Daily Catholic Reflection: Friday, December 8, 2023, Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary

Genesis 3:9-15.20,

Psalm98:1.2-3ab.3cd-4,

Ephesians 1:3-6.11-12,

Luke 1:26b-38                          Full Readings

Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary

Mary, Full of Grace

The following reflection is from Catholic Daily Reflections. What does it mean to be “full of grace?” This is a question at the heart of our solemn celebration today.

Today we honor the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Mother of the Savior of the World, under the unique title of “The Immaculate Conception.” This title acknowledges that grace filled her soul from the moment of her conception, thus preserving her from the stain of sin. Though this truth had been held for centuries among the Catholic faithful, it was solemnly declared as a dogma of our faith on December 8, 1854, by Pope Pius IX. In his dogmatic declaration he stated:

Daily Catholic Reflection: Thursday, December 7, 2023, Memorial of Saint Ambrose, Bishop and Doctor of the Church, Year B

Is 26:1-6

Ps 118:1 and 8-9, 19-21, 25-27a

Mt 7:21, 24-27                          Full Readings

Saint Ambrose

Listen and Act

Brethren, St Ignatius of Loyola recommends over and over again to consider all our current decisions and actions from the point of view of the last judgement. Imagine, you and I have been the ones going to church, joining choirs, preaching to people and always calling on to the name of Lord Jesus, but then after reaching in front of Jesus on the last day and he says, "I don't know you; “it's very disheartening and a frightening scenario. Why would Jesus say that since we have been calling on his name? The Gospel today gives us the answer: it is because of not doing the will of God, we just hear and do not act. We need to listen and act; this is true Christianity.

Daily Catholic Reflection: Wednesday, December 6, 2023, Wednesday of the First Week of Advent, Year B

Is 25:6-10a

Ps 23:1-3a, 3b-4, 5, 6

Mt 15:29-37                          Full Readings

Saint Nicholas

Feed Us Lord

In the scriptures, the mountain is a place of encounter with God. Today, Isaiah gives us a picture of what comes out of that encounter: our hunger is satisfied, our thirst quenched, and our tears wiped away. The crowd that followed Jesus could bear testimony to this when they followed him to the mountain where he healed their ailments and fed them to their fill. You too can be part of that testimony. There is really no special qualification for it. Isaiah said the banquet is prepared for all peoples (Isa 25:7) and Jesus proved him right when he told his disciples to make everyone sit and fed all of them to their fill. You only need to be in the presence of Jesus to get filled too.

Daily Catholic Reflection: Tuesday, December 5, 2023, Tuesday of the First Week of Advent, Year B

Is 11:1-10

Ps 72:1-2, 7-8, 12-13, 17

Lk 10:21-24                          Full Readings

Saint Sabas

Intimacy with the Holy Trinity

Brethren, as we have started Advent let us continue to prepare ourselves day and night for welcoming the Messiah of the world whose birth we shall celebrate on Christmas as a remembrance of Jesus' first coming on earth. Today he still comes though not in a physical way but in a spiritual way through various ways. To welcome him daily we also need to prepare ourselves to receive him and enjoy his gifts. Today's first reading explains well the Messiah whom we are waiting for, who he is, his nature and what he will do on earth and in our hearts.

Daily Catholic Reflection: Monday, December 4, 2023, Monday of the First Week of Advent, Year B

Is 2:1-5

Ps 122:1-2, 3-4b, 4cd-5, 6-7, 8-9

Mt 8:5-11                          Full Readings

Saint John Damascene

Lord, I am not Worthy.

The gospel reading of an encounter between Jesus and the centurion makes an important statement for the start of Advent: salvation is not just for the Chosen People, children of Abraham, but for people of all nations who are prepared to go up to the Lord just as the Psalm today tells us. The centurion can hardly have been a Jew, perhaps a Roman, perhaps an auxiliary from some other nation in the service of Herod Antipas, the ruler of Galilee. He knows his absolute authority over his troops, but that knowledge has taught him also that his authority has its limits and that there is an authority beyond him. It has taught him also what respect and reverence for other values are. In Capernaum, the lakeside town where Jesus seems to have taken up residence when he was hounded out of Nazareth, was he the first gentile to recognize Jesus, to submit his own military authority to a higher authority, an authority with power over life itself. What a beautiful kind of humility from a centurion?

Daily Catholic Reflection: Sunday, December 3, 2023, First Sunday of Advent, Year B

IS 63:16B-17, 19B; 64:2-7

PS 80:2-3, 15-16, 18-19

1 COR 1:3-9

MK 13:33-37                      Full Readings

Saint Francis Xavier

Happy New Year!

Brethren, today we start the new liturgical year, B, the year of Saint Mark, where all Sunday Gospels are taken from the gospel of Mark in ordinary time of the year. We thank the Lord who has been with us, blessing us, nourishing us and helping us to grow spiritually each day of the last liturgical year. May the Lord be praised for ever and may this new year become more and more a source of spiritual nourishment and growth. Every Church's new year starts with Advent and so today, we celebrate the first Sunday of Advent.

Daily Catholic Reflection: Saturday, December 2, 2023, Saturday of the Thirty-fourth Week in Ordinary Time, Year A

Dn 7:15-27

Dn 3:82, 83, 84, 85, 86, 87

Lk 21:34-36                        Full Readings

Blessed Rafal Chylinski

And therefore, Stay Awake

Brethren, in our world today where many have lost the sense of reverence for God, where technology is deified and worshipped by many in place of God, where many people do not even pray, or even talk of going to church, where many Christians go to church/worship God only when they want something from God and after they get what they seek, they mind their business and leave God out, where those who serve God in Spirit and in Truth are persecuted by religious fanatics in different ways and where we are in the midst of many evils, one cannot but cry out Maranatha – come! Come Lord Jesus! as we start the advent season tomorrow. This is the final day of the liturgical year. Tomorrow begins Advent and the beginning of a new Church year.