Today’s text from the Letter to the Hebrews quotes Psalm 95. “Oh, that today you would hear God’s voice.” Psalm 95 is used liberally in the Liturgy of the Hours. It is one of the Psalms that can be used as the invitatory, the first prayer of each day. One cannot emphasize too much the importance of the word “today” in this very first verse of the...
In Latin, there is a group of verbs which are called deponent. These particular verbs lack an active voice. They look and act like passive verbs. One of those verbs is “patior,” which means to suffer. It is the word from which we derive the words “patience, “passion,” and “compassion.” Consequently, when the Scriptures speak of compassion, they declare...
The Gospel writers use the imagery of irony as a tool to reveal the person of Jesus. Today’s readings are filled with irony. The people of Capernaum are astonished by Jesus. “What is this?” they cry. However, the demon is not at all confused. “I know who you are–the Holy One of God!” Indeed, “He came to what was his own, but his own people did not...
When we think of the Epiphany, we immediately think of the three wise men. However, truth be told, it is the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord that was the Church’s first celebration of an epiphany, a manifestation. Today, we celebrate Jesus, manifested as both God and man.
Why was Jesus baptized? Even for the early church, as the canon of scripture itself was being formed, it seems to...
We have come to the last Christmas weekday and to the final chapter of the First Letter of St. John. Throughout this season we have been spending time considering the mystery of the Incarnation through which God has taken on human flesh. During this time the church keeps reminding us that God who is invisible has become visible because God has chosen to be one of us. God has done this because...