On the Cusp

The shepherds went in haste to Bethlehem and found Mary and Joseph,
and the infant lying in the manger.
When they saw this,
they made known the message
that had been told them about this child.
All who heard it were amazed
by what had been told them by the shepherds.
And Mary kept all these things,
reflecting on them in her heart.
Then the shepherds returned,
glorifying and praising God
for all they had heard and seen,
just as it had been told to them.

When eight days were completed for his circumcision,
he was named Jesus, the name given him by the angel
before he was conceived in the womb.

Luke 2:16-21

Madonna and Child, Guido Reni, circa 1628-30, North Carolina Museum of Art

Feast of the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph

2011-12-30T11:43:00.002-05:00

Raphael, The Holy Family with a Palm Tree, 1506, National Gallery of Scotland, Edinburgh.

Luke 2:22, 39-40

When the days were completed for their purification
according to the law of Moses,
they took him up to Jerusalem
to present him to the Lord.

When they had fulfilled all the prescriptions
of the law of the Lord,
they returned to Galilee,
to their own town of Nazareth.
The child grew and became strong, filled with wisdom;
and the favor of God was upon
him.

Father in heaven, creator of all,
you ordered the earth to bring forth life
and crowned its goodness by creating the family of man.
In history's moment when all was ready,
you sent your Son to dwell in time,
obedient to the laws of life in our world.
Teach us the sanctity of human love,
show us the value of family life,
and help us to live in peace with all men
that we may share in your life for ever.

Feast of Saint John, Apostle and Evangelist

2011-12-27T11:13:00.001-05:00

Saint John the Evangelist-Titian

Beloved:
What was from the beginning,
what we have heard,
what we have seen with our eyes,
what we looked upon
and touched with our hands
concerns the Word of life ?
for the life was made visible;
we have seen it and testify to it
and proclaim to you the eternal life
that was with the Father and was made visible to us?
what we have seen and heard
we proclaim now to you,
so that you too may have fellowship with us;
for our fellowship is with the Father
and with his Son, Jesus Christ.
We are writing this so that our joy may be complete.

1 John 1:1-4

Feast of Saint Stephen, first martyr

2011-12-26T11:06:00.000-05:00

Readings for the Mass at Night

Stephen, filled with grace and power,
was working great wonders and signs among the people.
Certain members of the so-called Synagogue of Freedmen,
Cyrenians, and Alexandrians,
and people from Cilicia and Asia,
came forward and debated with Stephen,
but they could not withstand the wisdom and the spirit with which he spoke.

When they heard this, they were infuriated,
and they ground their teeth at him.
But he, filled with the Holy Spirit,
looked up intently to heaven
and saw the glory of God and Jesus standing at the right hand of God,
and he said,
"Behold, I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man
standing at the right hand of God."
But they cried out in a loud voice, covered their ears,
and rushed upon him together.
They threw him out of the city, and began to stone him.
The witnesses laid down their cloaks
at the feet of a young man named Saul.
As they were stoning Stephen, he called out
"Lord Jesus, receive my spirit."

Acts 6:8-10; 7:54-59

The Martyrdom of St. Stephen, c.1623, Jacques Stella.

Solemnity of the Nativity of the Lord

2011-12-25T00:01:00.001-05:00

The Mystical Nativity, Sandro Botticelli, c. 1500–1501, National Gallery, London.

In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus
that the whole world should be enrolled.
This was the first enrollment,
when Quirinius was governor of Syria.
So all went to be enrolled, each to his own town.
And Joseph too went up from Galilee from the town of Nazareth
to Judea, to the city of David that is called Bethlehem,
because he was of the house and family of David,
to be enrolled with Mary, his betrothed, who was with child.
While they were there,
the time came for her to have her child,
and she gave birth to her firstborn son.
She wrapped him in swaddling clothes and laid him in a manger,
because there was no room for them in the inn.

Now there were shepherds in that region living in the fields
and keeping the night watch over their flock.
The angel of the Lord appeared to them
and the glory of the Lord shone around them,
and they were struck with great fear.
The angel said to them,
"Do not be afraid;
for behold, I proclaim to you good news of great joy
that will be for all the people.
For today in the city of David
a savior has been born for you who is Christ and Lord.
And this will be a sign for you:
you will find an infant wrapped in swaddling clothes
and lying in a manger."
And suddenly there was a multitude of the heavenly host with the angel,
praising God and saying:
"Glory to God in the highest
and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests."

Luke 2:1-14

Solemnity of the Nativity of the Lord

2011-12-25T00:01:00.000-05:00

READINGS

Friday of the Fourth Week of Advent

2011-12-23T10:31:00.000-05:00

Readings of the Day

When they came on the eighth day to circumcise the child,
they were going to call him Zechariah after his father,
but his mother said in reply,
"No. He will be called John."
But they answered her,
"There is no one among your relatives who has this name."
So they made signs, asking his father what he wished him to be called.
He asked for a tablet and wrote, "John is his name,"
and all were amazed.
Immediately his mouth was opened, his tongue freed,
and he spoke blessing God.
Luke 1:59-64

Icon-no information

O Antiphons

O Emmanuel

LATIN: O Emmanuel, Rex et legifer noster, exspectatio gentium, et Salvator earum: veni ad salvandum nos Domine Deus noster.

ENGLISH: O Emmanuel, God with us, our King and lawgiver, the expected of the nations and their Savior: come to save us, O Lord our God.

Scripture Reference:

Isaiah 7:14; 8:8
Matthew 1:23
Haggai 2:7

Relevant verse of Veni, Veni Emmanuel:

O come, o come, Emmanuel,
And ransom captive Israel,
That mourns in lonely exile here,
Until the Son of God appear.

Thursday of the Fourth Week of Advent

2011-12-22T13:33:00.000-05:00

Mary said:
"My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord;
my spirit rejoices in God my savior.
for he has looked upon his lowly servant.
From this day all generations will call me blessed:
the Almighty has done great things for me,
and holy is his Name.
He has mercy on those who fear him
in every generation.
He has shown the strength of his arm,
and has scattered the proud in their conceit.
He has cast down the mighty from their thrones
and has lifted up the lowly.
He has filled the hungry with good things,
and the rich he has sent away empty.
He has come to the help of his servant Israel
for he remembered his promise of mercy,
the promise he made to our fathers,
to Abraham and his children for ever."

Mary remained with Elizabeth about three months
and then returned to her home.

The Visitation, Juan Correa De Vivar-1539 -1552, The Museum Del Prado.

Wednesday of the Fourth Week of Advent

2011-12-21T07:37:00.000-05:00

When Elizabeth heard Mary's greeting,

the infant leaped in her womb,

and Elizabeth, filled with the Holy Spirit,

cried out in a loud voice and said,

"Most blessed are you among women,

and blessed is the fruit of your womb.

And how does this happen to me,

that the mother of my Lord should come to me?

Luke 1:41-43

Brigid Marlin, The Visitation of Elizabeth by Mary,

Oil and Tempera Painting, 2005.

O Antiphons

LATIN: O Oriens, splendor lucis aeternae, et sol iustitiae: veni, et illumina sedentes in tenebris et umbra mortis.

ENGLISH: O dawn of the east, brightness of light eternal, and sun of justice: come, and enlighten those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death.

Scripture Reference:

Luke 1:78, 79

Malachi 4:2

Relevant verse of Veni, Veni Emmanuel:

O come, Thou Dayspring, come and cheer,

Our spirits by Thine advent here;

Disperse the gloomy clouds of night,

And death's dark shadows put to flight.

Tuesday of the Fourth Week of Advent

2011-12-20T08:14:00.000-05:00

Of liturgy and life: Jesuit scholar reflects on his 46 years in Rome

ElGreco, Annunciation c1600, Museum of Fine Arts, Budapest, Hungary

But Mary said to the angel,

"How can this be,

since I have no relations with a man?"

And the angel said to her in reply,

"The Holy Spirit will come upon you,

and the power of the Most High will overshadow you.

Therefore the child to be born

will be called holy, the Son of God.

O Antiphon

O Clavis David
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
LATIN: O clavis David, et sceptrum domus Israel: qui aperis, et nemo claudit; claudis, et nemo aperit: veni, et educ vinctum de domo carceris, sedentem in tenebris.

ENGLISH: O Key of David, and scepter of the house of Israel, who opens and no man shuts, who shuts and no man opens: come, and lead forth the captive who sits in the shadows from his prison.

Scripture Reference:

Isaiah 22:22

Revelation 3:7

Relevant verse of Veni, Veni Emmanuel:

O come, thou Key of David, come,

And open wide our heavenly home;

Make safe the way that leads on high,

And close the path to misery.

Of liturgy and life: Jesuit scholar reflects on his 46 years in Rome

2011-12-19T13:32:00.000-05:00

Monday of the Fourth Week of Advent

2011-12-19T08:22:00.000-05:00

O Radix Jesse/Tree of Jesse

Annunciation to Zechariah
Tornabuoni Chapel , Santa Maria Novella, Florence, Italy
Domenico Ghirlandaio 1449-1494

The angel of the Lord appeared to him,

standing at the right of the altar of incense.

Zechariah was troubled by what he saw,

and fear came upon him.

Luke 1:11-12

O Antiphon

Latin:

O Radix Jesse, qui stas in signum populorum,

super quem continebunt reges os suum,

quem Gentes deprecabuntur:

veni ad liberandum nos, jam noli tardare

English:

O Root of Jesse, standing as a sign among the peoples;

before you kings will shut their mouths,

to you the nations will make their prayer:

Come and deliver us, and delay no longer.

Isaiah had prophesied:

"A shoot shall come out from the stock of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his roots." Isaiah 11:1

"On that day the root of Jesse shall stand as a signal to the peoples; the nations shall inquire of him, and his dwelling shall be glorious." Isaiah 11:10

Fourth Sunday of Advent-B

2011-12-17T21:04:00.000-05:00

The angel Gabriel was sent from God
to a town of Galilee called Nazareth,
to a virgin betrothed to a man named Joseph,
of the house of David,
and the virgin's name was Mary.
And coming to her, he said,
"Hail, full of grace! The Lord is with you."

Luke 1:26-28

The Annunciation, Russian icon, 14th Century

Homily

My son, Charles, recently completed the Kairos retreat for seniors. I am proud to say he was one of the student leaders, selected by his peers his junior year so he could prepare for this year. This retreat comes at just the right time as the seniors are completing their last few months before heading off to college and careers.

Kairos means “at just the right time” or in a more spiritual sense “in God’s time.”The dominant theme of Advent is a time of preparation, anticipation, and waiting. In our culture this can be very difficult. We are conditioned to have everything right now, right when we want it, and we become agitated if we are told we must wait. Patience is a virtue that has gone out of vogue in our day. Patience, however, is at the heart of what it means to be a Christian.

In the first reading and again in the Psalm King David is promised that his heir shall take his throne and his kingdom will endure forever.

"I have made a covenant with my chosen one,
I have sworn to David my servant:
Forever will I confirm your posterity
and establish your throne for all generations." (Psalm 90)

In the second reading Paul speaks of:

“The revelation of the mystery kept secret for long ages
now manifested through the prophetic writings and,
[now carried out] according to the command of the eternal God.” (Romans)

All of this done in God’s time and we know that for the Lord one day is like a thousand years and a thousand years like one day (2 Peter 3:8). The promise made to Abraham, renewed with Moses, and proclaimed by the prophets came to fulfillment with the birth of Jesus.

Today’s gospel should be very familiar. We just heard it proclaimed ten days ago on the feast of the Immaculate Conception. In fact, it is proclaimed at all the feasts involving Mary, but it is most appropriately read on the feast of the Annunciation, March 25 the conception of Jesus nearly nine months ago. What is God’s time to a woman during her pregnancy? It cannot be speeded up; it must be waited out until the time of her delivery. She and her husband and family must be patient.

What is God’s time to a recovering alcoholic or drug abuser? Once he finally becomes aware of the pain he has caused his loved ones and himself. He cannot repair the damage done overnight. He must be patient.

What is God’s time to a healthy twelve year old boy who leaves for vacation with his family in July when they are in a horrible accident and finally returns home in December, struggling to regain his strength and vigor? He and his family face years of therapy. They must be patient.

What is God’s time to us in our lives, in our struggles and challenges and longings? We must strive with faith, hope, and love. We must be patient.

The good news is that God’s time has come with Jesus who is here and now, and who is yet to come. What are we doing while we wait? How must we be patient?

Father, all-powerful God,

your eternal Word took flesh on our earth

when the Virgin Mary placed her life

at the service of your plan.

Lift our minds in watchful hope

to hear the voice which announces his glory

and open our minds to receive the Spirit

who prepares us for his coming.

CatholicsComeHome.org

2011-11-18T18:30:00.000-05:00

CatholicsComeHome.org: Coming home has never been easier. We are family. Welcome home.

Twenty-Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time

2011-09-18T09:48:00.000-04:00

The Red Vineyard, Van Gogh, Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts in Moscow.

He said to them, 'You too go into my vineyard.'

When it was evening the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman,

'Summon the laborers and give them their pay,

beginning with the last and ending with the first.'

Matthew 20:7-8

Twenty-Second Sunday in Ordinary Time

2011-08-27T22:08:00.000-04:00

He turned and said to Peter,
"Get behind me, Satan! You are an obstacle to me.
You are thinking not as God does, but as human beings do."

Matthew 16:23

Tissot, Brooklyn Museum.

Saint Rose of Lima, virgin

2011-08-23T14:51:00.000-04:00

Readings of the Day

St. Rose of Lima (1586-1617)

The first canonized saint of the New World has one characteristic of all saints—the suffering of opposition—and another characteristic which is more for admiration than for imitation—excessive practice of mortification.

She was born to parents of Spanish descent in Lima, Peru, at a time when South America was in its first century of evangelization. She seems to have taken Catherine of Siena (April 29) as a model, in spite of the objections and ridicule of parents and friends.

The saints have so great a love of God that what seems bizarre to us, and is indeed sometimes imprudent, is simply a logical carrying out of a conviction that anything that might endanger a loving relationship with God must be rooted out. So, because her beauty was so often admired, Rose used to rub her face with pepper to produce disfiguring blotches. Later, she wore a thick circlet of silver on her head, studded on the inside, like a crown of thorns.

When her parents fell into financial trouble, she worked in the garden all day and sewed at night. Ten years of struggle against her parents began when they tried to make Rose marry. They refused to let her enter a convent, and out of obedience she continued her life of penance and solitude at home as a member of the Third Order of St. Dominic. So deep was her desire to live the life of Christ that she spent most of her time at home in solitude.

During the last few years of her life, Rose set up a room in the house where she cared for homeless children, the elderly and the sick. This was a beginning of social services in Peru. Though secluded in life and activity, she was brought to the attention of Inquisition interrogators, who could only say that she was influenced by grace.

What might have been a merely eccentric life was transfigured from the inside. If we remember some unusual penances, we should also remember the greatest thing about Rose: a love of God so ardent that it withstood ridicule from without, violent temptation and lengthy periods of sickness. When she died at 31, the city turned out for her funeral. Prominent men took turns carrying her coffin.

Comment:

It is easy to dismiss excessive penances of the saints as the expression of a certain culture or temperament. But a woman wearing a crown of thorns may at least prod our consciences. We enjoy the most comfort-oriented life in human history. We eat too much, drink too much, use a million gadgets, fill our eyes and ears with everything imaginable. Commerce thrives on creating useless needs on which to spend our money. It seems that when we have become most like slaves, there is the greatest talk of “freedom.” Are we willing to discipline ourselves in such an atmosphere?

Quote:

“If your hand or your foot causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to enter into life maimed or crippled than with two hands or two feet to be thrown into eternal fire. And if your eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. It is better for you to enter into life with one eye than with two eyes to be thrown into fiery Gehenna” (Matthew 18:8–9).

Twenty-First Sunday in Ordinary Time

2011-08-21T10:37:00.000-04:00

Readings of the Day

Vincenzo di Biagio Catena, ca.1470-1531) “Jesus Gives The Keys To Peter” Museo del Prado, Madrid, Spain.

Simon Peter said,

"You are the Christ, the Son of the living God."
Jesus said to him in reply,
"Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah.
For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my heavenly Father.
And so I say to you, you are Peter,
and upon this rock I will build my church.

Matthew 16:16-18

Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary

2011-08-15T09:29:00.000-04:00

Readings of the Day

Assumption of the Virgin, Michel Sittow, c 1500, National Gallery of Art.

Elizabeth, filled with the Holy Spirit,

cried out in a loud voice and said,

"Blessed are you among women,

and blessed is the fruit of your womb.

And Mary said:

"My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord;

my spirit rejoices in God my Savior

for he has looked with favor on his lowly servant.

From this day all generations will call me blessed:

the Almighty has done great things for me

and holy is his Name.

Luke 1:41-42, 46-49

Twentieth Sunday in Ordinary Time

2011-08-14T16:32:00.000-04:00

Healing of the Canaanite's Daughter, illustration for 'The Life of Christ', c.1886-94 (w/c & gouache on paperboard), Tissot, James Jacques Joseph (1836-1902) / Brooklyn Museum of Art, New York.
At that time, Jesus withdrew to the region of Tyre and Sidon.
And behold, a Canaanite woman of that district came and called out,
"Have pity on me, Lord, Son of David!
My daughter is tormented by a demon."
But Jesus did not say a word in answer to her.
Jesus' disciples came and asked him,
"Send her away, for she keeps calling out after us."
He said in reply,
"I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel."
But the woman came and did Jesus homage, saying, "Lord, help me."
He said in reply,
"It is not right to take the food of the children
and throw it to the dogs."
She said, "Please, Lord, for even the dogs eat the scraps
that fall from the table of their masters."
Then Jesus said to her in reply,
"O woman, great is your faith!
Let it be done for you as you wish."
And the woman's daughter was healed from that hour.

Matthew 15:21-28

Almighty God, ever-loving Father,
your care extends beyoid the boundaries of race and nation
to th earts of all who live.
May the walls, which prejudice raises between us,
crumble beneath the shadow of your outstretched arms.
We sk this through Christ our Lord.

from Christian Prayer

Memorial of Saint Clare, virgin

2011-08-11T07:23:00.000-04:00

Readings of the Day

By Tiberio di Assisi in the Basilica of St. Mary of the Angels, Chapel of the Roses, near Assisi, Italy.

St. Clare/Santa Chiara Offreduccio, daughter of Favarone Scifi, Count of Sasso-Rosso and his wife Ortolana, b.16th July, 1193 - d.11th August, 1253.

Feast of Saint Lawrence, Deacon and Martyr

2011-08-10T01:00:00.001-04:00

Readings of the Day

Jesus said to his disciples:

“Amen, amen, I say to you,
unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies,
it remains just a grain of wheat;
but if it dies, it produces much fruit.
Whoever loves his life loses it,
and whoever hates his life in this world
will preserve it for eternal life.
Whoever serves me must follow me,
and where I am, there also will my servant be.
The Father will honor whoever serves me.”

John 12:24-26

Father,

you called Saint Lawrence to serve you by love

and crowned his life with glorious martyrdom.

Help us to be like him

in loving you and doing your work.

from Christian Prayer

Unidentified work.

Nineteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

2011-08-06T18:44:00.001-04:00

Jesus went up on the mountain by himself to pray. When it was evening he was there alone.

Matthew 13:23

Father,

we come, reborn in the Spirit ,

to celebrate our sonship in the Lord Jesus Christ.

Touch our hearts,

help them grow toward the life you have promised.

touch our lives,

make them signs of you love for all men.

Grant this through Christ our Lord.

from Christian Prayer

James Tissot

Eighteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

2011-07-31T01:00:00.030-04:00

View of the mosaic below the altar of the church at Heptapegon Tabgha that commemorates the multiplication of the five loaves and two fishes in the story of the feeding of the five thousand (Mark 6:33–44).

Two fish flank a basket containing four loaves—another (real) loaf is often placed on the altar above this to bring the total to five loaves (Mark 6:38) and two fish.

Photo by Janette Lee

Jesus said to them, “There is no need for them to go away;
give them some food yourselves.”
But they said to him,
“Five loaves and two fish are all we have here.”
Then he said, “Bring them here to me, ”
and he ordered the crowds to sit down on the grass.
Taking the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up to heaven,
he said the blessing, broke the loaves,
and gave them to the disciples,
who in turn gave them to the crowds.
They all ate and were satisfied,
and they picked up the fragments left over—
twelve wicker baskets full.

Matthew 14:16-20

God our Father,
gifts without measure flow from your goodness
to bring us your peace.
Our life is your gift.
Guide our life's journey,
for only your love makes us whole.
Keep us strong in your love.
We ask this through Christ our Lord.

from Christian Prayer

Photo by Berthold Werner

Photo by Metal Traveller

Photo by Berthold Werner

Seventeenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

2011-07-30T08:41:00.000-04:00

Readings of the Day

“The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure buried in a field,
which a person finds and hides again,
and out of joy goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.

Matthew 13:44

Tissot, Hidden Treasure, Brooklyn Museum.

Sixteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

2011-07-16T16:20:00.000-04:00

Jean-Francois Millet, The Sower, 1850. Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

The kingdom of heaven may be likened
to a man who sowed good seed in his field.
Matthew 13:24

Father,
let the gift of your life
continue to grow in us,
drawing us from death to faith, hope, and love.
Keep us alive in christ Jesus.
Keep us watchful in prayer
and true to his teaching,
till your glory is revealed in us.

Christian Prayer

Fourteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

2011-07-02T18:00:00.005-04:00

“Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened,
and I will give you rest.
Take my yoke upon you and learn from me,
for I am meek and humble of heart;
and you will find rest for yourselves.
For my yoke is easy, and my burden light.”

Matthew 11:28-30

Father,
in the rising of your Son
death gives birth to new life.
the sufferings he endured restored hope to a fallen world.
let sin never ensnare us
with empty promises of passing joy.
Make us one with you always,
sothat our joy may be holy,
and our love may give life.
We ask this through Christ our Lord.

Christian Prayer

Overworked America: The Great Speedup

Thursday 30 June 2011

by: Monika Bauerlein and Clara Jeffery, Mother Jones | Report

A statue of a businessman with his head buried in wall, Los Angeles, California. Americans work 122 hours more than workers in the UK, and 378 hours more than those in Germany. (Photo: RobeRt Vega)

You: doing more with less. Corporate profits: Up 22 percent. The dirty secret of the jobless recovery.

On a bright spring day in a wisteria-bedecked courtyard full of earnest, if half-drunk, conference attendees, we were commiserating with a fellow journalist about all the jobs we knew of that were going unfilled, being absorbed or handled "on the side." It was tough for all concerned, but necessary—you know, doing more with less.

"Ah," he said, "the speedup."

His old-school phrase gave form to something we'd been noticing with increasing apprehension—and it extended far beyond journalism. We'd hear from creative professionals in what seemed to be dream jobs who were crumbling under ever-expanding to-do lists; from bus drivers, hospital technicians, construction workers, doctors, and lawyers who shame-facedly whispered that no matter how hard they tried to keep up with the extra hours and extra tasks, they just couldn't hold it together. (And don't even ask about family time.)

Webster's defines speedup as "an employer's demand for accelerated output without increased pay," and it used to be a household word. Bosses would speed up the line to fill a big order, to goose profits, or to punish a restive workforce. Workers recognized it, unions (remember those?) watched for and negotiated over it—and, if necessary, walked out over it.

ALSO SEE: Overworked America: Twelve Charts That Will Make Your Blood Boil

But now we no longer even acknowledge it—not in blue-collar work, not in white-collar or pink-collar work, not in economics texts, and certainly not in the media (except when journalists gripe about the staff-compacted-job-expanded newsroom). Now the word we use is "productivity," a term insidious in both its usage and creep. The not-so-subtle implication is always: Don't you want to be a productive member of society? Pundits across the political spectrum revel in the fact that US productivity (a.k.a. economic output per hour worked) consistently leads the world. Yes, year after year, Americans wring even more value out of each minute on the job than we did the year before. U-S-A! U-S-A!

Except what's good for American business isn't necessarily good for Americans. We're not just working smarter, but harder. And harder. And harder, to the point where the driver is no longer American industriousness, but something much more predatory.

Guess what: It's not you. These might seem like personal problems—and certainly, the pharmaceutical industry is happy to perpetuate that notion—but they're really economic problems. Just counting work that's on the books (never mind those 11 p.m. emails), Americans now put in an average of 122 more hours per year than Brits, and 378 hours (nearly 10 weeks!) more than Germans. The differential isn't solely accounted for by longer hours, of course—worldwide, almost everyone except us has, at least on paper, a right to weekends off, paid vacation time (PDF), and paid maternity leave. (The only other countries that don't mandate paid time off for new moms are Papua New Guinea, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Samoa, and Swaziland. U-S...A?)

Sound familiar: Mind racing at 4 a.m.? Guiltily realizing you've been only half-listening to your child for the past hour? Checking work email at a stoplight, at the dinner table, in bed? Dreading once-pleasant diversions, like dinner with friends, as just one more thing on your to-do list?

To understand how we got here, first let's consider the Ben Franklin-Horatio Alger-Henry Ford ur-myth: To balk at working hard—really, really hard—brands you as profoundly un-American. Who besides the archetypical Japanese salaryman derives so much of his self-image from self-sacrifice on the job? Slacker is one of the most biting insults available in polite company.

And so we kowtow to—nay, embrace—a cultural maxim that just happens to be enormously convenient to corporate America. "Our culture has encouraged me to only feel valuable if I'm barely hanging on to my sanity," one friend emailed as we were working on this article. In fact, each time we mentioned this topic to someone—reader, source, friend—they first took pains to say: I'm not lazy. I love my job. I come from a long line of hard workers. But then it would pour out of them—the fatigue, the isolation, the guilt.

"I am exhausted," said a "part time" college instructor in Illinois. "I can't help my son with his homework because I am grading papers until late into the night. I get up very early during the week, skip lunch to save not money but time, and the workload never lets up. My employer uses and abuses full-time employees even more so than those of us that are hourly. My supervisor, for example, runs a large department. He was just promoted to a new, even more demanding position, but his position running the department will not be filled. He will now be doing what is a 60-to-70-hour job 'on the side.' I can't complain of overwork, because everyone is competing to get enough classes to pay the bills. If you lose a class, you lose a chunk of your paycheck. If we can't handle it, the class can always be given to another teacher who will be desperate for the work or money."

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Sure, but these are tough times—employers struggling to survive the recession are just tightening their belts, right? That's true for some. But in the big picture, the data show a more insidious pattern. Consider the charts above: After a sharp dip in 2008 and 2009, US economic output recovered nicely to near pre-recession levels—we did better than most of our fellow G-7 economies. But not so American workers: Far more people here lost their jobs, and fewer were hired back once the recovery began, than anywhere else.

Now, some jobs always get "rationalized" away, thanks to technological or organizational improvements—an area where, it's not jingoistic to say, the US has led its European counterparts. But that "productivity gap" has narrowed considerably, and in any case, there certainly was no dramatic tech or efficiency breakthrough between 2008 and 2010 (quite—Twitter/Facebook/FarmVille—the opposite).

What about offshoring? That's certainly a factor. But increasingly, US workers are also falling prey to what we'll call offloading: cutting jobs and dumping the work onto the remaining staff. Consider a recent Wall Street Journal story about "superjobs," a nifty euphemism for employees doing more than one job's worth of work—more than half of all workers surveyed said their jobs had expanded, usually without a raise or bonus.

In all the chatter about our "jobless recovery," how often does someone explain the simple feat by which this is actually accomplished? US productivity increased twice as fast in 2009 as it had in 2008, and twice as fast again in 2010: workforce down, output up, and voilá! No wonder corporate profits are up 22 percent since 2007, according to a new report by the Economic Policy Institute. To repeat: Up. Twenty-two. Percent.

This is nothing short of a sea change. As University of California-Berkeley economist Brad DeLong notes, until not long ago, "businesses would hold on to workers in downturns even when there wasn't enough for them to do—would put them to work painting the factory—because businesses did not want to see their skilled, experienced workers drift away and then have to go through the expense and loss of training new ones. That era is over. These days firms take advantage of downturns in demand to rationalize operations and increase labor productivity, pleading business necessity to their workers."

How does corporate America have the gall? You pretty much know the answer, but for official confirmation let's turn to Erica Groshen, a vice president at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York: It's easier here than in, say, the UK or Germany "for employers to avoid adding permanent jobs," she told the AP recently. "They're less constrained by traditional human-resources practices [translation: decency] or union contracts." In plainer English, here's Rutgers political scientist Carl Van Horn: "Everything is tilted in favor of the employers...The employee has no leverage. If your boss says, 'I want you to come in the next two Saturdays,' what are you going to say—no?"

And lest CNBC hornswoggle you, this is not just a product of the recession. Throughout the past decade, salaries stagnated and workloads grew, but Wall Street's bubble allowed us to drown our sorrows in credit. (Sure, I'm working crazy hours and our pension fund is history, but check out my granite countertop!) Then came the crash, and the speedup...speeded up.

Which brings us to another shared delusion: multitasking. Our best efforts at collective denial notwithstanding, simple arithmetic reveals that even after housewives entered the workforce, the work of housewives still had to be done. Sure, some of it—especially child care—was outsourced, often at rock-bottom wages. But for many women, and a rising (though not yet sufficient) number of men, the second shift awaits each night. And it's increasingly being joined by a third shift, as we remain digitally tethered to the office in the diminishing hours we're actually home.

Multitasking seems the obvious fix—let me just answer this email while I help with your homework! But here's the scary research news: Minus a few freakish exceptions, most of us cannot actually multitask. Try to keep up a conversation with your spouse while scanning the BlackBerry, and empirical data shows (PDF) that you do both things poorly. And not only that: If you multitask constantly, your actual mental circuitry erodes, and your brain loses its ability to focus. (Same with sleep: Aside from a tiny minority of mutants, humans perform distinctly and progressively worse when they get fewer than eight hours a night. Go ahead and cry.)

Think you're the exception? Nope. "Virtually all multitaskers think they are brilliant at multitasking," warns Stanford sociologist Clifford Nass. "And one of the big discoveries is, you know what? You're really lousy at it. [It's] been demonstrated over and over and over. No one talks about it—I don't know why—but in fact there's no contradictory evidence to this for about the last 15, 20 years."

Actually, it's not hard to guess why no one talks about it: We need to believe there's a personal workaround for what we're conditioned to see as a personal shortcoming. When, in fact, the problem is the absurd premise that our economy can produce ever more with ever less.

But take heart! Up in the corner offices, there's a growing recognition that unrealistic demands on time are destroying the souls of...executives. "Always-on, multitasking work environments are killing productivity, dampening creativity, and making us unhappy," notes a recent article in McKinsey Quarterly, the research publication of the giant global consulting firm that has been corporate America's chief efficiency cheerleader. "These scourges hit CEOs and their colleagues in the C-suite particularly hard." McKinsey's advice to beleaguered execs? Do one thing at a time; delegate; take more breaks.

Just try telling that to the millions of people whose work has been downsized, offshored, and sped up thanks to McKinsey.

How have we been so brainwashed? For a lucky few, money and perks help sugarcoat the daily frenzy—anything from the workaday onsite gym to the rock-climbing wall, free dry-cleaning, massage parlor, and unlimited sushi you'll find at the Googleplex. Some heed the siren song of Tony Robbins/Franklin Planner/4-Hour Workweek/Lifehacker—pick your productivity guru. But for most Americans, it's just fear—of being passed over at best, downsized at worst. Even among college grads, unemployment is twice what it was in 2007, and those statistics don't take note of all the B.A.'s stocking shelves and answering phones. McDonald's recently announced that it had gotten more than a million applicants for 62,000 new positions. Enough said.

Meanwhile, what's passed off as the growing pains of a modern economy is—not to go all Marxist on you—simply about redistribution. For 90 percent of American workers, incomes have stagnated or fallen for the past three decades, while they've ballooned at the top, and exploded at the very tippy-top: By 2008, the wealthiest 0.1 percent were making 6.4 times as much as they did in 1980 (adjusted for inflation). And just to further fuel your outrage, that 22 percent increase in profits? Most of it accrued to a single industry: finance.

In other words, all that extra work you've taken on—the late nights, the skipped lunch hours, the missed soccer games—paid off. For them.

This will keep up as long as we buy into three fallacies: One, that to feel crushed by debilitating workloads is a personal failing. Two, that it's just your company or industry struggling—when in fact what's happening to hotel maids and sales clerks is also happening to project managers, engineers, and doctors. Three, that there's nothing anyone can do about it.

Mule Design Studio, a web-design shop with a number of blue-chip clients, has a saner policy: "Our office hours are Monday through Friday 9-6. We do not hand out our cell phone numbers. On the weekend, we cease to exist."

No, no, and no. We got to this point because of decades of political decisions. To name but three: turning over the financing of elections to wealthy interests; making it harder for unions to organize; deregulating Wall Street (and completely wimping out on reregulating it after the financiers nearly destroyed the global economy). And even after having watched these policies bring the global economy to its knees, Mitch McConnell & Co. say that any questioning of corporate power is tantamount to rolling out the tumbrels. Please.

It would take a boatload of arrogance, and an essay four times this length, to prescribe a solution. But suffice it to say there are companies in the US that have figured out a way to thrive and maintain a sane, even engaging, work environment. (Take the policies of Mule Design Studio, a web-design shop with a number of blue-chip clients: "Our office hours are Monday through Friday 9-6. We do not hand out our cell phone numbers. On the weekend, we cease to exist.")

European companies face the same pressures that ours do—yet in Germany's vigorous economy, for example, six weeks of vacation are de rigueur, weekend work is a last resort, and companies' response to a downturn is not to fire everyone, but to institute Kurzarbeit—temporarily reducing hours and snapping back when things start looking up (PDF). Sure, they lag ever so slightly behind us in productivity. But ask yourself: Who does our No. 1 spot benefit?

Exactly. So maybe it's time to come out of the speedup closet. Rant to a friend, neighbor, coworker. Hear them say, "Me too." That might sound a little cheesy, and it's not going to lance Mitch McConnell from the body politic of America. But if you're in an abusive relationship—which 90-plus percent of America currently is—the first step toward recovery is to admit you have a problem.

This article was originally published by Mother Jones.

Solemnity of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus

2011-07-01T00:01:00.001-04:00

José María Ibarrarán y Ponce (1854-1910)

"Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened,
and I will give you rest.
Take my yoke upon you and learn from me,
for I am meek and humble of heart;
and you will find rest for yourselves.
For my yoke is easy, and my burden light."

Matthew 11:28-30

Father,
we honor the heart of your Son
broken by man's cruelty,
yet symbol of love's triumph,
pledge of all that man is called to be.
Teach us to see Christ in the lives we touch,
to offer him living worship
by love-filled service to or brothers and sisters.

We ask this through Christ our Lord.

Christian Prayer

Solemnity of Saint Peter and Saint Paul

2011-06-29T20:44:00.000-04:00

Saints Peter and Paul, El Greco (Domenikos Theotokopoulos), 1605-08, State Hermitage, St Petersburg, Russia.

Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ

2011-06-26T15:25:00.000-04:00

Brothers and sisters:
The cup of blessing that we bless,
is it not a participation in the blood of Christ?
The bread that we break,
is it not a participation in the body of Christ?
Because the loaf of bread is one,
we, though many, are one body,
for we all partake of the one loaf.

1 Corinthians 10:16-17

O precious and wonderful banquet!

Since it was the will of God's only-begotten Son that men should share in his divinity, he assumed our nature in order that by becoming man he might make men gods. Moreover, when he took our flesh he dedicated the whole of its substance to our salvation. He offered his body to God the Father on the altar of the cross as a sacrifice for our reconciliation. He shed his blood for our ransom and purification, so that we might be redeemed from our wretched state of bondage and cleansed from all sin. But to ensure that the memory of so great a gift would abide with us for ever, he left his body as food and his blood as drink for the faithful to consume in the form of bread and wine.

Thomas Aquinas, Opusclum 57, in festo Corporis Christi, lect. 1-4

Lord Jesus Christ,
we worship you living among us
in the sacrament of your body and blood.
May we offer to our Father in heaven
a solemn pledge of undivided love.
May we offer to our brothers and sisters
a life poured out in loving service of that kingdom
where you live with the Father and the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever.

Christian Prayer

The Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity

2011-06-18T19:30:00.000-04:00

READINGS OF THE DAY

Holy Trinity, Andrei Rublev, 1410,Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow.

Fourth Sunday of Easter

2011-05-14T23:24:00.001-04:00

Adé Béthune

Homily

The sheep hear his voice,
as the shepherd calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.
When he has driven out all his own,
he walks ahead of them, and the sheep follow him,
because they recognize his voice.

Dale Carnegie, motivational guru, and author of How to Win Friends and Influence People, wrote several sure fire methods for dealing with people to achieve positive results. Over the years he studied people’s behavior, and collected anecdotes of people who had success in business and politics to illustrate his observations. One of his observations was that people love to hear the sound of their own name. Carnegie developed a way to help remember names, which I still have yet to master. If I could remember it I’d share it with you. I offer my apologies to any of you who have introduced yourself to me, and I still can’t manage to remember your names. It’s not that I don’t try. I have actually spent hours with the picture directory, trying to learn names and faces only to have forgotten them by the next time I run into someone.

One person who I thought had an astonishing ability to remember names was the late Bishop James Hoffman. After what I thought was a fairly inconsequential first meeting with him, I was amazed when at every time we had a chance meeting thereafter, he still remembered my name. It made me feel special that the bishop actually knew me by name. This is the kind of image we see in the gospel: Jesus calling his sheep by name, and they follow at the sound of his voice. “The shepherd calls sheep by name and the magnificent God of the universe calls each of us by name. Through Jesus, God knows each and every one of us better than we know ourselves. The name he confirms for each of us finds its way down to the deepest interior of our souls. Through it he calls us to be most truly who we are, in our own self and in God. (Foley)

Blesséd be God

O blesséd be God

Who calls you by name

Holy and chosen one

This Sunday has traditionally has been called “Good Shepherd Sunday” because of the gospel reading. This was rooted in the ancient Church’s tradition of continuing catechesis of the newly baptized during the period of mystagogy that lasted until Pentecost. “The goal of this period was to engage the newly baptized in a more profound experience of the paschal mystery both on an intellectual level as well as on the level of lived personal experience.” “Both initiates and veteran believers are invited to enter this mystagogia and thereby to be renewed in the dignity and challenge of Christian baptism. “ “In this excerpt from the John’s Good Shepherd discourse, the evangelist counsels Christians concerning the necessity of being attuned to the voice of authenticity and truth: “the sheep hear his voice as he calls his own by name.” The integrity of the faith and of the ongoing formation of baptized believers must be rooted in the call of Christ as preserved in scripture and the tradition of the Spirit-led church. (Sanchez)

How do we recognize the sound of Christ calling us by name? How do we respond to that call? How do we follow where the shepherd leads us?

The Twenty-third Psalm is probably one of the best known of all the psalms. In it we can hear the response of a follower of Christ.

The Lord is my shepherd;
there is nothing I shall want.
Fresh and green are the pastures
where he gives me repose.
Near restful waters he leads me,

to revive my drooping spirit.

He guides me along the right path;
he is true to his name.
If I should walk in the valley of darkness
no evil would I fear.
You are there with your crook and your staff;
with these you give me comfort.

You have prepared a banquet for me
in the sight of my foes.
My head you have anointed with oil;
my cup is overflowing.

Surely goodness and kindness shall follow me
all the days of my life.
In the Lord's own house shall I dwell
for ever and ever.--Grail Psalms

“In describing the Lord as a shepherd, David wrote out of his own experience because he had spent his early years caring for sheep. Sheep are completely dependent on the Shepherd for provision, guidance, and protection.” One of the oldest and most enduring images of Christ is that of the Good Shepherd. “As the Lord is the good shepherd, so we are his sheep -- not frightened, passive animals, but obedient followers, wise enough to follow one who will lead us in the right places and in right ways. This psalm does not focus on the animal-like qualities of sheep, but on the discipleship qualities of those who follow. When you recognize the good shepherd, follow him!

“When we allow God our shepherd to guide us, we have contentment. When we choose to sin, however, we go our own way and cannot blame God for the environment we create for ourselves. Our shepherd knows the "green pastures" and "quiet waters" that will restore us. We will reach these places only by following him obediently. Rebelling against the shepherd's leading is actually rebelling against our own best interests. We must remember this the next time we’re tempted to go our own way rather than the shepherd's way.

“Death casts a frightening shadow over us because we are entirely helpless in its presence. We can struggle with other enemies -- pain, suffering, disease, injury -- but strength and courage cannot overcome death. It has the final word. Only one person can walk with us through death's dark valley and bring us safely to the other side -- the God of life, our shepherd. Because life is uncertain, we should follow this shepherd who offers us eternal comfort.

“In ancient Near Eastern culture, at a banquet it was customary to anoint a person with fragrant oil as a lotion. Hosts were also expected to protect their guests at all costs. God offers the protection of a host even when enemies surround us. In the final scene of this psalm, we see that believers will dwell with God. God, the perfect shepherd and host, promises to guide and protect us through life to bring us into his house forever.” (Life Application Bible-NIV)

Today at the table the Lord has spread out for us, let us come to be nourished so that we may faithfully walk in our “dark valleys” and come to the place where we may “have life and have it more abundantly.”

Friday of the Second Week of Easter

2011-05-06T14:44:00.000-04:00

Readings of the Day

James Tissot, The Miracle of the Loaves and the Fishes.

Thursday of the Second Week of Easter

2011-05-05T10:52:00.000-04:00

Readings of the Day

El Greco, The Resurrection, 1596-1600, Museo Nacioal del Prado.

Wednesday of the Second Week of Easter

2011-05-04T09:03:00.000-04:00

Readings of the Day

God so loved the world that he gave his only-begotten Son,

so that everyone who believes in him might not perish

but might have eternal life.

For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world,

but that the world might be saved through him.

John 3:16-17

Salvidor Dali, Christ of Saint John of the Cross, 1951, Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum, Glasglow.

Friday in the Octave of Easter

2011-04-29T14:57:00.000-04:00

Readings of the Day

James Tissot, Brooklyn Museum, New York.

When it was already dawn, Jesus was standing on the shore;

but the disciples did not realize that it was Jesus.

Jesus said to them, “Children, have you caught anything to eat?”

They answered him, “No.”

So he said to them, “Cast the net over the right side of the boat

and you will find something.”

So they cast it, and were not able to pull it in

because of the number of fish.

Thursday in the Octave of Easter

2011-04-28T10:31:00.000-04:00

Readings of the Day

James Jacques Tissot, Jesus Eats Breakfast with His Disciples, Brooklyn Museum, New York.

While they were still incredulous for joy and were amazed,

he asked them, “Have you anything here to eat?”

They gave him a piece of baked fish;

he took it and ate it in front of them.

Luke 24:41-43

Wednesday in the Octave of Easter

2011-04-27T14:45:00.000-04:00

Readings of the Day

Duccio di Buoninsegna, Maestà, 1308-11, Museo dell'Opera del Duomo, Siena, Italy.

That very day, the first day of the week,

two of Jesus’ disciples were going

to a village seven miles from Jerusalem called Emmaus,

and they were conversing about all the things that had occurred.

And it happened that while they were conversing and debating,

Jesus himself drew near and walked with them,

but their eyes were prevented from recognizing him.

As they approached the village to which they were going,

he gave the impression that he was going on farther.

But they urged him, “Stay with us,

for it is nearly evening and the day is almost over.”

So he went in to stay with them.

And it happened that, while he was with them at table,

he took bread, said the blessing,

broke it, and gave it to them.

With that their eyes were opened and they recognized him,

but he vanished from their sight.

Luke 24:13-16, 28-31

Diego Rodriguez De Silva Y Velazquez, The Supper at Emmaus, New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Good Friday of the Lord’s Passion

2011-04-22T12:27:00.000-04:00

El Greco, Christ on the Cross with the Two Marys and St John c. 1588, National Gallery, Prague, Czech Republic

In his own body
he brought your sins to the cross,
so that all of us, dead to sin,
could live in accord with God's will.

...BY HIS WOUNDS YOU WERE HEALED!
1 Peter 2:24

O Sacred Head Surrounded

O sacred head, surrounded
by crown of piercing thorn!
O bleeding head, so wounded,
reviled and put to scorn!
Our sins have marred the glory
of thy most holy face,
yet angel hosts adore thee
and tremble as they gaze

I see thy strength and vigor
all fading in the strife,
and death with cruel rigor,
bereaving thee of life;
O agony and dying!
O love to sinners free!
Jesus, all grace supplying,
O turn thy face on me.

In this thy bitter passion,
Good Shepherd, think of me
with thy most sweet compassion,
unworthy though I be:
beneath thy cross abiding
for ever would I rest,
in thy dear love confiding,
and with thy presence blest.

Holy Thursday, Evening Mass of the Lord’s Supper

2011-04-21T00:01:00.001-04:00

Duccio di Buoninsegna, ca. 1255 – 1319

The Washing of the Feet, 1308-11

Museo dell'Opera Metropolitana del Duomo

Jesus took a towel and tied it around his waist.
Then he poured water into a basin
and began to wash the disciples’ feet
and dry them with the towel around his waist.
He came to Simon Peter, who said to him,
“Master, are you going to wash my feet?”

So when he had washed their feet
and put his garments back on and reclined at table again,
he said to them, “Do you realize what I have done for you?
You call me ‘teacher’ and ‘master,’ and rightly so, for indeed I am.
If I, therefore, the master and teacher, have washed your feet,
you ought to wash one another’s feet.
I have given you a model to follow,
so that as I have done for you, you should also do.”

John 13:4-6, 12-15

Palm Sunday of the Lord’s Passion

2011-04-17T00:01:00.000-04:00

Entry into Jerusalem - Giotto di Bondone, Cappella Scrovegni, Padua, Italy, 1304-06.

The disciples went and did as Jesus had ordered them.
They brought the ass and the colt and laid their cloaks over them,
and he sat upon them.
The very large crowd spread their cloaks on the road,
while others cut branches from the trees
and strewed them on the road.
The crowds preceding him and those following
kept crying out and saying:
“Hosanna to the Son of David;
blessed is the he who comes in the name of the Lord;
hosanna in the highest.”
And when he entered Jerusalem
the whole city was shaken and asked, “Who is this?”
And the crowds replied,
“This is Jesus the prophet, from Nazareth in Galilee.”

Matthew 21:6-11

Fifth Sunday of Lent

2011-04-10T00:00:00.008-04:00

http://www.usccb.org/nab/040311.shtml

He cried out in a loud voice,
“Lazarus, come out!”
The dead man came out,
tied hand and foot with burial bands,
and his face was wrapped in a cloth.

John11:43-44

Jesus Raises Lazarus, James Tissot

Fourth Sunday of Lent

2011-04-03T00:00:00.002-04:00

While I am in the world, I am the light of the world.”
When he had said this, he spat on the ground
and made clay with the saliva,
and smeared the clay on his eyes,
and said to him,
“Go wash in the Pool of Siloam” —which means Sent—.
So he went and washed, and came back able to see.

John 9:5-7

El Greco. Christ Healing the Blind Man. 1560s. Oil on panel. Alte Meister Gallerie, Dresden, Germany.

Third Sunday of Lent

2011-03-27T20:36:00.000-04:00

A woman of Samaria came to draw water.
Jesus said to her,
“Give me a drink.”

Second Sunday of Lent

2011-03-20T00:00:00.002-04:00

Jesus took Peter, James, and John his brother,

and led them up a high mountain by themselves.

And he was transfigured before them;

his face shone like the sun

and his clothes became white as light.

And behold, Moses and Elijah appeared to them,

conversing with him.

Matthew 17:1-3

Transfiguration by Theophanes the Greek

Homily

His face shone like the sun and his clothes became white as light.

Transfiguration is one of those words that always sends me to the dictionary. “A radical transformation of appearance; a radiant emanation.” Why did Jesus appear radiant?

This particular passage is bracketed by the first two occasions where Jesus tells the apostles that he must suffer and die. In fact when Peter first heard this, he protested prompting Jesus to say, "Get behind me, Satan! You are an obstacle to me. You are thinking not as God does, but as human beings do." Jesus has already accepted the suffering he will endure.

Accepted suffering? Can this possibly be what can help us to become God-like? It almost goes against the grain of everything we do. We drink so that we do not suffer thirst; we eat so that we do not suffer hunger; we clothe and shelter ourselves so that we do not suffer from the elements. Almost all of our activity is geared to reduce suffering of one kind or another in our life. In fact, our culture invites us to seek comfort where ever we can.

Sometimes we cannot escape suffering. We get sick, with illness or disease or we are hurt or disabled by natural or manmade disasters. Ask the people of Japan about suffering right now. The Worst kind of suffering is caused by the unjust actions of one person or country over another. Ask the people of Libya about suffering.

This transfiguration of Jesus was a way to show Peter, James and John that suffering does not end in ruin and death, but is a pathway to glory. Have you ever noticed someone who was dying that seemed to have a glow? I have seen some with a terminal illness that seemed absolutely radiant. How can that be? Could it be that they can finally see beyond the misery of this world to the glory of the next?

The season of Lent is an opportunity for us to voluntarily accept suffering as a way to purification; as a way of letting go; as a way of becoming God-like.

Saint Paul in his letter to the Corinthians asks us to consider an athlete. “While all the runners in the stadium take part in the race, the award goes to one man. In that case run as to win! Athletes deny themselves all sorts of things. They do this to win a crown of leaves that withers, but we a crown that is imperishable.” 1 Cor 9:24-25

In our celebration of the eucharist today, let us pray that we become trans- figured with Christ so that we may radiate his light and love to a suffering world, and that we may accept suffering as a pathway to Godliness.

Solemnity of Saint Joseph, husband of the Blessed Virgin Mary

2011-03-18T19:27:00.002-04:00

Saint Joseph with the Infant Jesus by Guido Reni, c 1635

The angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said,
“Joseph, son of David,
do not be afraid to take Mary your wife into your home.
For it is through the Holy Spirit
that this child has been conceived in her.
Matthew 1:20

El Greco, (1541, Candia - 1614, Toledo), “San Giuseppe con Gesù bambino”, 1597-99, Olio su tela, 289 x 147 cm, Capilla de San José, Toledo

First Sunday of Lent

2011-03-13T00:00:00.000-05:00

The tempter approached and said to him,
“If you are the Son of God,
command that these stones become loaves of bread.”
He said in reply,
“It is written:
One does not live on bread alone,
but on every word that comes forth
from the mouth of God.”

Matthew 4:3-4

Jesus Tempted in the Wilderness by James Tissot, 1886-94

Ash Wednesday

2011-03-09T00:00:00.001-05:00

Psalm 51(50) Miserere mei, Deus

.3 Have mercy on me, God, in your kindness.
In your compassion blot out my offense.
.4 O wash me more and more from my guilt
and cleanse me from my sin.

.5 My offenses truly I know them;
my sin is always before me
.6 Against you, you alone, have I sinned;
what is evil in your sight I have done.

That you may be justified when you give sentence
and be without reproach when you judge,
.7 O see, in guilt I was born,
a sinner was I conceived.

.8 Indeed you love truth in the heart;
then in the secret of my heart teach me wisdom.
.9 O purify me, then I shall be clean;
O wash me, I shall be whiter than snow.

.10 Make me hear rejoicing and gladness,
that the bones you have crushed may thrill.
.11 From my sins turn away your face
and blot out all my guilt.

.12 A pure heart create for me, O God,
put a steadfast spirit within me.
.13 Do not cast me away from your presence,
nor deprive me of your holy spirit.

.14 Give me again the joy of your help;
with a spirit of fervor sustain me,
.15 that I may teach transgressors your ways
and sinners may return to you.

.16 O rescue me, God, my helper,
and my tongue shall ring out your goodness.
.17 O Lord, open my lips
and my mouth shall declare your praise.

.18 For in sacrifice you take no delight,
burnt offering from me you would refuse,
.19 my sacrifice, a contrite spirit,
a humbled, contrite heart you will not spurn.

.20 In your goodness, show favor to Zion:
rebuild the walls of Jerusalem.
.21 Then you will be pleased with lawful sacrifice,
(burnt offerings wholly consumed),
then you will be offered young bulls on your altar.

Believe in the Gospel and turn from your sins.

Remember man, that you are dust

and into dust you shall return.

Sunday of the Ninth Week in Ordinary Time

2011-03-06T11:49:00.000-05:00

Everyone who listens to these words of mine and acts on them
will be like a wise man who built his house on rock.
The rain fell, the floods came,
and the winds blew and buffeted the house.
But it did not collapse; it had been set solidly on rock.
Matthew 7:24-25

Painting by Sandi Hester

Be my rock of refuge, a stronghold to save me.
Psalm 31:3

Sunday of the Eighth Week in Ordinary Time

2011-02-27T00:00:00.001-05:00

Appearence on the Mountain in Galilee 1308-11

Duccio Di Buoninsegna

So do not worry and say, ‘What are we to eat?’
or ‘What are we to drink?’or ‘What are we to wear?’
All these things the pagans seek.
Your heavenly Father knows that you need them all.
But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness,
and all these things will be given you besides.
Do not worry about tomorrow; tomorrow will take care of itself.
Sufficient for a day is its own evil.”

Matthew 6:31-34

Sunday of the Seventh Week in Ordinary Time

2011-02-19T12:13:00.000-05:00

Jesus said to his disciples:
“You have heard that it was said,
An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.
But I say to you, offer no resistance to one who is evil.
When someone strikes you on your right cheek,
turn the other one as well.
“You have heard that it was said,
You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.
But I say to you, love your enemies
and pray for those who persecute you,
that you may be children of your heavenly Father,
for he makes his sun rise on the bad and the good,
and causes rain to fall on the just and the unjust. Matthew 5:38-39; 43-45

Do not repay anyone evil for evil; be concerned for what is noble in the sight of all.

If possible, on your part, live at peace with all.

Beloved, do not look for revenge but leave room for the wrath; for it is written, "Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord."

Rather, "if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals upon his head."

Do not be conquered by evil but conquer evil with good.

Romans 12:17-21

Sunday of the Fifth Week in Ordinary Time

2011-02-06T18:41:00.000-05:00

Readings of the Day

Jesus said to his disciples:
“You are the salt of the earth.
But if salt loses its taste, with what can it be seasoned?
It is no longer good for anything
but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot.
You are the light of the world.
A city set on a mountain cannot be hidden.
Nor do they light a lamp and then put it under a bushel basket;
it is set on a lampstand,
where it gives light to all in the house.
Just so, your light must shine before others,
that they may see your good deeds
and glorify your heavenly Father.”
Matthew 5:13-16

Feast of the Presentation of the Lord

2011-02-02T10:22:00.000-05:00

Readings of the Day

“Now, Master, you may let your servant go
in peace, according to your word,
for my eyes have seen your salvation,
which you prepared in the sight of all the peoples:
a light for revelation to the Gentiles,
and glory for your people Israel.”

Luke 2:29-32

Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time

2011-01-30T12:23:00.000-05:00

Fra Angelico, 1387 – 1455, Sermon on the Mount, 1436 - 1443, Museo di San Marco

When Jesus saw the crowds, he went up the mountain,
and after he had sat down, his disciples came to him.
He began to teach them, saying:
“Blessed are the poor in spirit,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are they who mourn,
for they will be comforted.
Blessed are the meek,
for they will inherit the land.
Blessed are they who hunger and thirst for righteousness,
for they will be satisfied.
Blessed are the merciful,
for they will be shown mercy.
Blessed are the clean of heart,
for they will see God.
Blessed are the peacemakers,
for they will be called children of God.
Blessed are they who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are you when they insult you and persecute you
and utter every kind of evil against you falsely because of me.
Rejoice and be glad,
for your reward will be great in heaven.”

Matthew 5:1-12a

Memorial of Saint Timothy and Saint Titus, bishops

2011-01-26T00:00:00.001-05:00

The sower sows the word...those sown on rich soil are the ones who hear the word and accept it and bear fruit thirty and sixty and a hundredfold.

Mark 4:14,20

Feast of the Conversion of Saint Paul, the apostle

2011-01-25T00:00:00.001-05:00

Readings of the Day

Conversion of Paul of Tarsus,
Fresco by Michaelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni,

[1542 - 45], Cappella Paolina, Palazzi Pontifici Vatican.

On that journey as I drew near to Damascus,

about noon a great light from the sky suddenly shone around me.
I fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to me,
‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?’
I replied, ‘Who are you, sir?’
And he said to me,
‘I am Jesus the Nazorean whom you are persecuting.
Acts 22:6-8

Memorial of Saint Francis de Sales, bishop and doctor of the Church

2011-01-24T00:00:00.002-05:00

Father,

you gave Francis de Sales

the spirit of compassion

to befriend all men on the way to salvation.

By his example,

lead us to show your gentle love

in the service of our fellow men.

From Christian Prayer

Our St. Francis De Sales tapestry is based on designs made by John Nava for the tapestries cycles of the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels. Nava's tapestries have gained international acclaim for "expressing the humanity of godliness and the godliness of humanity." - Sr. Rose Pacatte, FSP

In 1841 Rev. Amadeus Rappe organized St. Francis De Sale's Parish, Toledo. On 15 April, 1910 Toledo was named as the seat of a new diocese, with St. Francis de Sales's designated as its cathedral church. It is for this reason that

Saint Francis de Sales is the secondary patron of the diocese.

Third Sunday in Ordinary Time

2011-01-23T00:00:00.001-05:00

He walked along from there and saw two other brothers,James, the son of Zebedee, and his brother John.
They were in a boat, with their father Zebedee, mending their nets.
He called them, and immediately they left their boat and their father and followed him.

Matthew 4:21-22

James Tissot (French, 1836-1902). The Calling of Saint James and Saint John (Vocation de Saint Jacques et de Saint Jean), 1886-1894. Brooklyn Museum.

Saturday of the Second Week in Ordinary Time, Saint Vincent Deacon and Martyr

2011-01-22T00:00:00.001-05:00

St Vincent of Sarragosa

Today, 22 January, is the feast of St Vincent who was born in Huesca and became a deacon of the church of Saragossa (Zaragoza). He was tortured to death in Valencia, in the persecution of Diocletian. After his death, his cult spread rapidly through the Roman Empire.

This is a detail from a reredos in the Dominican nuns' monastery in Salamanca.

Memorial of Saint Agnes, virgin and martyr

2011-01-21T06:55:00.000-05:00

El Greco (Domenikos Theotokopoulos),

Madonna and Child with Saint Martina and Saint Agnes(detail), 1597/1599, Widener Collection, National Galery of Art, Washington, D.C.

But rejoice to the extent that you share in the sufferings of Christ, so that when his glory is revealed you may also rejoice exultantly. If you are insulted for the name of Christ, blessed are you, for the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you.

1 Peter 4:13-14

Thursday of the Second Week in Ordinary Time

2011-01-20T10:11:00.000-05:00

Here am I, Lord; I come to do your will.Sacrifice or oblation you wished not,
but ears open to obedience you gave me.
Burnt offerings or sin-offerings you sought not;
then said I, “Behold I come.”
R. Here am I, Lord; I come to do your will.
“In the written scroll it is prescribed for me,
To do your will, O my God, is my delight,
and your law is within my heart!”
R. Here am I, Lord; I come to do your will.
I announced your justice in the vast assembly;
I did not restrain my lips, as you, O LORD, know.
R. Here am I, Lord; I come to do your will.
May all who seek you
exult and be glad in you,
And may those who love your salvation
say ever, “The LORD be glorified.”
R. Here am I, Lord; I come to do your will.

Psalm 40:7-8a, 8b-9, 10, 17

Second Sunday in Ordinary Time

2011-01-16T00:00:00.001-05:00

“Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.
He is the one of whom I said,
‘A man is coming after me who ranks ahead of me
because he existed before me.’
I did not know him,
but the reason why I came baptizing with water
was that he might be made known to Israel.”

John 1:29-31

The Witness of John the Baptist by Master of San Torpé, c. 1310-20

When Christ came as high priest of the good things that have come to be,; passing through the greater and more perfect tabernacle not made by hands, that is, not belonging to this creation,
: he entered once for all into the sanctuary, not with the blood of goats and calves but with his own blood, thus obtaining eternal redemption.

Hebrews 9:11-12

Francisco de Zurbarán (1598-1664), "Agnus Dei" (1635-40) ,Museo Nacional del Prado, Madrid.

Adoration of the Mystic Lamb, Hubert and Jan van Eyck, Saint Bavo Cathedral, Ghent, Belgium, 1426-1432.

Saturday of the First Week In Ordinary Time

2011-01-15T11:18:00.000-05:00

As he passed by, he saw Levi, son of Alphaeus,
sitting at the customs post.
Jesus said to him, “Follow me.”
And he got up and followed Jesus.
While he was at table in his house,
many tax collectors and sinners sat with Jesus and his disciples;
for there were many who followed him.
Some scribes who were Pharisees saw that Jesus was eating with sinners
and tax collectors and said to his disciples,
“Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?”

Mark 2:14-16

Friday of the First Week In Ordinary Time

2011-01-14T06:57:00.000-05:00

They came bringing to him a paralytic carried by four men.
Unable to get near Jesus because of the crowd,
they opened up the roof above him.
After they had broken through,
they let down the mat on which the paralytic was lying.
When Jesus saw their faith, he said to him,
“Child, your sins are forgiven.”

Mark 2:3-5

James Tissot (French, 1836-1902). The Palsied Man Let Down through the Roof
(Le paralytique descendu du toit), 1886-1896

Thursday of the First Week in Ordinary Time

2011-01-13T13:58:00.001-05:00

Readings of the Day

Take care, brothers and sisters,

that none of you may have an evil and unfaithful heart,

so as to forsake the living God.

Encourage yourselves daily while it is still “today,”

so that none of you may grow hardened by the deceit of sin.

Letter to the Hebrews 3:12-13

The Meeting of Abraham and Melchizedek. Artist: Franken, Frans II (1581-1642). Artist Nationality: Flemish. Date: C17th. Medium: oil on canvas. Location: Museo de Santa Cruz, Toledo, Spain

Wednesday of the First Week in Ordinary Time

2011-01-12T06:50:00.001-05:00

Readings of the Day

Rising very early before dawn, he left and went off to a deserted place, where he prayed.

Mark 1:35

Prayer is the most essential ingredient to holiness no matter what the vocation. In public prayer, we join others to offer communal worship. In private prayer we maintain, clarify, and nourish our fundamental relationships with God, others, and the world. There is no holiness without prayer.

Father Hector LaChapelle

Tuesday of the First Week In Ordinary Time

2011-01-11T10:33:00.000-05:00

Monday of the First Week in Ordinary Time

2011-01-10T06:50:00.000-05:00

As he passed by the Sea of Galilee,
he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting their nets into the sea;
they were fishermen.
Jesus said to them,
“Come after me, and I will make you fishers of men.”
Then they left their nets and followed him.

Mark 1:16-18

The Feast of the Baptism of the Lord

2011-01-09T13:23:00.000-05:00

“This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.”--Matthew 3:17

El Greco (Domenicos Theotokopulos) The Baptism of Christ,

1608-1628, Hospital Tavera, Toledo, Spain

Friday after Epiphany

2011-01-07T17:08:00.000-05:00

Readings of the Day

“Lord, if you wish, you can make me clean.”
Jesus stretched out his hand, touched him, and said,
“I do will it. Be made clean.” Luke 5:12-13

William Brassey Hole (7 Nov 1846 – 22 Oct 1917),
Jesus withe the one leper who returned to give thanks

Thursday after Epiphany

2011-01-06T09:16:00.000-05:00

Readings of the Day

Beloved, we love God because

he first loved us.
If anyone says, “I love God,”
but hates his brother, he is a liar;
for whoever does not love a brother whom he has seen
cannot love God whom he has not seen.
This is the commandment we have from him:
Whoever loves God must also love his brother.

1 John 4:19-21

Memorial of Saint John Neumann, bishop

2011-01-05T08:16:00.000-05:00

Since every man of whatever race is endowed with the dignity of a person, he has an inalienable right to an education corresponding to his proper destiny and suited to his native talents, his cultural background, and his ancestral heritage. At the same time, this education should pave the way to brotherly association with other peoples, so that genuine unity and peace on earth may be promoted. For a true education aims at the formation of the human person with respect to the good of those societies of which, as a man, he is a member, and in whose responsibilities, as an adult, he will share.

--Saint John Neumann

God is love, and whoever remains in love remains in God and God in him.

1 John 4:16

Memorial of Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton, religious

2011-01-04T06:37:00.000-05:00

Beloved, let us love one another,

because love is of God;
everyone who loves is begotten by God and knows God.
Whoever is without love does not know God, for God is love.
In this way the love of God was revealed to us:
God sent his only-begotten Son into the world
so that we might have life through him.
In this is love:
not that we have loved God, but that he loved us
and sent his Son as expiation for our sins.

1 John 4:7-10

Solemnity of the Epiphany of the Lord

2011-01-02T00:00:00.011-05:00

On entering the house
they saw the child with Mary his mother.
They prostrated themselves and did him homage.
Then they opened their treasure.

Matthew 2:11

The Adoration of the Magi, Jacopo Bassano, c. 1560-65, Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna.

Solemnity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Mother of God

2011-01-01T00:00:00.007-05:00

Circumcision of Christ, by Peter Paul Rubens c. 1605

When eight days were completed for his circumcision,
he was named Jesus, the name given him by the angel
before he was conceived in the womb. Luke 2:21

Feast of Saint John, Apostle and evangelist

2010-12-27T00:00:00.002-05:00

The Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph

2010-12-26T00:00:00.002-05:00

Readings for the Mass at Midnight

Joseph rose and took the child and his mother by night and departed for Egypt.

The Nativity of the Lord, Christmas, Mass at Midnight

2010-12-25T00:00:00.002-05:00

El Greco, (Domenicos Theotokopoulos), The Adoration of the Shepherds 1570-72,

And this will be a sign for you:
you will find an infant wrapped in swaddling clothes
and lying in a manger.

Friday of the Fourth Week of Advent Mass in the Morning

2010-12-24T00:00:00.002-05:00

Zechariah his father, filled with the Holy Spirit, prophesied, saying:
“Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel;
for he has come to his people and set them free.
He has raised up for us a mighty Savior,
born of the house of his servant David.
Through his prophets he promised of old
that he would save us from our enemies,
from the hands of all who hate us.
He promised to show mercy to our fathers
and to remember his holy covenant.
This was the oath he swore to our father Abraham:
to set us free from the hand of our enemies,
free to worship him without fear,
holy and righteous in his sight
all the days of our life.
You, my child, shall be called the prophet of the Most High,
for you will go before the Lord to prepare his way,
to give his people knowledge of salvation
by the forgiveness of their sins.
In the tender compassion of our God
the dawn from on high shall break upon us,
to shine on those who dwell in darkness and the shadow of death,
and to guide our feet into the way of peace.”

Thursday of the Fourth Week of Advent

2010-12-23T00:00:00.002-05:00

“There is no one among your relatives who has this name.”
So they made signs, asking his father what he wished him to be called.
He asked for a tablet and wrote, “John is his name,”
and all were amazed.

O Emmanuel,

king and lawgiver, desire of the nations,

Savior of all people,

come and set us free, Lord our God.

Wednesday of the Fourth Week of Advent

2010-12-22T00:00:00.001-05:00

“My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord;

my spirit rejoices in God my savior.

for he has looked upon his lowly servant.

From this day all generations will call me blessed:

the Almighty has done great things for me,

and holy is his Name.

He has mercy on those who fear him

in every generation.

He has shown the strength of his arm,

and has scattered the proud in their conceit.

He has cast down the mighty from their thrones

and has lifted up the lowly.

He has filled the hungry with good things,

and the rich he has sent away empty.

He has come to the help of his servant Israel

for he remembered his promise of mercy,

the promise he made to our fathers,

to Abraham and his children for ever.”

O King of nations,

the only joy of every human heart;

O Keystone of the mighty arch of man,

come and save the creature

your fashioned from the dust.

Tuesday of the Fourth Week of Advent

2010-12-21T00:00:00.005-05:00

When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting,

the infant leaped in her womb,
and Elizabeth, filled with the Holy Spirit,
cried out in a loud voice and said,
“Most blessed are you among women,
and blessed is the fruit of your womb.
And how does this happen to me,
that the mother of my Lord should come to me?

O Radiant Dawn,

splendor of eternal light,
sun of justice:
come, shine on those
who dwell in darkness
and the shadow of death.

Monday of the Fourth Week of Advent

2010-12-20T13:47:00.000-05:00

In the sixth month,

the angel Gabriel was sent from God

to a town of Galilee called Nazareth,

to a virgin betrothed to a man named Joseph,

of the house of David,

and the virgin’s name was Mary.

And coming to her, he said,

“Hail, full of grace! The Lord is with you.”

Annunciation (Russian Icon of Ustyug)

God of love and mercy, help us to follow the example of Mary,
always ready to do your will.
At the message of an angel
she welcomed your eternal Son
and, filled with the light of your Spirit,
she became the temple of your Word,
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
oneGod, for ever and ever.

O Key of David,

O royal Power of Israel
controlling at your will
the gate of heaven:
come, break down
the prison walls of death
for whose who dwell in darkness
and the shadow of death;
and lead your captive people
into freedom.

Fourth Sunday of Advent

2010-12-19T03:28:00.001-05:00

The angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said,

“Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary your wife into your home.

For it is through the Holy Spirit

that this child has been conceived in her.

She will bear a son and you are to name him Jesus,

because he will save his people from their sins.”

Matthew 1:20-21

O Flower of Jesse's stem, you have been raised up as a sigh for all peoples; kings stand silent in your presence; the nations bow down in worship before you. Come, let nothing keep you from coming to our aid.

My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord,

my spirit rejoices in God my savior
for he has looked with favor on his lowly servant.

From this day all generations will call me blessed.
The Almighty has done great things for me
and holy is his Name.

He has mercy on those who fear him
in every generation.

He has shown the strength of his arm,
he has cscattered the proud in their conceit.

He has cast down the mighty from their thrones,
and has lifted up the lowly.

He has filled the hungry with good things.
and the rich he has sent away empty.

He has come to the help of his servant Israel
for he has remembered his promise of mercy,
the promise he made to our fathers,
to Abraham and his children for ever.

Luke1:46-55

Saturday of the Third Week of Advent

2010-12-18T00:01:00.000-05:00

Readings of the Day

The angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said,

“Joseph, son of David,
do not be afraid to take Mary your wife into your home.
For it is through the Holy Spirit
that this child has been conceived in her.
She will bear a son and you are to name him Jesus,
because he will save his people from their sins.”

Matthew 1:20-21

Francisco de Goya y Lucientes
Dream of Saint Joseph 1771-1772

O Sacred Lord of ancient Israel, who showed yourself to Moses in the burning bush, who gave him the holy law on Sinai mountain: come, stretch out your mighty hand to set us free.

My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord,

my spirit rejoices in God my savior
for he has looked with favor on his lowly servant.

From this day all generations will call me blessed.
The Almighty has done great things for me
and holy is his Name.

He has mercy on those who fear him
in every generation.

He has shown the strength of his arm,
he has scattered the proud in their conceit.

He has cast down the mighty from their thrones,
and has lifted up the lowly.

He has filled the hungry with good things.
and the rich he has sent away empty.

He has come to the help of his servant Israel
for he has remembered his promise of mercy,
the promise he made to our fathers,
to Abraham and his children for ever.

Luke1:46-55

Friday of the Third Week of Advent

2010-12-17T02:53:00.002-05:00

Readings of the Day

O Wisdom, O holy Word of God, you govern all creation with your strong yet tender care. Come and show your people the way to salvation.

My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord,
my spirit rejoices in God my savior
for he has looked with favor on his lowly servant.

From this day all generations will call me blessed.
The Almighty has done great things for me
and holy is his Name.

He has mercy on those who fear him
in every generation.

He has shown the strength of his arm,
he has scattered the proud in their conceit.

He has cast down the mighty from their thrones,
and has lifted up the lowly.

He has filled the hungry with good things.
and the rich he has sent away empty.

He has come to the help of his servant Israel
for he has remembered his promise of mercy,
the promise he made to our fathers,
to Abraham and his children for ever.

Luke1:46-55

O Antiphon Artwork

Thursday of the Third Week of Advent

2010-12-16T03:10:00.000-05:00

Readings of the Day

Jesus began to speak to the crowds about John.

“What did you go out to the desert to see, a reed swayed by the wind?
Then what did you go out to see?
Someone dressed in fine garments?
Those who dress luxuriously and live sumptuously
are found in royal palaces.
Then what did you go out to see?
A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet.

Luke 7:24-26

Wednesday of the Third Week of Advent

2010-12-15T01:16:00.000-05:00

For thus says the LORD,

The creator of the heavens,

who is God,

The designer and maker of the earth

who established it,

Not creating it to be a waste,

but designing it be lived in:

I am the LORD, and there is no other.

Isaiah 45:18

Memorial of Saint John of the Cross, priest and doctor of the Church

2010-12-14T16:47:00.000-05:00