Wednesday, July 29, 2026

 

Memorial of Saints Martha, Mary, and Lazarus

(Jeremiah 15:10.16-21; John:11:19-27)

There’s a running debate on who is the more prominent friend of Jesus in the gospels – Martha or Mary.  Luke seems to give preference to Mary who, as he says, “has chosen the better part …”  However, some preachers, such as the renowned Meister Eckhart, argue in favor of Martha.  In the Gospel of John, however, Martha seems to easily outpoint Mary.

In the passage read today, Martha not only shows a greater compulsion to meet the Lord, she also makes very significant Christological claims.  First, Martha recognizes that Jesus is the Messiah, “… the Son of God, the one who is coming into the world.”  At the same time, she assents – the first person in all the gospels – that Jesus is (that is, embodies) “the resurrection and the life (eternal life).”

Comparing the saints is, for the most part, a fool’s errand.  They are all great because they all loved the Lord with all their being.  Each of us can find patrons among in the panoply of saints to emulate and petition help.  Today we have three excellent ones: Martha who served the Lord, Mary who listened attentively at his feet, and Lazarus whom Jesus himself calls his friend (John 11:11).

Thursday, January 1, 2026

Solemnity of Mary, the Holy Mother of God
The Octave Day of the Nativity of the Lord

(Numbers 6:22-27; Galatians 4:4-7; Luke 2:16-21)

Today, the eighth day of Christmas, the Church venerates "Mary, the Mother of God."  The title is by no means peripheral as some others found in the litany of Mary.  Rather it encapsulates the meaning of the Incarnation: God became fully human so that He might redeem all humans from their sins.  For this reason, the Church places this feast on the octave or completion of the high feast of Christmas.

There is another important reason to celebrate the feast of Mary, the Mother of God, today.  As this day begins the new year, Mary is given as the patron for the whole year.  Here, patron” has a double meaning.  As patrons of arts support artists and art institutions, Mary supports the Church with her prayers.  Mary is also a patron in the sense that she is one to be emulated. She provides a pattern (derived from the same root as “patron”) or model for Christians to follow throughout the new year.

We should, like Mary in today’s passage, reflect on the events related in the gospel.   But we should not limit ourselves to reflection.  Rather, like Mary raising the Christ-child, we should act on what is revealed to us in ways which give glory to God.

  

Wednesday, January 1, 2025

Solemnity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Mother of God

(Number 6:22-27; Galatians 4:4-7; Luke 2:16-21)

Those who have lived a long time remember that today’s celebration feast has changed in a number of times in their lifetime.  Before the Vatican II reforms, Jesus’ circumcision (one might say his “Jewishness”) was recalled today.  Even today some think of January 1 as the “World Day of Peace.”  Sensing that the first day of the year augurs what will take place on the remaining days, it is right that we pray for peace today.  However, that’s hardly why it is a day of obligation to attend mass.  Only since 1969 has January 1 been recognized throughout the Roman Catholic Church as “the Maternity of the Blessed Virgin Mary.” 

Orthodox Christians pray to the Lord on Christmas Day in a way that beautifully highlights the reason for today’s feast. They pray, “O Christ, what shall we offer You for Your coming on earth as a Man for our sake?  Every creature that has its being from You give thanks to You.”  The prayer then names what angels, shepherds, and the earth bring to Jesus on his birthday.  It concludes: “As for us, we offer You a Mother, a Virgen Mother.”

As a model Mary incorporates the virtues of the Christian life.  She is also a powerful intercessor as demonstrated in John’s gospel.  Today we honor her as God’s mother for having given birth to His Son, our Lord Jesus Christ.

 

Sunday, January 1, 2023

 Solemnity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Mother of God

(Numbers 6:22-27, Galatians 4,4-7; Luke 2:16-21)

There is only one passage about Mary that the three evangelists -- Mark, Matthew, and Luke -- report. It is worth comparing how each evangelist treats the situation. In it Jesus is teaching at his house in Capernaum. People are crowding the door to listen when his mother and other relatives arrive. According to Mark, when Jesus finds out that his relatives are looking for him, he almost disowns them. With a gesture of his arm he looks at his disciples inside the house and says that they are his mother and his siblings. He adds, "'Whoever does the will of God is my brother, my sister, and my mother"'.

According to Matthew, Jesus does about the same when Mary comes to his house in Capernaum. However, Matthew reports early in his gospel that Mary conceives by the Holy Spirit. Therefore, it should be said that Matthew views Mary with more reverence than Mark, who reports nothing of the birth of Jesus.

Luke emphasizes the importance of Mary. In the episode at the house in Capernaum, Jesus does not indicate that only his disciples are his relatives. On the contrary, he says that anyone who attends to the word of God belongs to his family. From the beginning of his gospel, Luke shows Mary doing that. When the angel tells her that Elizabeth is pregnant with her, Mary goes "in haste" to visit her. In today's gospel, although he does not tell of an action, Luke says that Mary meditates in her heart the report of the shepherds.

St. Luke also highlights both the humility and the dauntlessness of the virgin mother. When the angel tells her of God's plan for her to be the mother of His son, she responds with the famous "fiat": "'Here is the handmaid of the Lord; let it be done to me according to your word'". And when she meets Elizabeth, Mary begins to preach how God raises up the poor while he brings down the mighty.

The Gospel of John is also favorable towards Mary although it mentions her only twice. The first time occurs when Mary solicits her son on behalf of the diners at the wedding in Cana. The second time is even more striking. Mary is at the cross of Jesus along with two of Jesus’ closest disciples. She is his faithful disciple to the end.

From this summary of gospel passages dealing with Mary, we can make some resolutions for the new year. First, like Mary we want to be more attentive to the word of God and more ready to put it into practice. We hear the word of God at Sunday Mass, but it would be helpful to read a Bible passage daily. Second, we should pray to Mary to ask her son for our needs. We do this every time we pray "Hail, Mary…" although we can be more focused about our requests. Third, it is increasingly important that we be humble before others. Pride often prevents cooperation and friendship between people. Finally, we want to remain faithful to the Lord, come what may. We know that he will never leave us. Many Ukrainians continue to ask for God's help, even though they have suffered enormous injustice. How is it that some people no longer attend mass because the priest does not preach well? As the mother of Jesus undoubtedly taught her son in her childhood, she has much to teach us today.

Thursday, August 15, 2019

Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary

(Revelation 19a.12:1-6a.10ab; I Corinthians 15:20-27; Luke 1:39-56)

Fr. Raymond E. Brown was one of the preeminent biblical exegetes of the latter twentieth century.  Protestants scholars recognized his expertise.  The pope named him to the Pontifical Biblical Commission.  Fr. Brown strove for Christian unity.  He told Protestants that they should not worry too much about Marian claims made by Catholic popes.  He said that they may be traced to different references in Scripture.

Today’s feast points to such claims and references.  There is no direct statement about Mary in Scripture after her being in the company of the Apostles at the Pentecost event.  No report is given of her passing, much less of her assumption into heaven.  But there is indirect testimony.  The first reading refers to her being prepared a place by God.  The second reading speaks of the resurrection of all the dead of whom - it is not inconceivable - Mary takes precedence. The gospel reading shows why.  Mary is the first to proclaim the Good News of God doing great new things in the world. 

Protestants are still wary of speaking much about Mary.  We should be aware of that but, nevertheless, not reluctant to invite them to our devotion.  Mary is, after all, a model disciple as well as a preacher of the Gospel.  As his mother, she is also close to Jesus.  Finally, she has a distinctively woman’s sensitivity to others’ needs.  Much like people ask us to pray for their needs, we can solicit Mary’s intercession.  In this way, may she serve as a source of unity and never again of division.

Monday, June 10, 2019

Memorial of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of the Church

(Acts 1:12-14; John 19:25-34)

Today’s gospel is usually understood as an indication of Jesus’ love for his mother.  He does not leave her helpless but entrusts her care to his beloved disciple.  Insightful commentators, however, find an even more significant meaning in the passage.  They compare it to Jesus’ inclusion of his mother in his company of disciples in Luke’s gospel.  When Mary comes to see him, Jesus remarks that his mother and his brothers are “’…those who hear the word of God and do it’” (Luke 8:21).

Mary stands with the beloved disciple at Jesus’ cross.  The two comprise Jesus’ most faithful support group.  They bear with the ignominy of association with a condemned man.  They also endure the pain of seeing their loved one suffer and die.  When Jesus expires, the text reads, “…he handed over his spirit.”  This handing over may be validly interpreted as sending the Holy Spirit to this new community of love that he has just formed.  In other words, by this action Jesus is establishing his church.

We should not underestimate the role of Mary in the Church.  By virtue of her closeness to Jesus she is its greatest intercessor.  By virtue of her presence at significant events in his life, she is one of its leading witnesses.  And by virtue of her reflection and action on the word of God, she is its model disciple.

Thursday, July 19, 2018

Thursday of the Fifteenth Week in Ordinary Time

(Isaiah 26:7-9.12.16-19; Matthew 11:28-30)

The eighty year-old women knelt beside her bed every night.  Rosary in hand, she prayed for her family.  She did not have children of her own; she never married.  But she prayed for her sisters and brother, her nephews and niece, and her grand-nieces and nephew.  Did she pray for herself?  Probably she did since her life was not the happiest.  Her solitariness likely called within her like a broken record, “What’s wrong with you, Mary?  What’s wrong with you?

In today’s gospel Jesus particularly invites those who never married and the widowed, the divorced and homosexuals who try to live chastely to share their burden with him.  He will give them support because he too felt loneliness as a burden.  He never married but that does not seem to have caused him grief.  Rather it was being betrayed by one trusted disciple and denied by another, being condemned by the leaders of his nation and being scorned by Rome, the supposedly great defenders of justice at the time, that made him feel abandoned.  His forlornness is dramatically demonstrated on the cross when he cries out, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”

Jesus asks all of us to take upon ourselves this yoke of loneliness.  He wants us to love one another – both friend and foe – even when it is difficult.  It seems like a daunting challenge, but it turns out to be the way to happiness, precisely because we share it with him.

Monday, May 21, 2018

Memorial of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of the Church

(Acts 1:12-14; John 19:25-34)

Today for the first time throughout the world the Church celebrates Mary as Mother of the Church.  Pope Francis decreed the innovation in order to tie Christian life more closely to the cross and to Mary.  Today’s gospel eloquently illustrates this linkage.

The passage relates John’s version of Jesus’ death and of the formation of the first Christian community.  From the cross Jesus introduces his mother to his beloved disciple and his disciple to his mother.  He does not mean simply that his beloved disciple care for his mother.  Rather, he wants them to unite with his other disciples as a community of believers.  As the Church requires the Holy Spirit, the gospel specifies that Jesus “hand(s) over his spirit,” ostensibly to them.  Mother and son form one family, the children of God, whose task is to proclaim the Father’s love to the world.

We are called into that relationship.  With Mary teaching us, we learn how to reflect over the events of our lives as encounters with God.  With brother and sister Christians we give witness to Christ’s resurrection by our joy in humble service.

Thursday, July 17, 2014

Thursday of the Fifteenth Week in Ordinary Time

(Isaiah 26:7-9.12.16-19; Matthew 11:28-30)

The eighty year-old women knelt beside her bed every night.  Rosary in hand, she prayed for her family.  She did not have children of her own; she never married.  But she prayed for her sisters and brother, her nephews and niece, and her grand-nieces and nephew.  Did she pray for herself?  Probably she did since her life was not the happiest.  Her solitariness likely called within her like a broken record, “What’s wrong with you, Mary?  What’s wrong with you?

In today’s gospel Jesus particularly invites those who never married along with widows, the divorced and homosexuals who try to live chastely to share their burden with him.  He will give them support because he too felt loneliness as a trial.  Of course, he never married but that does not seem to have caused him grief.  Rather it was being betrayed by a trusted disciple and denied by another, being condemned by the leaders of his nation and being scorned by the great defenders of justice in his time that made him feel abandoned.  His forlornness is dramatically demonstrated on the cross when he cries out, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”

Jesus also asks us to take upon ourselves his yoke.  He means that we heed his command that we love one another – friend and foe alike.  It seems like a daunting challenge, but it turns out to be the way to happiness, both now and forever.

Monday, November 21, 2011

Memorial of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary

(Daniel 1:1-6.8-20; Luke 21:1-4)

Jews are often thought of as competitive even to the point of being merciless. Certainly Shakespeare views the Jew Shylock in this vain. The foil to the protagonist of his drama “The Merchant of Venice” would have a man die in retaliation for all the affronts that he and his people have received. More intricate but, on a superficial level at least, just as belligerent the Jewish lead character of the movie “The Pawnbroker” looks down on the non-Jews who surround him. However, knowing the Scriptures should leave us with an opposite evaluation of Jews.

Although it is true that the Pharisees are depicted in the gospels as hypocritical defenders of the Jewish Law, they need not be considered ideal or even iconic Jews. Jesus, of course, is a Jew until the day he dies. So is his mother Mary whose Jewishness the Church celebrates on this feast of her presentation in the Temple. Daniel and his confreres in the first reading today might be considered ideal as they are willing to sacrifice the pleasure of eating succulent meat and tasting choice wine in order to observe the kosher laws. The poor widow hailed by Jesus as truly generous is also Jewish.

Our responsibility is not just to refrain from demonizing Jews. Rather we should recognize and be grateful to them. Some of their literature is dismissive of Christ and probably contemptuous of Christianity. But they have contributed enormously to Western civilization and have maintained the Covenant into which our Savior is born.

Wednesday, September 8, 2010

The Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary

(Micah 5:1-4a; Matthew 1-16.18-23)

Although it is different in the southern hemisphere, in the north we celebrate the birth of Mary when summer’s heat dissipates into comfortable warmth. The weather outside mirrors Mary’s presence to the Church as gentle and consoling. For this reason, we confidently turn to her for assistance in praying to God.

Of course, stories of successful Marian intercession are many and varied. She was beseeched for years to pray for the conversion of the Soviet Union. One of the great blessings of our times, although still not fully realized, has been the peaceful dismantling of atheistic Communism.

It is not necessary to ask Mary’s help. After all, the New Testament proclaims Jesus himself as our primary intercessor. But Mary, as the gospel today indicates, keeps our faith moored to the surety that Jesus is human as well as divine. Going to Mary with human needs is not doing an end-run around Jesus. Quite the contrary, it is acknowledging Jesus as completely concerned with our requirements and aspirations.

Homilette for Tuesday, September 8, 2009

Feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary

(Romans 8:28-30; Matthew 1:1-16.18-23)

We sometimes speak of the patriarchs of Israel, and we hear in today’s gospel mostly male names in the lineage of Jesus. Yet women of Scripture regularly exemplify great virtue. The four mentioned in Jesus’ genealogy are no exception.

Tamar was Jacob’s son Judah’s daughter-in-law whose husband died without giving birth to a child. As was the custom, Tamar was then given to her husband’s brother, the infamous Onan, so that her original husband’s family line would continue. Because Onan selfishly did not wish to have children by Tamar, he too died prematurely. There was a third brother whom by right Judah should have given to Tamar, he Judah refused to do this out of fear. Tamar then resolved to show the critical importance of family over personal desire. She dressed as a prostitute, was propositioned by Judah, and gave birth to twins, Perez and Zerah. Judah learned the need of self-sacrifice in raising children.

Rahab was an actual prostitute of Jericho who came to believe in God from the story of Yahweh bringing the Israelites across the Red Sea. At the risk of her life, she became instrumental in the Israeli occupation of the Promised Land. Ruth, another non-Jew, refused to abandon her widowed mother-in-law Naomi and the God of Israel when her first Jewish husband died. Later she married Boaz, and the two became great-grandparents of King David. The former wife of Uriah, and mother of Solomon, is nameless in the gospel text but most people remember her as Bathsheba, whom the adulterous David seduced. She is not so much a heroine as a victim of the rapacious king.

As the stories of the other women mentioned in Jesus’ lineage, Mary’s motherhood is unconventional. She miraculously bears a child through the Holy Spirit. Matthew, unlike Luke, does not dwell on her virtue. Nevertheless, she silently follows her husband Joseph in doing God’s will for Jesus her son, the Savior.

Homilette for Thursday, August 20, 2009

Memorial of St. Bernard, abbot and doctor of the Church

(Judges 11:29-39a; Matthew 22:1-14)

The first reading is so shocking that we cannot help but consider it. There are at least two noteworthy issues here: human sacrifice and virginity. We should comment that God does not suggest human sacrifice in this case; indeed, the Law expressly forbids it. Jephthah seems too proud to admit that he made a foolish vow. We can say as well that Christ has liberated women from the shame that Jephthah’s daughter feels for remaining a virgin, that is, for never giving birth. Since Jesus, a woman’s role in life goes far beyond child-bearing but includes discipleship for the sake of the kingdom.

Other than Jesus himself, no one exemplifies virginity for the sake of the kingdom better than Mary, his mother. When Jesus tells the woman who would bless his mother for having given him birth, he turns the blessing around and praises his mother for having heard the word of God and putting it into practice.

Today we celebrate a great proponent of Marian devotion, Bernard of Clairvaux. He once wrote, “In dangers, in doubts, in difficulties, think of Mary, call upon Mary....And to more surely obtain the assistance of her prayer, neglect not to walk in her footsteps.”

Homilette for Monday, September 8, 2008

Feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary

Once, a woman about to complete her sixty-fourth year said that she did not want to celebrate her birthday. “Why?” we might have asked. She would have answered that she did not want to grow older. Although the woman is really a fine person, she still exhibits a little vanity. She sees growing old as a fault of which there is no need to remember, much less to remind others.

The root difficulty is that many think a birthday is all about the person who was born on that day. Sure, we focus on the person by bringing gifts and greetings that suggest her or his significance. But a birthday has a grander purpose. It makes room for recognition of all the blessings bestowed on the focus person. It calls to celebration the person’s family and friends who helped make the person what she or he is. Most of all, a birthday gives the person special opportunity to thank God for the gift of life. An elderly person, therefore, should celebrate all the more since she or he has accumulated many reasons to thank God.

Today we celebrate the Birth of Mary. She would be the first to deflect attention from herself to others. In Luke’s gospel, after her kinswoman Elizabeth calls her “blessed,” Mary acknowledges to whom praise is really due. “My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord...” she says in perfect candor. As participants in Mary’s celebration today we both thank God for accomplishing our salvation through Mary’s motherhood and thank Mary for accepting God’s grace so selflessly.

Homilette for Tuesday, September 25, 2007

Tuesday, XXV Week of Ordinary Time

(Luke 8)

We still tell the parents of the married couple at a wedding that they are not losing a daughter or son, but gaining one or the other. In the gospel today Jesus indicates that his mother is not losing a son gaining a whole host of children.

At first reading it may appear that Jesus is distancing himself from Mary. He says rather tersely that his mother and brother “are those who hear the word of God and act on it.” But recollection of the beginning of this Gospel According to Luke highlights Mary as a preeminent hearer of and actor on the word of God. She willingly accepts the angel’s message that she is to be the mother of the Savior. Likewise, she makes haste to visit her kinswoman Elizabeth when the angel also notes the latter’s miraculous pregnancy.

Still the thrust of this passage is not so much Mary’s being named the mother of Jesus as we being designated his brothers and sisters. We should note that this relationship is not attributed to everyone. No, to qualify as a member of the family of Jesus we must listen to the word of God with our hearts and act on it with our whole lives.

Homilette for Monday, March 26, 2007

Solemnity of the Annunciation, March 26, 2007

(Luke 1)

A novel describes how a young monk received his vocation by literally a star falling from heaven. Observing the sky one evening, a boy sees a shooting star land near his home. He is what we might call “a good boy” but really not distinguished from others. When the lad investigates, he finds the fallen meteor. Thinking over the incident, he believes that God has sent him a personal message. Not too many years later, he joins the Cistercian monastery outside Alberta.

Luke’s gospel today tells a similar story. Mary has a religious experience. She is a devout girl although the extent of her sanctity is perhaps not evident. Much like a shooting star, an angel of God tells her of her special vocation. She is to be the mother of Jesus Christ. Mary also becomes her son’s leading disciple. No one listens to God’s word and puts it into practice as faithfully as she.

We have all probably had an experience we would call religious. Maybe it was a dream or a conversation with a special person. We probably don’t consider ourselves better than any other person. Yet God seems to have shown us His special favor. Like Mary and like that monk in Alberta, let us not hesitate to follow Him.

Homilette for the FEAST OF THE IMMACULATE CONCEPTION -- December 8, 2006

What makes Mary so great? Is it that she has eyes of blue and wears dresses of gold? No, we know that these features are only products of our imagination and, in any case, accidentals. Then is it because Mary is the mother of Jesus that makes her stand out among all the people of history? Not really. Listen to how Jesus responds when someone cries out to him, “Blessed is the womb that carried you and the breasts at which you nursed.” “Rather,” Jesus responds, “blessed are those who hear the word of God and observe it.”
That’s it! Mary’s greatness lies precisely in her listening to the word of God and putting it into practice. In the gospel passage today, God sends Mary a message though the archangel Gabriel. Mary listens carefully asking questions of clarification. “Why does he call me ‘full of grace’?” she seems to be asking herself. “How can this be, since I have nor relations with a man?” she queries God’s messenger.
Even more importantly Mary acts on the word of God. She consents to what the angel says will happen to her. And in the verse following the present passage Mary sets out to visit her relative Elizabeth whom, Gabriel tells her, is about to give birth.
How can she do otherwise, cynics among us might ask, if she herself was immaculately conceived? But Mary’s preservation from original sin is not completely different from our salvation from sin through Baptism. They both proceed from the merits of Jesus’ death and resurrection. She, like the rest of us, must choose whether or not she will do what God asks of her, whether or not she will follow her son Jesus.
Of course, she follows God’s will. By saying “yes” to the angel Mary becomes the first disciple of the New Testament. Our response to her fulfilling the word of God should not be so much praise of Mary as imitation of her. We too must carefully listen to the word of God and put it into practice. In these initial days of Advent the message is quite clear. We are to prepare for Christ by converting from the vices we indulge in. How do we sin? Perhaps by lying for convenience? Or maybe we lokk on others as inferiors made for our satisfaction? Or we may simply fail at generosity? Now is the time to dispel these bad habits.
We used to repeat frequently all the titles given to Mary through the centuries. “Seat of wisdom,” we called her, and “refuge for sinners.” We might add to the litany “first disciple.” She is Jesus’ first and, we can say, foremost disciple. Especially during Advent we would do well to imitate her by dispelling our vices. We would do well to dispel our vices.