Shawn The Baptist - Sunday Scriptures

Monday of the 1st Week in Ordinary Time

The movie WALL-E provides a cautionary tale that we can get so used to life as it is that we miss the good news when it comes, like Herod.

Discover the history and importance of the 'Mother of God' title in the Catholic Church as we celebrate Christmas.

The Word Became Flesh God was always a Trinity of persons from all eternity. The second person of the trinity, the Son, always existed. Yet, we celebrate at Christmas that he took on flesh and was born in time. This reminds us of an important truth. This world is good, so good that God himself entered into it and became one of us. He who was eternally begotten of the Father, and is now begotten of...

In the Light with St. Thomas Becket St. Thomas Becket is perhaps the most famous martyr of the middle ages. He was Lord Chancellor of England under King Henry II who later also named him Archbishop of Canterbury. Thomas did not want to be bishop and it soon became clear that he had only been named to this post because the king assumed he would be a pushover who would easily allow him to control th...

Who's Side Are We On? It's hard to imagine that anyone could see a little baby as a threat, yet that is what we see recounted in our gospel today. When Jesus was born, the shepherds and magi see in the Christ Child a savior. Herod, however, sees only a rival to be feared and eliminated. The "Holy Innocents" we celebrate today are all those little babies that Herod had murdered in Bethlehem in an a...

Reflect on the struggles of the Holy Family and how they inspire us to create loving and holy families in our own lives.

The people at the time of Isaiah knew they needed a savior. To experience the full joy of Christmas we too must recognize our desperate need.

A House for God The Ark of the Covenant in the Old Testament represented the presence of God to the Israelites. It was his dwelling place. As they journeyed through the wilderness they kept the ark in the tabernacle, the meeting tent. Upon arriving in the promised land, David decided to build a more permanent structure. His son, Solomon, would eventually build this great temple to be God's house....

Unplanned Pregnancies Saved the World Today's gospel tells of the birth of John the Baptist. You might remember the gospel from a few days ago in which little John was described as "leaping for joy" in the womb of Elizabeth when Mary arrived carrying the baby Jesus in her womb. It should be perfectly clear from Scripture that no Christian could ever hold to the lie that babies are nothing more tha...

Christmas and the Solstice For those of us in the northern hemisphere, one of the rather nice connections with Christmas and the natural world is that the celebration of Our Lord's birth takes place just after the annual winter solstice. This is the darkest day of the year. Christmas is therefore just after this darkest time when the the light is just starting to increase each day. Obviously, the...

Discover the unique relationship between the Blessed Virgin Mary as spouse of the Holy Spirit and the qualities of married love.

A Date With History In the ancient world, years were often reckoned according to the reign of the current leader. The current year might be given as "The 7th year of the reign of Octavian" or "The 8th year of Augustus". For the past 2000 years, we have derived our calendar year from the birthof Jesus. Our readings today prophesy about this event that would so change the understanding of God that h...

A Star to Guide Our Way Today's first reading tells of the little known prophet Balaam. He is best known for his prophecy foretelling that "A star shall advance from Jacob." This prophecy is often interpreted as referring in part to the star of Bethlehem seen at the birth of Jesus. The readings today remind us that God has a plan for all of history. If we are going to find fulfilment and happiness...

A change of mind leading to a change in action. That is what we are called to do this Advent, to think differently so as to act differently.

Being in Tune with God The Gospel today speaks of children who are upset because people aren't dancing along with the various tunes they are playing. Society plays many tunes for us and often we do in fact dance right along without giving much thought. It's just easier to go with the flow and do what everyone else is doing. If we refuse we get singled out like those mentioned in the Gospel. Yet, t...

Catholic Predestination We might think of predestination as a Calvinist idea that rightly no Christian could hold. While this is true of Calvin's and many Protestant understandings of predestination, there is a clear teaching on predestination that Christians can find acceptable. Our readings speak of this today. God has predestined each of us for holiness. We were made to be with him forever in h...

A Little Help From Our Friends Today Jesus shows us in the Gospel that he has the power to forgive sins. He also shows us that sometimes we need a little help getting to the point of forgiveness. The man int he Gospel is paralyzed and it is the faith of his friends that brings about his healing. We all need to be forgiven, to be healed, but we don't have to do this alone. St. Ambrose is a great ex...

This season can become so busy with all the extra things we add. What we need is to slow down, take time for prayer, and simplify our lives.

Following Jesus Even When We're Blind Today's Gospel tells of two blind men who, despite not being able to see, are described as "following" Jesus as he passes by and then "approaching" him when he goes inside. Have you even thought how difficult that must have been? We all go through periods of darkness in our lives when it seems hard to see Jesus. We know Jesus is there, but the situation is so...

Taking the Gospel to Scotland and Beyond St. Andrew is best known in the Gospels as being the brother of St. Peter. He is in fact the one who introduces Peter to Jesus according to St. John's Gospel. We know very little else about St. Andrew, but we do know that he gave his life in witness to Christ, probably on this day in A.D. 60. It is said that, like his brother, he felt unworthy to be crucifi...

We begin this new year somewhat where we left last week, focused on the coming of Jesus. The message today is to be vigilant and be ready.

Thanksgiving Has Two Parts There are two parts of thanksgiving, and I'm not referring to food and football. On this national civic holiday of Thanksgiving you will often hear people listing the things for which they are thankful. The first part of thanksgiving is knowing just what it is that we should be thankful for. This task can be harder than it seems these days. When you stop think about it,...

Giving Jesus His Proper Place Today's feast marks the last Sunday of our liturgical year. It comes at the end to remind us where things are headed. Jesus Christ is King! This is true now, but it is also a truth that has not yet been fully realized. We live in this tension of the "now" and "not yet" of God's kingdom. Our mission is to bridge this gap, to make the reign of Jesus that is not yet perf...

Mary Said Yes Many Times On this Memorial of the Presentation of Mary, the Gospel has an interesting connection. While not chosen specifically for this feast day, the Gospel speaks of how there is no marriage in heaven. Those called to the celibate vocation give particular witness to this fact. While different biblical scholars have different opinions, there is evidence to suggest that Mary had ma...