60 Second Reflections » 60 Reflections
Once for All
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In the first reading today from Hebrews 7 & 8, the sacred author talks about the once for all sacrifice of Christ. “He has no need, as did the high priests, to offer sacrifice day after day, first for his own sins and then for those of the people; he did that once for all […]
Melchizedek
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The author of Hebrews was big on Melchizedek, and his “relationship” to Jesus. More on that in a moment. In the Gospel reading from Mark 3, Jesus heals a man with a withered hand on the sabbath. Once again the Pharisees, itching for a reason to come against him, well…come against him. The question has […]
The Eager Christian
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Great stuff today from Hebrews 6. The reading starts out “God is not unjust so as to overlook your work and the love you have demonstrated for his name by having served and continuing to serve the holy ones.” In other words, God sees your good deeds; He sees the good things you are doing […]
The Call to Priesthood
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Today in Hebrews 5, we see a theme that we touched on last week; that Jesus learned obedience from what he suffered. The author of Hebrews was big on this concept. In the Gospel reading from Mark 2, Jesus says, “No one pours new wine into old wineskins. Rather, new wine is poured into fresh […]
Called to be Holy
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In the second reading today, we read the introduction of St. Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians. He writes “to you who have been sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be holy, with all those everywhere who call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, their Lord and ours. Called to be holy. As […]
Sharper Than a Sword
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In our first reading from Hebrews 4, the author of Hebrews tells us about the word of God. More on that in a moment. The Gospel reading from Mark 2 is about the call of Levi, also known as Matthew. Levi was a tax collector. In those days, tax collectors were considered traitors. They were […]
Entering His Rest
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In the first reading today from Hebrews 4, we read about entering into God’s rest. More on that in a moment. In the Gospel reading from Mark 2, we see the story of the friends who bring their paralytic friend to Jesus to be healed. Not being able to get in through the door, they […]
While It is Still Today
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I know that I say this way too often, but today’s first reading contains one of my favorite verses in all of Scripture. It is a verse of great encouragement and one that I try to base my life and my ministry on. What is it. I’ll tell you in a sec. The Gospel reading […]
Just Like Us
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Back in Hebrews 2 today, we see more about the suffering of Jesus and how that plays to our advantage. More in a moment. In the Gospel reading from Mark 1, we see Jesus healing. He heals Simon’s mother-in-law, then many others who were sick or possessed by demons. He heals them all, then moves […]
Subject To Him
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Jesus was given all authority in heaven and on earth by the Father. In the Gospel reading today from Mark 1, the people recognized this about Jesus. After He had cast an unclean spirit out of a man, the people said, “What is this? A new teaching with authority. He commands even the unclean spirits […]
Come After Me
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Welcome back to Ordinary Time! I hope that we will not take the name of this liturgical season literally. What I mean by that is that I hope that we consider every day that we have EXTRAORDINARY!! God loves you so much, and wants to fill your life with blessings. What’s ordinary about that?! In […]
Baptism of the Lord
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Today marks the end of the Christmas season, the feast of the Baptism of the Lord. Today we read in Mark 1 about Jesus coming to John the Baptist to be baptized in the Jordan river. John the Baptist says of him, “I have baptized you with water; he will baptize you with the Holy […]
Mortal Sin
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In Catholic theology, we talk of venial sin and mortal sin. Many will say, “Sin is sin! There is no such thing as mortal sin and venial sin.” Oh, really? Tell that to St. John. He would beg to differ. In the first reading today from 1 John 5, St. John speaks very clearly about […]
Silent Retreat
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Do you believe that Jesus is the Son of God? If so, then you have victory over the world! And that victory over the world culminates in eternal life! Don’t take my word for it. Read today’s first reading from 1 John 5. Now, that’s something to get excited about! In the Gospel reading from […]
Pants on Fire!
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I love the times when we read from 1 John. I always get so much out of it when I read it. Today is no exception. In fact, today, like every day, St. John is speaking directly to me! He even has the nerve to call me a liar! More on that in a sec. […]
Fearless Lovers
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Fear is a funny thing. Not funny ha-ha, but funny odd. It does funny things, has a funny effect on people. Fear can be a great motivator; some say the greatest motivator. Fear can also paralyze. And fear is a thread that runs through our readings today. In the first reading from 1 John 4, […]
Putting Love into Action
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In the first reading today from 1 John 4, St. John writes yet again about love. “Everyone who loves is begotten by God and knows God…In this is love: not that we have loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as expiation for our sins.” In our Gospel passage from Mark 6, […]
The One Who is in You
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For many (myself included) today is “back to reality day.” Lots of folks have been off since Christmas Eve. If that includes you, welcome back! Hopefully we can hit the ground running in this new year. What’s a great way to do that? Listen to what Jesus says in our Gospel reading today from Matthew […]
Epiphany
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Today is the Feast of Epiphany. We celebrate the time when the three Wise Men, a.k.a Three Kings or Magi, appeared to offer gifts to Jesus. Such an interesting story of these three mysterious characters! They traveled untold miles on a journey to see the newborn King. This should serve as a great reminder for […]
Another Year to Grow
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Happy New Year! I’m always excited about a new year. I like to start the new year thinking of all the possibilities that God has in store. Can’t wait to find out what God has up his sleeve for us this year! Jan. 1 is normally a holy day of obligation, but not this year, […]
The Word Made Flesh
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For today’s first reading, we are back in 1 John 2. Today St. John writes about the antichrist. Very interesting stuff, especially for those hard core “end-timers.” Those are the people who keep telling us that we are in the end times. Well, 1900 years ago, St. John said the same thing. Read today’s reading. St. […]
The World
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In today’s first reading, we get some great advice from St. John. More on that in a moment. The Gospel reading today is from Luke 2. Today we read about the prophetess Anna. She was a very old woman and “never left the temple, but worshiped night and day with fasting and prayer.” Like Simeon, […]
Simeon’s Prayer
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Today is the fifth day in the Octave of Christmas. In our first reading from 1 John 2, St. John talks about light and darkness. He writes, “Whoever says he is in the light, yet hates his brother, is still in the darkness.” We need to examine our hearts and accept the light of Christ […]
Today’s Holy Innocents
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Today the Church celebrates the Feast of the Holy Innocents. Who are the Holy Innocents? They are the children killed by order of Herod in Bethlehem right after the birth of Christ. We read about this today in the Gospel reading from Matthew 2. Matthew tells us that this fulfilled what had been said through […]
St. John the Evangelist
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Today we celebrate the Feast of St. John the Evangelist. St. John was the beloved disciple, the author of the fourth Gospel, three letters in the New Testament and the Book of Revelation. Our first reading today is from the beginning of St. John’s first letter. “We proclaim now…our fellowship is with the Father and […]
The Holy Family
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The Sunday after Christmas is the Feast of the Holy Family. There are a couple of options for a second reading today, and all of the readings talk about family and relationships. Click on the link below to see the readings. We would do well to read them all. The Holy Family is the perfect example of […]
Merry Christmas!
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Advent is finally over! Now begins the real celebration. Merry Christmas! I’ll pause today from the regular Scripture reflection and just share some random thoughts. A baby in a manger. A husband and a wife with no place to stay, except with animals. The Author of Life come into the world in the form of […]
Christmas Eve
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Today is Christmas Eve. Many people (myself and my family included) will go to Mass this afternoon or this evening for Christmas. Many will attend the beautiful Midnight Mass. Whenever you attend, I pray that you will be filled with blessings! I was just reading an interest study that said that only 47% of Americans […]
Preparing the Way
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Today in the liturgy, the day before Christmas Eve, we concentrate on the birth of John the Baptist. (Remeber how I talked a few days ago about the Catholic liturgy celebrating snippets of the Christmas story throughout the year? The Feast of the Birth of John the Baptist is June 24. A mini- pre-Christmas celebration […]
Dedicated to the Lord
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The Gospel reading today is from Luke 1. It is Mary’s great Magnificat. “My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord; my spirit rejoices in God my savior, for he has looked upon his lowly servant.” Beautiful! A bit of personal trivia…my wife and I are part of Teams of Our Lady. We pray the […]
Singing Because of You
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You know something cool about the Catholic liturgy? We celebrate parts of the Christmas story throughout the year. Many of the Gospel readings that we are hearing at this time are also used at other times. For instance, today’s Gospel reading from Luke 1 is the same reading for the Feast of the Visitation on […]
Mary’s Yes
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Today’s first reading is exactly the same as yesterday’s first reading. So, if you went to Mass (you did go to Mass, didn’t you?), then you heard the prophesy from Isaiah 7: “The virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall name him Emmanuel.” Today’s Gospel reading is the same one we saw just […]
The Virgin Birth
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The Fourth Sunday of Advent. Today we light the final Advent candle. Christmas is just around the corner! And the readings reflect this. In fact, the Gospel reading today is exactly the same as yesterday. (You can read my reflection on Joseph for more.) There is quite a bit of division within Christianity these days. […]
Joseph
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More of the unfolding of the Christmas story today. In the first reading from Jeremiah 23, we read, “Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will raise up a righteous shoot to David; As king he shall reign and govern wisely, he shall do what is just and right in the land.” […]
Jesus’ Family Line
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Well, it is one week before Christmas Eve. Can you believe it?? So beginning today in the Liturgy, we see the unfolding of the Christmas story. In the first reading today we see that “The scepter shall never depart from Judah.” In other words, the Messiah, the King of Kings, would descend from the tribe […]
Married to God
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What amazing language we see in today’s first reading from Isaiah 54. More on that in moment. In the Gospel reading from Luke 7, Jesus asks the people what they thought they were going to find when they went out to follow John the Baptist. Jesus says, “A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more […]
Go and Tell
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In the first reading today from Isaiah 45, you get the sense that God has a message for the people. Five times God says, “I am the Lord, there is no other!” (Or something very similar.) Only God is God…get the message? In the Gospel reading from Luke 7, John sends two of his disciples […]
Lip Service
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Today’s readings have much to do with that which comes from our lips. In the first reading from Zephaniah 3, the Lord says, “For then will I change and purify the lips of the peoples…They shall do no wrong and speak no lies; Nor shall there be found in their mouths a deceitful tongue.” And […]
Jesus’ Authority
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In the first reading today from Numbers 24, we read of a prophesy of Balaam. He prophesies about how a king would come from Jacob’s line. “His king shall rise higher, and his royalty shall be exalted.” He then goes on to speak this prophesy, “A star shall advance from Jacob, and a staff shall […]
Can’t Please ‘Em
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We have a tendency to want to do things our way. Hey…someone cue up the Sinatra. Unfortunately, this doesn’t usually work out the best for us. Now, if we did it God’s way, that’s a different story. In the first reading today from Isaiah 48, we see what will happen if we do things God’s […]
Immaculate Conception
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Today we celebrate the Feast of the Immaculate Conception. Remember that, for Catholics, today is a Holy Day of obligation. I hope you will make it a point to attend Mass. Let’s talk briefly today about what the Immaculate Conception is, and isn’t. Probably the most common misconception (no pun intended) that people have is […]
What Shall I Cry Out?
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Our “golden thread” today is that of shepherds and sheep. In the first reading from Isaiah 40, the prophet says, “Like a shepherd he feeds his flock; in his arms he gathers the lambs, carrying them in his bosom, and leading the ewes with care.” Then in the Gospel reading from Matthew 18, Jesus speaks […]
Friends
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I don’t know about you, but I so love the Advent readings from the Prophet Isaiah. They are filled with so much beauty and hope. “Then will the lame leap like a stag, then the tongue of the mute will sing.” In the Gospel reading today from Luke 5, we see a healing of a […]
More Johns
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Today is the Second Sunday of Advent. In the Gospel reading from Matthew 3, we read about John the Baptist. As Matthew tells us, he is the one about whom the prophet Isaiah wrote, “A voice of one crying out in the desert: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight his paths.’ ” That’s really […]
More Than a Teacher
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As you read today’s first reading from Isaiah 30, I hope your mind is immediately drawn to Jesus. We see these prophesies so perfectly fulfilled in Jesus. More on that in a moment. In the Gospel reading today, we see Jesus sending out the Twelve, with authority. He tells them, “Without cost you have received; […]
According to Your Faith
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The Advent readings in the Liturgy are marvelous! Today’s “golden thread” features healing of the blind. In the first reading today from Isaiah 29, the Lord says, “On that day the deaf shall hear…the eyes of the blind shall see. The lowly will ever find joy in the Lord, and the poor rejoice in the […]
Built on Rock
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Have you ever been to New York City? If not, you’ve surely seen it before. Skyscrapers all throughout Manhattan reaching to the heavens. Ever wonder how they put those things all so close together, and how they always remain so firm? It’s because of their foundation. Manhattan has this amazingly strong bedrock underneath all those […]
Behold our God!
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In the Gospel reading today from Matthew 15, Jesus feeds a great multitude. He says, “My heart is moved with pity for the crowd…I do not want to send them away hungry.” The disciples gave Him seven loaves and a few fish. Jesus fed the whole crowd. Afterwards, there were seven baskets of fragments left […]
The Other Brother
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Today we celebrate the Feast of St. Andrew. Andrew was an Apostle, the brother of Simon Peter. The word “apostle” means “one who is sent.” In the first reading today from Romans 10, St. Paul asks, “And how can people preach unless they are sent?” He then goes on to quote from Isaiah 52: “How […]
Such Faith
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We’ll be reading a lot from Isaiah during the Advent season. And rightly so. In the first reading today, we see where we can “take cover” from the things that beat us down. “For over all, the Lord’s glory will be shelter and protection: shade from the parching heat of day, refuge and cover from […]