Posted by Carol Johnson on 3/10/25
Today we Christians begin the sacred season of Lent. Today's Gospel reading gives us the three practices of Lent: prayer, fasting and almsgiving. The question we ask ourselves again today is, why these three evangelical practices?
Why do we need to pray more during this time? Well, for the ... Read More »
Posted by Carol Johnson on 3/03/25
Today, the Lord invites us to reflect on the way we look. He warns us, “Why do you notice the splinter in your brother’s eye, but do not perceive the wooden beam in your own?” (Luke 6:41). Isn’t it interesting that it is easier to pay more attention to ... Read More »
Posted by Carol Johnson on 2/23/25
The Lord tells us in today’s gospel, “To the person who strikes you on one cheek, offer the other one as well” (Luke 6:29). Turning the other cheek is one of the Lord’s most misunderstood teachings.
To understand the Lord’s teaching, we need to imagine the physical action the ... Read More »
Posted by Carol Johnson on 1/21/25
After Mass I congratulated a very young reader, still a teenager, on how well he had proclaimed one of the readings at that Mass. It was his first time reading at a Sunday liturgy. In his response to me, intending to highlight that it was his first time as ... Read More »
Posted by Carol Johnson on 1/13/25
Being a complete unknown in Israel at the time, the Lord traveled 80 miles from his hometown of Nazareth to Bethany beyond the Jordan to be baptized by St. John the Baptist. The baptism of the Lord is the first event in which the Gospels present the Lord as ... Read More »
Posted by Carol Johnson on 1/13/25
St. Matthew tells us that the Magi came on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem. They asked, “Where is the newborn king of the Jews? We saw his star at its rising and have come to do him homage” (Matthew 2:3). St. Matthew concludes the story, “And on entering the house, ... Read More »
Posted by Carol Johnson on 1/13/25
With hope of healing her husband William's illness, Elizabeth Ann Bayley left New York in the fall of 1803. They hoped that Italy’s warmer weather would help William's tuberculosis subside. They took their eldest daughter, Ana Maria, age 8, with them and left their other four children (ages 2-7) ... Read More »
Posted by Carol Johnson on 1/02/25
St. Luke tells us that eight days after his birth, as was the Jewish religious tradition, the child Jesus was circumcised and formally given his name. Not many years ago, the Church, instead of focusing on these things that happened a week after the birth of the Son of ... Read More »
Posted by Carol Johnson on 12/28/24
I was born in my parents' home. This was common practice in my village half a century ago. I don't know who else was present in the room with my mother and the midwife. I'm not sure if my father was in the room or in an adjoining room ... Read More »
Posted by Carol Johnson on 12/23/24
The Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary to her relative Elizabeth is the distinctive theme of the Gospel reading this Fourth Sunday of Advent. The Visitation was immediate preparation for the Lord’s arrival. Once she learned from the angel that Elizabeth was in her sixth month of pregnancy, Mary ... Read More »