Today we celebrate the feast of St. Matthew, the apostle and evangelist. His Gospel, placed first of the four in our versions of the New Testament, is a masterpiece of the gospel writer's intent of showing the continuity ...

Today we celebrate the Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ, traditionally called the feast of Corpus Christi. In so celebrating, we acknowledge the wonderful gift of Holy Communion and its implication for ...

I am struck by the focus on healing that runs through the readings for the 10th Sunday in Ordinary Time. In the First Book of Kings, Elijah resuscitates the only child of a widow in Zarapeth. The child had grown ill and ...

The gospel starts out with this ominous sentence: "An argument arose among the disciples about which of them was the greatest." A statement like that is an hardly a good way to start a reading. What makes it even worse is ...

Francis Xavier was an up-and-coming professor of philosophy at the University of Paris when Ignatius Loyola met the twenty-four year old. He had the whole world in front of him when Ignatius posed Jesus' radical question ...

The first reading today is from a later part of the book of the Prophet Isaiah. Hebrew Bible experts refer to that part as the "Book of Consolation." It fits well into our Advent readings because it resonates with a major ...

I had a dear, very Irish friend who referred to the "Communion of Saints" every so often, particularly when I would call her on the phone after a long hiatus; it was a unique experience to hear her say something like "the ...

The readings in the liturgy for today tell the stories of two very special births. There are strong parallels in the two readings, one from the Hebrew Bible in the Book of Judges and the other from St. Luke's gospel. Both ...

I am struck that on December 26th, the day after Christmas, we celebrate the death of St. Stephen, the first martyr for Christ. On Christmas day we lovingly receive the goodness of the Child Jesus born to Mary and Joseph ...

The gospel reading in today's liturgy is the familiar story about Jesus' ministry in Galilee, his home territory. It is the story of his not being able to accomplish very much because the people in his hometown recognized ...