Third Sunday of Ordinary Time • Year A
God is seeking us even when we are not seeking him. Augustine admits that we are just a small portion of God’s creation carrying about the signs of our mortality. But we are not left out of the possibility of an encounter and communion with God. Some may be called in the way Simon and Andrew were called -as if waiting to be touched in their own deep faithful disposition- while many others are questioning, struggling to see and hear, to comprehend the mystery of themselves and God. Augustine was one of them. That is why he insisted that we ought to seek, knock on the door and call upon the Lord.
Second Sunday in Ordinary Time • Year A
And Isaiah spends decades at the thankless task of calling Israel to return to the Lord. Then God says to Isaiah, “One more thing. It is too little for you to be my servant, to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and restore the survivors of Israel. I will make you a light to the nations, that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth.” God tells Isaiah that all along He has been planning something more for the prophet, that one day Isaiah’s words will be heard far beyond the borders of Israel. We are the fulfillment of that prophecy. We hear his words – we, who live in a land Isaiah never knew existed, at a time in history he could never have imagined.
Baptism of the Lord • Year A
Jesus in his preaching made it very clear that we cannot make his message of universal salvation real for us unless we love God and love each other. But we cannot love what we will not understand. Jesus came to save all humans but all humans will not necessarily be saved… mostly because we continue to treat some of our brothers and sisters as discards of the human species, not worthy of our attention much less our love.
Feast of the Holy Family • Year A
St. Augustine said that “we make our times” … if our times are good or bad it is because we have made them so. No place is this more true than our family times. These are perhaps the most important and yet the most difficult of all the times of our lives.
Christmas • Year A
When Jesus was born, the only things he had going for him were his family and his Divinity. Oddly enough, his being God was little help in his human adventure. He had decided not to make much of his “being God” and thus throughout his earthly life he was treated like any other poor human. We are told that he “emptied himself” so that he could have the full experience of being human, the bad parts as well as the good parts. One of the good parts was in having a family. Jesus chose to be a member of a human family.
Fourth Sunday of Advent • Year A
I’ve known a lot of ordinary Joes and Marys in my life. Beginning with family and friends, most of the people I’ve encountered have been rather unremarkable as far as doing outstanding things goes. But I’ve found as I look at the entirety of their lives that they have been inspirational for me. They have become heroes, inspirational and extraordinary because of the longevity of their loyalty, the depth and strength of their faith which has established a tradition. They have become legendary in their goodness because of the ease with which they do it as a way of life.
