Dig Deeper into Sunday’s Gospel: Read Luke 2:22–40
It's easy to be drawn to Simeon in this week’s Sunday gospel reading.
He rightly receives due attention. Simeon’s canticle of praise, as he witnesses the Christ Child presented at the temple, expressed his profound gratitude for having lived long enough to behold his Savior. [...]
Dig Deeper into Sunday’s Gospel: Read Luke 1:1–4,4:14–21
I’m staring at a stack of unwritten Christmas cards. I have yet to write or send a single one. The good news is that I’m one of those Catholics who doesn’t officially close out the Christmas season until Candlemas. [...]
Dig Deeper into Sunday’s Gospel: Read Matthew 2:1–12
Have you ever caught yourself about to genuflect before taking your seat at the movie theatre? I have. Fifty-plus years of genuflecting at Mass has ingrained this action into my brain so much that it happens mindlessly when I see a row of seats. [...]
Dig Deeper into Sunday’s Gospel: Read Luke 3:1–6
There are two kinds of people: prepared and unprepared. I’m definitely on “team prepared” and amazed that not all of my children got this gene. How do I know? Well, when your kid doesn’t practice parking thinking he can “wing it” on his road test, [...]
Dig Deeper into Sunday’s Gospel: Read Luke 21:25–28,34–36
Thanksgiving, or as I call it, the gateway to Christmas, has passed, and society is diving head-first into Christmas madness. Lights are going up. Black Friday sales are bombarding us. Beloved cultural characters like Santa, Rudolph, and Frosty are coming out in full force. [...]
Dig Deeper into Sunday’s Gospel: Read Mark 12:41–44
Occasionally, in passing, the Lord sends someone my way who makes a lasting impression. A few weeks ago, it was a young lady with the Sisters of the Resurrection. While waiting for our boxed lunch at a women’s diocesan conference, [...]
Dig Deeper into Sunday’s Gospel: Read Mark 10:17–30
I was doing everything right—okay, not everything, but most things. I prayed every morning, no matter how exhausted I was. I hauled myself to daily Mass, no matter how inconvenient. I thoroughly examined my conscience, noting the number of times I fell short of God's glory. [...]
Dig Deeper into Sunday’s Gospel: Read Mark 8:27–35
Every Sunday after Mass, my husband and I join my parents for breakfast at a Connecticut diner—the restaurant known for its giant cow on the roof. It's not our style of decor, but boy, do we love the eggs and coffee! [...]
Dig Deeper into Sunday’s Gospel: Read John 6:51–58
A photograph hangs on my office wall. It is a snapshot I was grateful to capture just steps away from my front door: a nest of three baby birds, featherless and fragile, with eyes looking toward heaven and beaks wide open. [...]
Dig Deeper into Sunday’s Gospel: Read John 6:41–51
As I contemplate tomorrow’s gospel passage, I keep being drawn to the word “murmur.” Perhaps it’s because I find myself murmuring, or complaining, more often than I’d like to admit.
Murmuring—a complaint uttered in a low and indistinct tone; [...]
