January 24, 2016: 3rd Sunday in Ordinary Time

Jesus ushers in a whole new era in the course of world events, as He declares the passage of Scripture from Isaiah is fulfilled in the hearing of those gathered at the synagogue.

He is the One anointed to bring liberty and freedom to those held captive and oppressed.

He has set us, the people of God, free to proclaim Him.  We are no longer afraid or sorrowful, for God has spoken His Word to us in the Person of Christ, the Word that is Everlasting Life.  And we are now His body, by virtue of being bound together in one spirit through baptism, and are sent forth in our own special way to do His work.  We make Christ's presence known, and so that passage from Isaiah is fulfilled today in us.

January 17, 2016: 2nd Sunday in Ordinary Time

Although the Christmas Season has ended, its themes are very much present in today's liturgy.

God reveals Himself to be present among us through Jesus's working of great signs, the first of which is in today's Gospel reading:  In the midst of a troubling predicament of a wedding party running out of wine, Jesus, in a rather subtle, but still miraculous, way, provides more wine.

This sign is not just about Jesus providing more wine for the party, but how God provides abundantly for us in meeting our need, sending to us the One who gives us salvation.  It something that all the Earth acclaims, because God delights in us so greatly that He comes to save us and restore us to right relationship with Him.  And He continues to open the way of salvation as we use the gifts He grants us to share the effects of salvation with others, living out what He has so graciously bestowed on us.

January 10, 2016: Feast of the Baptism of our Lord

On this last day of the Christmas Season, we celebrate God manifest in Christ at His baptism, when He was anointed with the Spirit and called God's Beloved Son.

We who are baptized fuse our identity with Christ's, becoming His beloved children, anointed with His Spirit to participate in His mission.

Indeed, a voice cries in the wilderness for us to prepare the way for the Lord, for the Lord is coming into our hearts, so that the Kingdom may be manifest through us as Christ shows His glory in us who are His.

So while our annual observance of the Christmas Season and its manifestation feasts has reached its conclusion, we now have a mission to live out, in Christ.

January 3, 2016: Epiphany of the Lord Sunday

On this second Manifestation Feast of Epiphany, we celebrate that God revealed Himself to the nations through the birth of His Son Jesus Christ.  While Christ indeed came to be Savior in Israel, He also came to save the whole world, including the Gentiles, the great mystery now revealed in the Age of Christ.  The nations come to Israel, which received Christ, drawn by the Light He shines through His Chosen People.

At Mass today, Father Hurlbert gave a wonderful homily, filled with great insights, and I share the following with you, closely matching his words, if not exact: Christmas is the celebration of Christ's birth, and Epiphany is the celebration that somebody noticed Christ's birth.

January 1, 2016: Feast of Mary, Mother of God

On the 8th day after his birth, Jesus was given His name, which had been designated before His birth in time on Earth, that He would be the One Who would save us.

All of us who live by faith in Him have this Name above all names upon us, and so are made God's children.  And just as Mary bore God's Son in her body into this world, so we bear the presence of God placed within us who have received His mercy in salvation.

December 27, 2015: Feast of the Holy Family

Families are defined certainly by the people in them.  We have our close, blood-relation families, and also the Church, which is a family of people God has chosen to be His children.  In these close-knit communities, in the midst of our struggles, we strive to make God present to each other in the love we show to one another.  It's like Pope Francis spoke of so beautifully at the Concluding Mass of the World Meeting of Families:  We experience God and His love in those small acts of kindness.  We live in His love knowing He first loved us into His family, making us His children not by flesh and blood, but through His Spirit.

In coming to our world, Jesus Christ made Himself to be born into a family.  And by living in a family, He gives all of us an example of how to be family, namely in the love we show for one another, and, ultimately, for God, as Jesus demonstrated when He stayed behind in Jerusalem at the Temple, where His Father dwelled.  We dedicate ourselves, like Hannah dedicated Samuel, and Jesus dedicated Himself, to be in His presence forever.  And we share that presence with one another, living righteously, and living love, which carries us through to Eternal Life.

December 25, 2015: Nativity of the Lord--Christmas Day

Throughout Advent, as through the centuries before Christ's birth, the people of God heard prophecies foretelling the coming of the Lord, as the beginning of Hebrews states. It continues to say that now God has made His greatest revelation to us, in the appearance of His Son.

Jesus Christ reveals to us the glory of the Father, as He, very God, comes to dwell among us.  His coming reconciles us to God, as we are made righteous again in our relationship with God by the birth of God into our hearts.  This Manifestation of God is truly reason for rejoicing, as God has given us His greatest gift.