The Church encourages us to pray for vocations to the priesthood and religious life and we certainly should. I wish, however, we prayed more often that every baptized person discern and respond to the vocation or vocations to which God is calling him or her. Today’s readings challenge us to embrace every dimension of the vocation […]
Sunday Scriptures
Be Open to Life’s Epiphanies
By Fr. Robert M. Powers We conclude the Christmas season with a magnificent epiphany. We no longer end the season with last Sunday’s Epiphany of the Lord, the shining forth of the divine presence to the Magi at Bethlehem. We close with another epiphany, the Baptism of the Lord. And the recipient of this epiphany […]
Imitate the Wise Men: Embrace Change
By Father Robert M. Powers WHEN I WAS 25, I was not happy when I learned that a second beloved dimension of Christmas was not true. I still loved the custom of Christmas gifts and appreciated what I thought was its obvious apologetic in Matthew’s account of the Magi’s visit. A friend who was a […]
Facing Life with the Holy Family’s Courage
By Sister Karen Cavanagh, C.S.J. I’VE ALWAYS HAD a special devotion to the Holy Family. The Sisters of St Joseph were founded with a tradition of modeling our lives on Jesus, Mary and Joseph. Our founder spoke of them as our “created trinity,” our models for living our “yes” to God’s plan. During these past […]
Called and Challenged to Live in the Now
By Sister Karen M. Cavanagh, C.S.J. It’s week two in Advent and we wonder, “Where is the time going?” Last Sunday, Advent’s first, was during the Thanksgiving weekend and many of us were already tired. Were we able to hear, let alone absorb Scripture’s reminders that we often “wander away, harden our hearts and wither […]
When Enough is Not Enough
By Msgr. Joseph P. Calise I suppose most college students have at least one moment that began as an embarrassment and ended up being a great lesson in life. While I was living at the North American College, I managed to amass a fairly substantial phone bill. The telephone process was simple: We would call […]
The Search for Tangible Signs
By Msgr. Joseph P. Calise I live in a great neighborhood. Williamsburg has become an amazing mixture of young and mature, traditional and avant-garde, long-standing and trendy – the old and the new, side by side. One of the things I like most about living here – and coincidentally one of the reasons I believe […]
The Sacredness of Place
Reflecting on the readings for the Feast of the Dedication of the Lateran Basilica in Rome, Msgr. Joseph P. Calise considers the very unusual and human image of Jesus presented in this week’s Gospel.
Walking Through The Valley of Life
In 1997, James Cameron’s version of “Titanic,” starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet, opened in theaters. There are many memorable scenes and lines, but there is one in particular that I found both tragic and amusing.
We Always Need Spiritual Renewal
n a favorite musical of mine, “Fiddler on the Roof,” Tevye and Lazar sing, “God would like us to be joyful even when our hearts lie panting on the floor; how much more could we be joyful when there’s really something to be joyful for?”
