In her book, Kitchen Table Wisdom, Stories That Heal, medical doctor and writer, Rachel Naomi Remen shares this story. When she was 14 years old, she took a summer job working as a volunteer in a nursing home for the aged. This wasn’t easy for her. She was young, shy, and mostly afraid of elderly…
The Sunday Gospel Children are counting down the days. Only 10 more days till Christmas. I am really taken by the television commercial where the little boy keeps asking “Will he really come?” Of course, we think that it refers to Santa Claus. But no, it is Grandad. “I knew you would come.” It’s a story of expectation and joy,…
The full story of how Jesus Christ came to be born includes elements that we do not easily imagine when we sing our Christmas hymns. Jesus’ family tree and bloodline were far from perfect and this, according to the renowned biblical scholar, Raymond Brown, needs to be kept in mind whenever we are tempted to…
The Sunday Gospel “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I say, rejoice. Indeed, the Lord is near.” This is the entrance antiphon for the Third Sunday of Advent, known as Gaudete Sunday, a day to rejoice. I am intrigued by the prominence of the letter ‘w’ in Advent…winter, wonder, wilderness, waiting and the womb of…
The Wisdom of Pope Francis The Gospel of Luke presents us with a troubling question posed by Jesus: “When the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?” (Luke 18:8); as if to say: “when I come again at the end of time” — but we could also think, even now, at this…
My early religious training, for all its strengths, placed too heavy an emphasis on fear of God, fear of judgment, and fear of never being good enough to be pleasing to God. It took the biblical texts about God being angry and displeased with us literally. The downside of this was that many of us…
The Sunday Gospel Two great prophets, Isaiah and John the Baptist, stride into our liturgical readings for the Second Sunday of Advent. We usually think of prophets as people who foretell the future but that is only partially true. The real meaning of prophecy is the unveiling and proclamation of God’s presence in dark and…
Faith Development He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” Simon Peter said in reply, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” In any important relationship we pay attention to the other person and to what they have to say to us, through words or otherwise. In meditation,…
The first chapter of the Book of Revelation contains a powerful challenge that’s hidden within the overall esoteric language of that book. John, its author, speaking in the voice of God, says something to this effect: I have seen how hard you work, I have seen your fidelity and your hunger for the truth; but I have this against you: “you have less…
The Sunday Gospel Dark November will soon be past, and in the Church’s calendar, today is the First Sunday of Advent, the beginning of the new liturgical year. Advent means coming and it has three dimensions: the past coming of Christ at the first Christmas; the future coming of Christ at the end of life;…
Fr Ronald Rolheiser