Our reading from Hebrews today could easily slip by us, but it bears an important message. The author contrasts an approach to God marked by fear, leading Moses to say,…
“Woman, behold, your son.” “Behold your mother” (see John 19:26-27). Jesus’ last words included a dramatic family re-creation from the cross. After his death, his mother and the disciple he…
The crowd in today’s Gospel has set out on a journey, coming from all corners of the land in a common quest. They have come from nearby neighborhoods, from Jerusalem,…
Let’s face it: there is a reason we call winter “dead.” Lifeless. The Big Chill. In mid-January in North America, we are far from the Magi’s Star, the cozy eggnog…
When the Gospel of Mark intones the “sheep without a shepherd,” it is an invocation of an ancient prophetic theme. Prophets recognized that Israel was not without leaders, whether kings…
The Octave of Christmas concludes today, eight days after celebrating the birth of Christ. On this day we focus on Mary, Mother of God, our Blessed Mother. From my childhood,…
Today’s story from the Gospel of John takes place at the empty tomb on the day of Jesus’ resurrection. At the outset of this reflection, I must ask the age-old…
When was the last time an “angel of the Lord” visited you? Were you afraid? Perhaps a bit skeptical? Like Zechariah before Gabriel, or George Bailey before the jovial Clarence…
Here in Chicago, I regularly visit the Catholic Worker House on the city’s north Side. Recently, I’ve had the privilege to befriend James, a gentleman in his mid-fifties who moved…
In her book Pilgrim at Tinker Creek, Annie Dillard writes of a girl, blind from birth, who gains sight after an operation. She is shown a tree for the first…
