The LORD said to me: You are my servant, Israel, through whom I show my glory. Now the LORD has spoken who formed me as his servant from the womb… (Is 49:3) The womb is a blessed place. Any place ought to be held blessed which is the fundamental and foremost cradle of all …
After Jesus was baptized, he came up from the water and behold, the heavens were opened for him… And a voice came from the heavens, saying, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.” (Mt 3:16-17) How many of you will contend that if God spoke about you to others that he …
Then Herod called the magi secretly and ascertained from them the time of the star’s appearance. He sent them to Bethlehem and said, “Go and search diligently for the child. When you have found him, bring me word, that I too may go and do him homage.” (Mt 2:7-8) An epiphany is not a private …
When the magi had departed, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, “Rise, take the child and his mother, flee to Egypt, and stay there until I tell you.” (Mt 2:13) “He was the husband of Mary and the foster father of Jesus”; so that is what we …
If I ascend to the heavens, you are there; if I lie down in Sheol, there you are. If I say, “Surely darkness shall hide me, and night shall be my light” darkness is not dark for you, and night shines as the day. Darkness and light are but one. (Ps 139:8; 11-12) Jesus, whilst He …
“Strengthen the hands that are feeble, make firm the knees that are weak, say to those whose hearts are frightened: Be strong, fear not! Here is your God…” (Is 35: 3-4) Every liturgical year just before the season of Advent, the Church makes its annual attempt to remind the people of God of the “four last …
John the Baptist appeared, preaching in the desert of Judea and saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand”… At that time Jerusalem, all Judea, and the whole region… were being baptized by him in the Jordan River as they acknowledged their sins. (Mt 3:1-2; 5-6) We cannot say with certainty that there …
In days to come… many peoples shall come and say: “Come, let us climb the LORD’s mountain, to the house of the God of Jacob, that he may instruct us in his ways, and we may walk in his paths.” (Is 2:2-3) As we begin a new Advent season we do so in the midst …
And the LORD said to you, “You shall shepherd my people Israel and shall be commander of Israel.” When all the elders of Israel came to David in Hebron… they anointed him king of Israel. (2 Sam 5:2-3) Many years after Moses and Joshua died (and not long after Samuel went into semi-retirement – 1 …
“Lo, the day is coming, blazing like an oven, when all the proud and all evildoers will be stubble… But for you who fear my name, there will arise the sun of justice with its healing rays.” (Mal 3:19-20a) Advent arrives just two Sundays from today. While it is still too soon to display images …