The Word

The readings for the feast of the Immaculate Conception are rich in meaning but frequently misunderstood when viewed through the lens of the feast itself First contrary to some artistic depictions of the Immaculate Conception the Genesis account states that it is the woman rsquo s offspring rath

We spend so much of life waiting As children we could hardly wait for birthdays free days and holidays we could hardly wait to grow up Now as adults we wait for buses and trains we wait in doctors rsquo offices and government agencies we wait for our turn on the golf course or the tennis c

Seventy-five years ago Nov 23 1927 Miguel Pro S J shouted ldquo Long live Christ the King rdquo moments before he was executed by a firing squad in Mexico City At age 37 and only two years ordained he was condemned for ministering to people despite a government ban on the Catholic Church

Sister Norice our sixth-grade teacher called me out of class and said that the pastor wanted to see me In fear and trembling I went over to the church only to find that a server was needed for an unexpected funeral After Mass Monsignor Nelligan gave me 2 a huge sum in 1943 Going home on the

The coming weeks present a troika of parables that conclude the public teaching of Jesus in Matthew These constitute his final testament to the disciples a manual of discipleship for life ldquo between the times rdquo of Jesus rsquo earthly presence and his triumphant return They have a menaci

As the liturgical year winds down the church is less concerned with the number of shopping days until Christmas than with sobering reflections on the end of all days The Gospels conclude with Jesus rsquo final instructions to his disciples his final testaments which weave together words of hope

Just for fun with the help of Google I did a search on the World Wide Web for the word ldquo love rdquo I found there were at least 54 700 000 sites well ahead of ldquo hate rdquo with 6 400 000 ldquo All You Need Is Love rdquo was a stunning Beatles rsquo hit in 1967 and the Centrum S

During the moving memorials of the attacks on Sept 11 2001 we gazed upon a collage of the extraordinary goodness of ordinary people Those who would flinch if called saints acted just as saints did Today we celebrate such saints throughout the ages mdash that great cloud of witnesses whose lives

At times we are tempted to wish that certain sayings of Jesus were lost or omitted from the Gospels Jesus rsquo sharp answer to the Pharisees and Herodians in today rsquo s Gospel might be one of these ldquo Repay render to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God what belongs to God rdquo T