Rejoice! Gaudete! Rejoice! Cry out with joy and gladness, for the Lord, our God, is in our midst! Today, on this third Sunday of Advent, we celebrate Gaudete Sunday, which marks the halfway point of Advent and focuses our attention on Christian joy. Last week, our Gospel narrative introduced John the Baptist, who came proclaiming a baptism of repentance, but today’s Gospel emphasizes Christ, who will baptize with the Holy Spirit and fire. That same Spirit is present with us today as we celebrate…
Today we celebrate the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Pope Pius IX instituted this Solemnity in honor of the Blessed Mother in 1854. Mary had long since been venerated as the Theotokos, or Mother of God, and the theology of Mary developed alongside the theology of Christ. It is through Mary that Jesus took human form, but how is it that Jesus was born without sin? The logical conclusion is that in order for Jesus to be born without sin, his mother would also…
Today, we celebrate this Holy Sacrifice of the Mass in honor of Saint Padre Pio. St. Padre Pio was an Italian priest who had a deep love for Jesus, our Lady, and the people around him. He is one of only a handful of mystics who bore the wounds of Christ, the Stigmata—something that still cannot be explained. One might say that he so conformed his will to Christ’s that the Lord gave him a share in his own passion. We know that our Blessed Lord’s passion was the act of redemption for all mankind,…
This first Sunday of Advent marks the beginning of a new liturgical year. Since it is a new year in the Church, I like to make a few spiritual resolutions. We tend to make New Year’s resolutions in January, but now is a time to focus on Christ. Adventus means “coming,” or “arrival,” which focuses us on the events leading up to the Nativity of our Lord. This glorious event was so important, it caused the change of the calendar. This is now the two-thousand twenty-fourth year since the coming of…
