There’s nothing wrong with these, as long as our opinions don’t put walls between us and people we disagree with. We have to remember that charity is the most important thing, because it is the virtue closest to God’s heart.

If you are getting distracted by what someone is doing or saying, take a moment to focus on Jesus. Remember that he died not only for you but for everyone who disagrees with you. He loves each of us with a love that is total and unconditional. Ask for that love to penetrate your heart more deeply. Let his grace help you to see all the people around you—even the ones you disagree with—as his sons and daughters and as your brothers and sisters. Jesus’ love has pulled down “the dividing wall of enmity” (Ephesians 2:14). In Christ, we are truly one!

“Modern intelligence won't accept anything on authority. But it will accept anything without authority.”

“Nothing limits intelligence more than ignorance; nothing fosters ignorance more than one's own opinions; nothing strengthens opinions more than refusing to look at reality.”

Gospel Text: (LK 5:1-11)
While the crowd was pressing in on Jesus and listening to the word of God,
he was standing by the Lake of Gennesaret.
He saw two boats there alongside the lake;
the fishermen had disembarked and were washing their nets.
Getting into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon,
he asked him to put out a short distance from the shore.
Then he sat down and taught the crowds from the boat.
After he had finished speaking, he said to Simon,
“Put out into deep water and lower your nets for a catch.”
Simon said in reply,
“Master, we have worked hard all night and have caught nothing,
but at your command I will lower the nets.”
When they had done this, they caught a great number of fish
and their nets were tearing.
They signaled to their partners in the other boat
to come to help them.
They came and filled both boats
so that the boats were in danger of sinking.
When Simon Peter saw this, he fell at the knees of Jesus and said,
“Depart from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man.”
For astonishment at the catch of fish they had made seized him
and all those with him,
and likewise James and John, the sons of Zebedee,
who were partners of Simon.
Jesus said to Simon, “Do not be afraid;
from now on you will be catching men.”
When they brought their boats to the shore,
they left everything and followed him.

I am educated. I am relatively smart. I have two Masters Degrees. I’m a Vice President in the largest bank in the United States of America. And people like me tend to rely pretty heavily on our intelligence. We think we’re so smart. But what do we really know? I saw a t-shirt the other day that said, “I’m a college professor: to save time, let’s just assume I’m right” I know a lot of stuff.

But what do we know, really?

Seriously, I don’t know anything. I don’t know how we got here. I don’t know what all this means. I can’t see the big picture, because I’m human. I’m not God. And that’s the point. We humans are naturally restricted. We don’t know how everything happens. We don’t know how the earth got here. We don’t know what happens when we die. We are human. We live, then we die. We couldn’t do this. We couldn’t make a world or make people from scratch or understand how it happened or where it’s going. We have to have faith. And we have to accept that we don’t know everything. We call ourselves wise and think we know so much, and we think we have all the answers, but in fact, we know very little, and we do not have all the answers. Even those who know a lot, in the bigger scheme of things know very little. We think we have everything, but everything we have and our very selves belong to God. Nothing is really ours, not our possessions, not our environment, not our experiences. It is all from God, and it is all God’s.

St Peter in today’s gospel reading above thinks he knows about fishing, but what does he know? He knows enough to put his faith and trust in Jesus and to follow him. Jesus says he will be a fisher of men now, able to share his faith and his experience.

We don’t know it all, but we should know enough to put our faith and trust in the Lord and follow him. We can’t know it all. But we can accept this and trust in God.

“We all grow. We're made to grow. You either evolve or you disappear.”

“When you find yourself in need of spiritual nourishment, it is in the opportunities to serve others that you will find the abundance you seek.”

Scripture text: (1 COR 3:1-9)
Brothers and sisters,
I could not talk to you as spiritual people,
but as fleshly people, as infants in Christ.
I fed you milk, not solid food,
because you were unable to take it.
Indeed, you are still not able, even now,
for you are still of the flesh.
While there is jealousy and rivalry among you,
are you not of the flesh, and walking
according to the manner of man?
Whenever someone says, “I belong to Paul,” and another,
“I belong to Apollos,” are you not merely men?

What is Apollos, after all, and what is Paul?
Ministers through whom you became believers,
just as the Lord assigned each one.
I planted, Apollos watered, but God caused the growth.
Therefore, neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything,
but only God, who causes the growth.
He who plants and he who waters are one,
and each will receive wages in proportion to his labor.
For we are God’s co-workers;
you are God’s field, God’s building.

What does growth look like? Well, it depends on whether you’re talking about mutual funds, urban sprawl, weeds in the garden, or children. And then there’s the question of growth in our spiritual lives, which can be even more difficult to gauge!

Yes, the seed of faith that was planted in you at baptism is watered throughout your life: by your family and friends, by various priests and religious, and by the stories of the holy men and women who have gone before you. But what does that seed’s growth look like?

For one thing, it can look like a snake shedding its skin as you leave behind old habits, thought patterns, or relationships. It can leave you feeling exposed. You may be sad about what you’re letting go of or afraid of what comes next. But the newness of what emerges is fresh and exhilarating. It offers you hope and a future replete with God’s life!

Growth can also look like the transformation that a caterpillar undergoes in the quiet darkness of a cocoon as it becomes a butterfly. The Holy Spirit works deep in your heart, changing you into something beautiful before the Lord. It requires patience and acceptance, perhaps, of a life temporarily less full of activities and recognition. And yet such times are essential.

Growth can also be like the almost imperceptible increase in the girth and height of a tree, as you stay faithful to the words, commands, and life God has revealed to you.

Whatever your current mode of growth looks like, you can be sure that it also includes the growth and development of roots, which sink deeper and anchor you more securely to the Lord. Strong, healthy roots allow you to absorb God’s life more fully.

So ask the Lord to help you grow. Every time you receive Communion, ask Christ, who lives in you, to nourish you. Ask him to give you direction for your day or new insight into his love. As you kneel in adoration, let Jesus open your eyes, just as he did for the disciples on the road to Emmaus. Let him give you deeper and deeper roots in his love and his word.

The devil's most devilish when respectable.

"First of all, do everything you can to avoid offending God, but if unfortunately you should commit sin, do not let the devil prevail upon you to not confess it. Remember that the confessor is a father who is eager to do all he can for you and [to] protect you from all possible harm." – St John Bosco

Gospel Text: (LK 4:31-37)
Jesus went down to Capernaum, a town of Galilee.
He taught them on the Sabbath,
and they were astonished at his teaching
because he spoke with authority.
In the synagogue there was a man with the spirit of an unclean demon,
and he cried out in a loud voice,
“What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth?
Have you come to destroy us?
I know who you are–the Holy One of God!”
Jesus rebuked him and said, “Be quiet! Come out of him!”
Then the demon threw the man down in front of them
and came out of him without doing him any harm.
They were all amazed and said to one another,
“What is there about his word?
For with authority and power he commands the unclean spirits,
and they come out.”
And news of him spread everywhere in the surrounding region.

In the 1989 "Batman" film (directed by Tim Burton), the Joker and Batman face-off, with the Joker telling Batman, "I know who you are." As several critics of the film comment, the Joker's remark isn't about knowing Batman's identity as Bruce Wayne. The Joker is telling Batman, "I know the secrets you harbor beneath the mask; your furies and your passions, the dark forces that drive you-I know who you are."

In today's Gospel passage, the man considered to be the mouthpiece of an evil spirit calls out to Jesus in the Synagogue, "I know who you are-the Holy One of God." Jesus rebukes the evil spirit and orders him to leave the man. For Luke, the author of today’s gospel, it is another instance of Jesus, the Son of God who, moved by compassion, heals. Sometimes Jesus heals us from the evil spirits that we harbor in ourselves. Jesus frees us from our infirmity so that the person God created, loved, and redeemed might be able to flourish in the spirit of God.

Two weeks ago, our Sunday's gospel recounted the episode of Jesus with his apostles, and the following conversation:

He said to them, "But who do you say that I am?"
Simon Peter said in reply,
"You are the Christ, the Son of the living God."
Jesus said to him in reply,
"Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah.
For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my heavenly Father.
And so I say to you, you are Peter,
and upon this rock I will build my church...(Matthew 16:15-18a)

Jesus asks the question of his identity: "Who do you say that I am?" Simon speaks up, naturally, and makes the profession of faith which elicits from Jesus a corresponding response, "You are Peter [a new name, meaning "Rock"], and upon this rock I will build my church."

The interpersonal dynamic with Jesus is clear: in knowing Jesus' identity, we come to know our own, our own identity as Jesus knows us, and as Jesus wants us to become, for the sake of the Kingdom, for the sake of the Church.

Jesus will recognize all of the human frailty in us, the tendencies to evil that still grip us, the physical and spiritual illnesses that hold us back, and he will free us from whatever keeps us from knowing him, so that we may proclaim, "You are the Christ, the son of the living God." In that profession of faith we are freed to become the persons for whom Jesus surrendered his life to the Father, and the persons who are called to the Table of the Lord.

“Your assumptions are your windows on the world. Scrub them off every once in a while, or the light won't come in.”

An open mind is not an end in itself but a means to the end of finding truth.” ― Peter Kreeft (Professor of philosophy at Boston College)

Gospel Text: (LK 4:16-30)

Jesus came to Nazareth, where he had grown up,

and went according to his custom

into the synagogue on the Sabbath day.

He stood up to read and was handed a scroll of the prophet Isaiah.

He unrolled the scroll and found the passage where it was written:

The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,

because he has anointed me

to bring glad tidings to the poor.

He has sent me to proclaim liberty to captives

and recovery of sight to the blind,

to let the oppressed go free,

and to proclaim a year acceptable to the Lord.

Rolling up the scroll,

he handed it back to the attendant and sat down,

and the eyes of all in the synagogue looked intently at him.

He said to them,

“Today this Scripture passage is fulfilled in your hearing.”

And all spoke highly of him

and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his mouth.

They also asked, “Is this not the son of Joseph?”

He said to them, “Surely you will quote me this proverb,

‘Physician, cure yourself,’ and say, ‘Do here in your native place

the things that we heard were done in Capernaum.’”

And he said,

“Amen, I say to you, no prophet is accepted in his own native place.

Indeed, I tell you,

there were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah

when the sky was closed for three and a half years

and a severe famine spread over the entire land.

It was to none of these that Elijah was sent,

but only to a widow in Zarephath in the land of Sidon.

Again, there were many lepers in Israel

during the time of Elisha the prophet;

yet not one of them was cleansed, but only Naaman the Syrian.”

When the people in the synagogue heard this,

they were all filled with fury.

They rose up, drove him out of the town,

and led him to the brow of the hill

on which their town had been built, to hurl him down headlong.

But he passed through the midst of them and went away.

It has been said that the greatest chasm in the world is the distance between the mind and the heart.

Reread today’s Gospel and place yourself in the scene. As the synagogue members listen to Jesus and note the graciousness of his words, they still can’t bridge that gap between their minds and their hearts. They are impressed with him intellectually and emotionally, but they still can’t get past what they know of him. He grew up with them; they played together as children; they worked together at their trades. He couldn’t possibly be more than they already know! And so their polite approval changes to fury when Jesus exposes their closed hearts.

Jesus’ heart must have ached to see his neighbors unable to accept him.

What about you? Will you go deeper than what you know about the Lord? Will you let him—Jesus, the person, and not just the ideas about him—touch your heart?