Advent heightens our awareness of fresh new possibilities still hidden within the Reality and Mystery of God. The grace of Christ awaits to quicken our steps to extend his Kingdom to those trapped in the darkness of their present realities. As the light of the Advent wreath, or the light Read more…
In today’s world there is much strife and sin, yes. These many manifestations of strife can at times capture our attention to the point where we begin to think it is the prevailing reality of society or of human nature. However, the truth is that each person is created in Read more…
I pray you were able to join a Palm Sunday celebration in person this year! We had a beautiful celebration at St. James Cathedral here in Seattle this morning. We began at O’Dea High School with the blessing of palms and reading the Gospel of Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem. From Read more…
“The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light;” (Isaiah 9:1) Surely, many are experiencing a darkness in our times once again, and yet, this Great Light of Jesus persists. Indeed St. John tells us that Jesus is the Light that shines in the darkness, and the darkness Read more…
Dear friends, Advent is a time for reflecting on basic realities, such as the existence of God and his divine goodness that created all things. The scriptures recall the many different encounters people have with God or Christ and the immediate reaction is one of unworthiness, of one’s sinfulness in Read more…
The global pandemic has claimed millions of human lives. In addition, it has revealed clearly flaws in our society that need a closer look and remedial attention so we can build a better home for every member of the human family. All of us can see an increase of human Read more…
The village of St. Kateri in upper New York when she was a child of only 4 years of age, was attacked by a smallpox epidemic. She lost her parents and younger brother and was severely scarred and nearly left blind. Baptized into Catholic faith at age of 18 or Read more…
The Gospel for this Tuesday of Holy Week gives us pause to examine how closely we are following Christ. Judas betrayed Jesus, Peter denied Jesus, the other apostles abandoned Jesus. Each of us have had our own moments of abandoning or denying Jesus. In such moments we fall away from Read more…
For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life. This is arguably one of the most famous lines of scripture – and rightly so. No matter how much our human experience may Read more…
Our readings today call us to pay attention to Christ – the Word of God. Let us not be like the generation of which Jesus speaks, who did not pay attention to Jesus, nor to his precursor, John the Baptist. Rather, let us imitate those who did recognize Jesus and Read more…