First Monday in Ordinary Time
From today’s Scripture: “As he passed by the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting their nets into the sea; they were fishermen.”—Mk 1:16 Simon and Andrew were fishermen. They weren’t the Harvard graduates or the celebrities of their time; they were ordinary people with normal jobs trying to provide for […]
Baptism of the Lord
From today’s Scripture: “And a voice came from the heaven, ‘You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.’”—Lk 3:22 It was a Friday afternoon. I received a call from the mother of a six-year old who was dying of lung cancer. She begged me to come to the hospital right away. She […]
Christmas Weekday
From today’s Scripture: “We have this confidence in him, that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us.”—1 Jn 5:14 There is a saying, Why are giraffes so tall? So that they may reach the food that others may never reach! There is also a saying for those who kneel before God: […]
Christmas Weekday
From today’s Scripture: “Lord, if you wish, you can make me clean.”—Lk 5:12 Growing up in the scorching sun of Kenya, I always felt uncomfortable if I skipped a shower for lack of water (especially on the days I didn’t help collect water from a far, running stream!). Without a bath, the struggle to get […]
Christmas Weekday
From today’s Scripture: “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.”—Lk 4:18-19 […]
Christmas Weekday
From today’s Scripture: “They had all seen him and were terrified. But at once he spoke with them, ‘Take courage, it is I, do not be afraid!’”—Mk 6:50 A few years ago, I was working among some of the poorest on the face of the earth, in the slums of Kibera, in Nairobi, Kenya. I […]
Christmas Weekday
From today’s Scripture: “God sent his only-begotten Son into the world so that we might have life through him.”—1 Jn 4:9 “The name of God is Mercy,” Pope Francis has taught, in his 2016 book that goes by this title, taken from his conversations with a journalist about mercy. So is the Gospel that we […]
Christmas Weekday
St. Augustine once said that sometimes we don’t receive what we ask for because God is still preparing our hearts to be big enough to receive what he has in store. Both the first reading and the psalm remind us that whatever we ask from our father in heaven, we will surely receive, but we […]
Epiphany of the Lord
From today’s Scripture: “Nations shall walk by your light, and kings by your shining radiance.”—Is 60:3 One part of the liturgical rite at Baptism signifies the pilgrim life of a Christian. That is, a life of carrying the light in a dark world. “Receive this light and may it be found burning at Christ’s return,” […]
St. Elizabeth Ann Seton
From today’s Scripture: “We have found the Messiah.”—Jn 1:41 John the Baptist was preaching and baptizing along the Jordan River in the south of Israel. His purpose was to point out the Messiah, the long-awaited savior or liberator of the Jewish people whose land had been occupied by the Roman Army for about 90 years. […]
