Fourth Sunday of Advent – Dec 22, 2024 “Do not forget that closeness, proximity, was God’s most authentic language,” said Pope Francis. “That style of God, of closeness, went farther, farther and farther until it reached that great, essential closeness: … Read More
Third Sunday of Advent – Dec 15, 2024 Today we get the great opening line from the second reading: “Rejoice in the Lord always. I say it again: rejoice!” (Phil 4:4). Why is joy so important that Paul has to … Read More
Second Sunday of Advent – Dec 8, 2024 In stark contrast to last Sunday, today’s set of readings are some of the most hope-filled and consoling poetry in our lectionary. From the lavish imagery of Baruch, to the tender affection … Read More
First Sunday of Advent – Dec 1, 2024 As she loaded her grocery bags into her car, my friend heard a street preacher make an odd comment as he tried to evangelize the shoppers in the busy parking lot. The … Read More
The Fourth Sunday of Advent – December 3, 2023 No one else in the course of history other than Mary of Nazareth has ever or will ever give birth to Jesus, the Son of God. No one else will give … Read More
The Third Sunday of Advent – December 3, 2023 Tell someone to “just be happy,” and you often get a cheesy, fake grin in return. The Third Sunday of Advent commands us, “Rejoice!” Unless we go deeper into why we … Read More
The Second Sunday of Advent – December 3, 2023 By tradition, the opening lines of the Gospels correspond to their evangelist’s symbolic creature: Matthew is a winged human; Luke a winged bull; John’s symbol is an eagle. And today’s Gospel … Read More
The First Sunday of Advent – December 3, 2023 The thirteenth chapter of Mark’s Gospel is a strange place to begin Advent. Today’s passage comes right before Jesus’s passion, and the marking of the nightwatch hours foreshadows what comes next: … Read More
Fourth Sunday of Advent – Year A Homilists and music ministers will constantly have to fight the human urge to think sequentially and impose a historical lens upon the liturgical year, treating the seasons as a diary of Jesus’s life. … Read More
Third Sunday of Advent – Year A “Are you the one who is to come, or should we look for another?” (Mt 11:3). If John the Baptist had doubts about Jesus, what hope is there for us to believe? For … Read More