Today’s lectionary Gospel reading tells of Jesus who regularly taught in the synagogues. “According to his custom. . .he stood up to read.” He selected a passage from Isaiah that we have come to call Jesus’ mission statement. In the power of the Holy Spirit, Jesus would give sight to

As a Christmas present, I received Bead Attitudes, the polymer clay artwork of Dan Roth in Sandusky, Ohio. The ten prayer beads can be prayed in multiple ways as the accompanying paper suggests. I will share a few of these ways with you. If you don’t have Bead Attitudes, a

In this Christmas Season we read the prelude to the Gospel of John: “In the beginning was the Word.” This reminds us of the first line in Genesis: “In the beginning when God created the heavens and earth.” The Incarnation, in effect, began with creation. The whole purpose of creation

As you pack away the manger scene, consider the wooden feeding trough in which the Infant lay. Joseph softened it with straw, and Mary wrapped the Baby in whatever softness she could. Were these holy parents embarrassed by such a poor crib? There’s a lovely Christmas song by Francis Patrick

On the day of the winter solstice many of us looked to the western sky to see Saturn and Jupiter in their closest proximity in 800 years. Unfortunately, thick cloud cover made seeing any star impossible.  It made me think of a line from an Advent song from the Saint

Mary could have reacted with fear many times—the startling message of Angel Gabriel, no vacancy in the inn, Simeon’s predictions of swords piercing her heart, a caravan of camels and kings, a flight to a foreign country—all within a couple years and while she was still a teenager! Though her

St. Paul writes, “Our inner nature is being renewed every day” (2 Cor. 16). Yeah, 365 days to renew our spirits! How can I “re-new” my spirit? Could my New Year’s resolution be to make a “new me”? How can I make 2021 a year for good things? Here’s a

Although still in a pandemic, some are quite relieved to see 2020 pass. Perhaps 2021 will be better. No matter how we feel about putting up a new calendar and bidding farewell to the old one, we need to remember that 2020 was a year of the Lord, a year

At age 84 Anna was still in the temple “worshiping day and night in fasting and prayer.” Maybe she still had a few months or years of life left, but her future became shorter day by day, and death was one day closer. Fortunately for Anna, she was in the

In the First Letter of John, we read about an old commandment, a word that has already been heard. But then the author has second thoughts: “On second thought, the commandment that I write you is new.” We have all probably had the experience of hearing or reading a Scripture