Category: Daily Reflections

“God is not the God of the dead but of the living. All are alive for Him.” —Luke 20:38 Throughout the course of my priesthood, I have preached and taught many times today’s Gospel readings on the resurrection. But yesterday the promise of this revelation meant more to me than ever before. I read it at the bedside of my dying father. Jesus promises that His faithful disciples “become like angels and are no longer liable to death. Sons of the resurrection, they are sons of God” (Lk 20:36). We know that Jesus will keep His promise to raise His...

“Now that our enemies have been crushed, let us go up to purify the sanctuary and rededicate it.” —1 Maccabees 4:36 Don’t you think you’d better clean house? There are some closets in your heart that haven’t been cleaned out for years. The film of sin has given your life a dingy appearance. And there’s the trash you’ve been thinking of taking out, but never got around to it. I have good news for you. Jesus will handle your trash. He will cleanse the temple of your body and make it a house of prayer (Lk 19:45-46). Jesus will wash...

“Most admirable and worthy of everlasting remembrance was the mother…” —2 Maccabees 7:20 It’s likely that Mary, Our Lady of Presentation, knew the story of the Jewish mother and her seven martyred sons (2 Mc 7:1-41). Note the similarities between these two heroic mothers: Both mothers educated their sons (2 Mc 7:27) and gave them examples of extraordinary faith. Both displayed to their sons remarkable bravery based on an unshakable hope in the Lord (2 Mc 7:14). Both watched their sons die brutal deaths for their faith in God (2 Mc 7:20; Jn 19:25), yet each “bore it courageously because...

Jesus “looked up and said, ‘Zacchaeus, hurry down. I mean to stay at your house today.’ He quickly descended, and welcomed Him with delight.” —Luke 19:5-6 During Jesus’ time on earth, Jericho was considered a city of affluence and arrogance. Zacchaeus, the chief tax collector of the city, fit in well with the spirit of Jericho, for he was also affluent and arrogant. However, when Zacchaeus came down from the sycamore tree he had climbed, he began to come down off his pedestal of pride, even in the midst of a city of pride. Jesus commanded Zacchaeus to come down...

“I beheld the apostates with loathing, because they kept not to Your promise.” —Psalm 119:158 Faithful Jews at the time of the Maccabees suffered a cultural and religious takeover by the reigning Greek empire. Many lukewarm Jews renounced their faith, embracing the modern, though sinful, Greek lifestyle (1 Mc 1:15). Faithful Jews were condemned to death and forced to flee for their lives (1 Mc 1:50, 53). Put yourself in the shoes of a faithful Jew. Imagine that your family left home and livelihood to flee the death sentence. Your aunt and cousins were brutally executed (see 1 Mc 1:60-61)...