14 December 2025 - at the gates

Today's Readings
(Audio) 

When John the Baptist heard in prison of the works of the Christ,
he sent his disciples to Jesus with this question,
"Are you the one who is to come,
or should we look for another?"

John knew that Jesus was the lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. We have already seen disciples of his internalize this message and leave John to follow Jesus (see John 1:35-39). But the disciples John instructed to go to Jesus with the question about which we read in today's Gospel were apparently uncertain about whether or not Jesus was the messiah. We could easily imagine John had been telling recent disciples of his about Jesus, them getting excited, and then his imprisonment by Herod causing them to doubt. So John told them to bring their own doubts and questions directly to Jesus himself, knowing that Jesus would somehow have the answer. This is, of course, great news for evangelists. We may not know exactly what to say. We may not have the freedom to do all we would otherwise do to convince others. But the constraints we face are not constraints for Jesus. If we can even persuade others that Jesus is worth asking directly, which is yet a long way from convincing anyone, he has demonstrated he can take it for from. This seems similar to something Saint Paul would later express:

Remember Jesus Christ, risen from the dead, the offspring of David, as preached in my gospel, for which I am suffering, bound with chains as a criminal. But the word of God is not bound! (see Second Timothy 2:8-10).

Jesus responded to the inquiry of John's disciples, not merely by proclaiming his own miraculous power, though he did that. Rather, in doing so he proclaimed that the prophecy of Isaiah was in the process of being fulfilled. God himself, in the person of Jesus Christ, was coming with vindications and divine recompense to save his people. The Lord had come to ransom his people who would then be free to enter the true spiritual Zion, full of song, crowned with joy that would never end. All of the sorrow and mourning the marked their world and still mark our own would then be forced to flee. This is the same promise described in the book of Revelation:

He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away (see Revelation 21:4).

Yet there was still a risk that people would take offense at Jesus, since he did not fulfill the prophecies exactly in the way anyone expected. John's own disciples were perhaps willing to take offense even at the fact of his imprisonment, though he was their own teacher. His lack of success seemed to be, at least, a cause for concern. And if this was true, how would they ever reconcile themselves to the fact of a crucified messiah? Because of this Jesus helped them to understand that the greatness that they had found in John was different from that usually recognized by the world, and was undiminished by Herod's power. People within the world said things in order to please others, like reeds swaying in the wind. But John always and only said what he believed to be true. People in the world demonstrated their success by their wealth, often exemplified in their wine clothing. But John had never needed this to win the approval of others. It was precisely his lack of regard for such things that made him seem, if also possibly dangerous, highly compelling. It was clear that his role wasn't designed to lead to a royal palace. If John's disciples learned to recognize what had drawn them to John in the first place they would be less likely to take offense at Jesus. And this was important, because, great as John was, he was only the forerunner, the messenger sent before the face of the Lord to prepare his way.

Amen, I say to you,
among those born of women
there has been none greater than John the Baptist;
yet the least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.

The purpose of the greatness of John the Baptist was to help others find their way to Jesus and his kingdom. It would be a mistake to stop with him and not go the full way to becoming a disciple of the one whose sandals he was not worthy to untie. John was also great in the kingdom, and in some way died as a witness to Jesus. But that greatness was not meant to be unique to him. It was not specifically a result of his role as forerunner. All disciples together were meant to share in the great privilege of bearing witness to Jesus. This means us as well, especially as Christmas draws near and we prepare once more to welcome him.

You too must be patient.
Make your hearts firm,
because the coming of the Lord is at hand.

 

Clamavi De Profundis - O Come Divine Messiah

 

13 December 2025 - not a victory lap

Today's Readings
(Audio) 

"Why do the scribes say that Elijah must come first?"

The book of Sirach, in giving praise to Elijah, taught that he would "come to put an end to wrath before the day of the LORD, to turn back the hearts of fathers toward their sons, and to re-establish the tribes of Jacob". The prophet Malachi also mentioned that Elijah would return before the great and terrible day of the Lord. The scribes understood this, but they didn't recognize the coming of the one who fulfilled that promise. No doubt, for someone like Elijah they were expecting a victory lap, complete success without effort or opposition. John the Baptist, who came in the spirit and power of Elijah, had much about him that made his connection to Elijah evident. But we do not hear that he called to fire or destroyed the prophets of Baal or raised the dead. Yet what he did do seemed to be more important from God's perspective. He was very much interested in restoring the tribes of Israel through his message of repentance. It wasn't enough for them to rest on their laurels, as though their Abrahamic ancestry would automatically solve their problems. Rather, they were called to justice and to mercy. But it seems the scribes where hoping for something else, something that addressed the external problems in the world whilst leaving their souls untouched and unhealed. The idea that the proud in Israel had moral and spiritual work to do was probably part of why tax collectors and prostitutes believed the message of John but the professionally religious were more reluctant.

Elijah will indeed come and restore all things;
but I tell you that Elijah has already come,
and they did not recognize him but did to him whatever they pleased.

The ministry of the forerunner shared in the polarizing nature of the one he came to make known. Neither the forerunner nor the messiah himself met with immediate unmitigated success. They both proclaimed such a provocative message that all of the systemic powers of darkness in the world came against them to silence them. Even their deaths may not have looked that remarkable to an external observer. The one died as a prisoner of a tyrant, the other as a criminal. Yet it really was the truth for which they stood that made them intolerable to those for whom it was uncomfortable. John did come to proclaim restoration, but only such as was available through individual moral reform. Jesus did come to proclaim the Father's everlasting love for his lost sheep. But the shape this took was not what everyone desired or anticipated, and so they did not all welcome it.

So also will the Son of Man suffer at their hands.

Even Christians are sometimes tempted to look only for obvious and world-changing miracles to convince ourselves that we are not wasting our time. But Jesus never wanted to convince the crowds merely on the basis of special effects. He desired them to come to faith, not only in what he could do, but in what he himself desired to do. Hence the real transformations were and are often hidden. Those things would not be convincing to those looking for physics defying events that hold up to scientific scrutiny. Yet we know that the transformation of human hearts is even more difficult and improbable than merely physical healings. And, whether we often remember it or not, we do in fact know of the marvelous ways that those we know and we ourselves have become, through faith in Jesus, what we could have never been alone.

In summary, we need to believe Jesus and John about the need for us to die to self, through the power of the cross of Christ, through the blood of the lamb of God, so that we may then, and only then, experience the fullness of the resurrection.

 Choir of King's College, Cambridge - On Jordan's Bank

 

12 December 2025 - am I not your mother?

Today's Readings
(Audio) 

Today we celebrate Our Lady in Guadalupe. In doing so we acknowledge the special role given to Mary in salvation history. She was daughter Zion who sang and rejoiced at the coming of the Lord to dwell among us. She was the woman clothes with the sun, between whom and the ancient dragon (or serpent) God promised to put enmity. She was the new Eve who would triumph where the old Eve failed. But she did not do this on her own strength. Eve would have had a better chance of resisting the intimidation tactics of the serpent if her husband Adam had been willing to lend her his strength. But though he was so close to her that she could pass a piece of fruit to him he watched in silence, shirking his duty to guard the garden. But Jesus, the new Adam, did not leave the new Eve to struggle alone. Since the subject who experienced the cross and resurrection was God himself  it was something that transcended time. And because of this, the grace that resulted from it was available to fill Mary from the moment of her conception. That was the reason the archangel Gabriel acknowledged her as full of grace.

Mary said, “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord.
May it be done to me according to your word.”

Whereas Eve chose to prioritize herself, her freedom, her desire to decide good and evil for herself Mary instead chose to place her trust in God and his plans for her. It was unlikely that either woman was able to fully grasp what the consequences of either choice would mean to them. Even Mary doubtless had her own plans and expectations prior to the archangel interrupting her life. But Eve resolved to decide for herself, relying on no one. Mary believed that God knew better than she what would lead to the best outcome. Obviously the specific choices these two individuals had to make were more extreme than what will be asked of us. But they are not entirely different from questions with which we must all contend. Will we trust in God, even when we lack all of the details about an ambiguous situation? Or will we insist on relying on ourselves at such times? Will we insist on merely human ways of thinking, or will we trust in the new and spiritual mindset God has given in through his Spirit? Not every choice we make has these dimensions. But every choice that matters probably does.

Mary set out
and traveled to the hill country in haste
to a town of Judah,
where she entered the house of Zechariah
and greeted Elizabeth.

Mary didn't take her special role in the story of salvation as an excuse to ignore others and focus on herself. In fact, she seemed animated by knowledge of the fact that God was working through her in a special way. It seemed as though she all but ran out the door to spread the blessings of God to others who might benefit. She did so, not so much by bringing herself, helpful as Elizabeth would have found her presence, but by bringing the presence of the Lord within her, the blessed fruit of her womb. It was this presence that caused Elizabeth to rejoice in the Holy Spirit. It was this same presence by which Our Lady of Guadalupe brought about the conversion of millions of indigenous peoples of the Americas. 

It is not surprising that what Mary did once historically at the time of Jesus is an important task still entrusted to her by her Son. The apparitions at Guadalupe are among the most famous of her interventions in the world. But they are by no means the only ones. Many of the interventions with which we are familiar may be obviously miraculous to the extreme. But this should not cause us to miss the times when she desires to intervene in our own lives in ways more humble and hidden. She wants to bring the joy of her son to us as surely as she did to Elizabeth or the peoples in what were then the Mexican territories of the Spanish Empire. 

The presence of Our Lady accomplished what many highly educated missionaries could not in spreading the Gospel to those lands. In our own day the effectiveness of educated and erudite preachers is limited. We need Our Lady to come to us to break open the floodgates of grace, just as she did for other peoples and lands. She can help because her faith, by which she believed that nothing is impossible for God, allows that reality the be realized where she is present. And when it is realized, when God himself demonstrates that for him all things are possible, more and more people join Mary in singing her song of joy.

“My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord;
my spirit rejoices in God my savior.”

John Michael Talbot - Holy Is His Name

 

11 December 2025 - the violent bear it away

Today's Readings
(Audio)
 

among those born of women
there has been none greater than John the Baptist;
yet the least in the Kingdom of heaven is greater than he. 

Insofar as John was a prophet like others in the history of Israel he was great, but still somehow far less than even the least in the Kingdom of heaven. But John was one who had a foot in both worlds, that of the Old Covenant, and that of the New. He was the first to experience violence being turned against the Kingdom. This was true since the purpose of his coming was to prepare the way for Jesus, and it was this that put him in such a public role as to offend Herod Antipas. He stuck even to subordinate truths about righteousness and repentance, down to insisting on the unlawfulness of Herod's marriage, precisely because to be unfaithful to any truth was to be unfaithful to the one who was the Truth in person, the bridegroom he came to make known. 

Let's pause for a moment to realize what a reversal is being described by Jesus in regard to John. The obvious and evident signs of John's greatness were as a prophet from the long prophetic tradition of Israel. He had such massive success calling people to repentance, a success which, we point out, was not common for the prophets, that people were afraid to say anything negative about him for fear of the crowds (see Matthew 21:23-27). This was the greatness of which Jesus said "among those born of women there has been none greater than John the Baptist". But his Kingdom greatness was revealed by the suffering he endured for the messiah. Outside of the Kingdom, even for a prophet, John's end could only be considered a tragedy that was in some measure a failure. But in the Kingdom it could be regarded as a victory, since in the Kingdom suffering and death were no longer meaningless for lives lived for Christ. It wasn't primarily those who lived successful lives on earth that were considered great in the Kingdom. The great reversal in which the mighty were cast down and the lowly were lifted up was applicable to John the Baptist as a prime example. This reversal had been foreseen in the Old Testament. But in Jesus it finally arrived. And John was among the first to experience it.

the Kingdom of heaven suffers violence,
and the violent are taking it by force. 

The commentators all say that this passage refers to the woes that would mark the world at the time of the messiah, all of the violence that would be directed against Jesus and those who followed him. And we concede this is the primary meaning. Yet we also acknowledge the long tradition of those who say that it refers to the spiritual violence necessary to enter the Kingdom. This spiritual violence is directed primarily at old sinful selves, which we put to death, in order to live more fully the new life given to us in baptism. This is what Paul described in his letter to the Romans, saying, "if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live" (see Romans 8:13). For this reason the Catholic tradition speaks of mortification as an important part of the spiritual life. After all, no amount of violence from others can actually prevent a follower of Jesus from entering into his Kingdom. But a lax attitude with in regard to the temptations of the flesh can do exactly that. Thus for us, as for John, the true shape of success and victory is not what we might expect. It isn't having our every desire met so much as having those desires reordered to reflect reality. The strength we need, it should be said, does not come from ourselves, even it is through us that it works. 

Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord, nor of me his prisoner, but share in suffering for the gospel by the power of God (see Second Timothy 1:8).

John's role was special. He was called Elijah because he prepared the way for Jesus, his Kingdom, and ultimately, the end of that period of history. The prophets had prophesied up until John, indicating, despite their differences, a common thread. He was the culmination of God's preparation of Israel to receive her messiah. Together with the rest of the passage, the "up to the time of John" implied the ending of one era and the beginning of another. The time of preparation for the Kingdom was over. The Kingdom was now truly at hand. 

Although the Kingdom is among us, the challenge we are given by the Church is to prepare to welcome it in a new way this Christmas. We are rehearsing the original coming of the messiah so that we can welcome him more completely into our own hearts and lives this year. Just as Jesus divided history into BC and AD (or whatever we are to call them now) so too does he divide our individual lives. Our after should be markedly different than our before. But for this to be true and remain true it is required that we continue to pursue it, even with the sort of spiritual violence we have described.

John Michael Talbot - Prepare Ye The Way

 

10 December 2025 - a word to rouse us

 

Today's Readings
(Audio)

Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened,
and I will give you rest.

Today both the first reading and the Gospel speak a word of comfort to those who are weary. We're speaking here of something more than a merely physical sensation. We might define the phenomenon as the result of a flagging of endurance, leading us to want to give up. Why might we be weary? We don't have to look too far to find ample reasons. We pray, but our prayers are not immediately answered. We work for justice, but the powerful still oppress the weak. We try to draw near to God, but encounter dryness. We have been told and so understand that endurance is expected of us, that we need to persist, and maintain our hope even when the circumstances make things seem hopeless. Hope has God for its object, and, as we know, it "does not disappoint" (see Romans 5:5).

Let's look at how Jesus handled temptations to give up. We know that he set his face like flint (see Isaiah 50:7) and "endured the cross, despising the shame" (see Hebrews 12:2). But it was not a matter of merely gritting his teeth and powering through. Even he, Jesus himself, had to have an object in which to fix his hope, something more important than all of the suffering he would endure. He did what he did "for the joy that was set before him", which was not some generic feeling of elation, but his union with the Father. His hope, humanly speaking, was solidly fixed in God. This gave him the strength he needed to endure the cross to bring us salvation.

For our part, we are not meant to merely struggle through on our own strength. Having hope that never wavers like Jesus did often proves too much for us. But when we come to him, share his yoke, and learn from him, one of the things we learn is how to fix our own will in the will of the Father, to have hope just as he did. On our own we may well surrender ourselves to despair. But when we share the yoke of Jesus we see the way that leads to victory. Jesus was able to trust even before he experienced the resurrection because he knew his Father was faithful. But now the resurrection has in fact occurred. When we are united to Jesus we already begin to live this new life in the Spirit. We can endure because we are in some way already at the goal as long as we are in union with him. Burdens that were unbearably heavy thus become light when we share his easy yoke.

Though young men faint and grow weary,
and youths stagger and fall,
They that hope in the LORD will renew their strength,
they will soar as with eagles' wings;
They will run and not grow weary,
walk and not grow faint.

The motivation and strength that we receive from Jesus are primarily of the spiritual order. And yet, when we are so certain of our purpose, and know for sure that victory is possible, even our physical bodies receive new energy. Old women and men who know their purpose and destiny through their union with Christ often have a vitality that is at odds with their years. The youthful spirit of the saints still living on earth seems to animate even their aging bodies. Maybe if our complaints are primarily about such matters, the solution we need is not some new supplement or yoga routine, but rather a new infusion of purpose from our union with Jesus himself. The invitation is both easy and open. We come to him, share his yoke, and learn. Only here, in his arms, can we ever find anything remotely like rest in this fallen world.

 

Bob Fitts - He Will Come And Save You

 

9 December 2025 - the one percent

Today's Readings
(Audio) 

If a man has a hundred sheep and one of them goes astray,
will he not leave the ninety-nine in the hills
and go in search of the stray?

Jesus is not content with good enough. One sheep missing is, for him, one too many. His stated purpose in coming was to seek and to save the lost (see Luke 19:10). When he saw people who seemed like sheep without a shepherd his heart couldn't help but be moved with compassion for them (see Matthew 9:36). 

Most of us have experienced being spiritually lost to some degree at some point. Maybe we were even still in sight range of other sheep and yet succumbed to confusion about our purpose and our worth. Hopefully we have all had the experience of being found by Jesus, being embraced by him, and being carried back to his flock. He has a place for us where we can thrive and truly be, as they say, our best selves. Even from within the flock we might be confused if we try to figure out our place and purpose on our own. But Jesus helps us understand who we are meant to be and why. And in doing so he delivers us from our disoriented confusion.

Though most of us have been lost in small ways we may not relate to those utterly absent from the flock that Jesus desires to bring within his fold. Even if we do relate, it may have been some time since we could be described in similar terms. We are mostly more like the ninety-nine who remain behind when he seeks out the one that is missing. Because of this we often take this parable as a teaching to help us appreciate why it is often those who are more distant from the Lord who seem to receive the most obvious signs of his love. It helps us come to terms with his apparent absence in our own lives while he is out in the field loving those most in need. But is Jesus really limited in this way? Does he love us less in order to love the lost more? If he were merely a man we would have to concede that he must. If he were, he would only possess limited power, capacity, and attention to distribute among all the sheep. But the shepherd who feeds his flock is not merely man, but, as Isaiah points out, "the Lord God", the same one who "comes with power" and "who rues by his strong arm". Therefore we must infer that even if it seems from our point of view that the lost sheep receive special attention it is really the case that they are loved differently, in a way that they particularly need, rather than more. Neither, then, are we loved less, for we are safely ensconced within the mountain heights of his Church. It is not really that he is absent in our lives, any more than the father of elder brother was absent from his life in the parable of the prodigal son. It may feel like Jesus is more present to people who are lost. But if we correctly understand the blessings we have been given here at home within his Church, we will recognize that what the father told the elder brother is the same thing God says to us: "Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours" (see Luke 15:31).

And if he finds it, amen, I say to you, he rejoices more over it
than over the ninety-nine that did not stray.
In just the same way, it is not the will of your heavenly Father
that one of these little ones be lost.

All of the sheep safely within the flock are worthy of the same joy. But it is especially true that the finding of the lost demands special celebration, as did the return of the prodigal son. We may use the parable of the lost sheep to help us understand our own situation and those of others. It does help us to see those mysteries from God's perspective. But the more important point, perhaps, is to let it teach us to have hearts that are more like that of Jesus, who prioritize seeking the lost, who are committed to mission. We should be like the herald described by Isaiah in our first reading:

Go up onto a high mountain,
Zion, herald of glad tidings;
Cry out at the top of your voice,
Jerusalem, herald of good news!
Fear not to cry out
and say to the cities of Judah:
Here is your God!

Bob Dufford - Like A Shepherd

 

 

8 December 2025 - your praises we sing

Today's Readings
(Audio) 

The man called his wife Eve,
because she became the mother of all the living.

Into a situation in which there should have been only life Adam and Eve chose to allow death to enter. They had been told the one thing to avoid, the one thing carrying the consequence of death. But they had chosen to believe the serpent rather than God. They succumbed to fear and chose to decide for themselves about good and evil. They imagined that they could subjectively impose a better order on the world than the one with which it was created by God. In that false world that they imagined they were safe from the serpent, enjoyed delicious fruit, and God didn't mind so much after all. But this was not, as we know, the result. Eve, who had been intended to be the mother of all the living became the mother of all of the spiritual dead, all mortals doomed to die.

I will put enmity between you and the woman,
and between your offspring and hers;
he will strike at your head,
while you strike at his heel.

Adam and Eve didn't take God by surprise with their disobedience. He did not suddenly wish he had not created them with free will after all. No, he always had a plan to restore all things. He only ever permitted evil since from it he could bring still greater good. The enmity that was always meant to exist between the forces of darkness and the children of God would be restored. Where the disobedience of Eve brought sorrow and death, the obedience of Mary, the new Eve, would bring life and forgiveness.

Since Mary was always a part of God's plan we should not be surprised that she was given special grace to play her part. What Paul said of all us of was true of her in particular, that God "chose us in him, before the foundation of the world" and "blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavens". This was why the angel greeted her by saying, "Hail, full of grace!", as though "full of grace" was such an apt description of her as to be her name. The word indicated that she had been completely filled with grace in the past in a way that continued on into the present. Years of reflecting on this mystery led the Church to recognize and gradually clarify the teaching of the Immaculate Conception. We now understand that the grace which filled her had done so from the very moment she was conceived. She had been specially protected by the grace of Christ's Passion so that she could fully cooperate in unleashing his salvation on the world, so that she could fully and without reservation welcome the one who would at last crush the head of the serpent. While Eve expressed the freedom she had been given for selfish ends, Mary used it perfectly to honor God. For this reason it is Mary, and not Eve, whom all generations will forever call blessed. But she would not wish to be alone in honoring God in this way. She desires to help us even now, today, to say yes, just as she did. Mary, mother of God, pray for us!

Mary said, "Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord.
May it be done to me according to your word."

Damascus Worship Featuring Seph Schlueter  - Hail O Queen