Dear Friend of Carmel Mission,
During the Advent season this past year I talked about the unique nature of the Gospel of Luke. Luke was by training and profession a physician, a scientist who was meticulous in detail and scrupulous in research. Luke was not an eyewitness of the events about which he writes, but to ...
Dear Friend of Carmel Mission,
It is one of the great joys of being the pastor at our beautiful Mission that I have the opportunity to officiate at many weddings. Today’s Gospel is a frequent choice for the wedding liturgy, for obvious reasons, and thus one that I could easily recite by heart. While it offers up ...
Dear Friend of Carmel Mission,
Today we hear the Evangelist Luke’s account of the moment when Jesus comes to the River Jordan and is baptized by His cousin, John. I often ask in my homily at Baptisms a question that is not answered completely by the Scripture, why did Jesus choose to be baptized?
For us, ...
Dear Friend of Carmel Mission,
In today’s Gospel we meet more members of the familiar cast of characters in the Christmas story, the Magi. Often in Sacred Scripture the people we encounter are examples of who our loving God is encouraging us to be. In studying their interaction with God, we may discover ways in whic ...
Dear Friend of Carmel Mission,
The moment has finally arrived. After an Advent of preparation and anticipation, we welcome our Savior once again into the world this Christmas. However, many Christmases you have already experienced, this is a fresh opportunity to embrace the wonder, joy and mystery of the Incarnati ...
Dear Friend of Carmel Mission,
The season of Advent is drawing to a close, are you ready? If you are like me, the answer is probably not! Do not worry, there is still plenty of time for us procrastinators to get our holiday shopping done and everything wrapped and under the tree, or so I keep telling myself. Even ...
Dear Friend of Carmel Mission,
Today we celebrate Gaudete Sunday, and we are encouraged to be joyful, to “rejoice in the Lord always”, as St. Paul says in the letter to the Philippians. (Philippians 4:4). In the first reading the prophet Zephaniah calls us to rejoice because not only is the Lord is our midst ...
Dear Friend of Carmel Mission,
Today in the Gospel, John the Baptist arrives on the scene, exhorting people to prepare themselves for the coming of the Messiah. This was something the Jewish people had been longing for and anticipating for generations, but the Baptist has a new energy. He promises that this is not ...
Dear Friend of Carmel Mission,
Advent is one of my favorite liturgical seasons, largely because of the focus we place on our Blessed Mother during this time. This year at Carmel Mission our theme for the Advent season is “I am for you.” It is drawn from one of my favorite Marian songs of the same name by Ro ...
Dear Friend of Carmel Mission ,
It is hard to believe that the liturgical year is drawing to a close. I have found, in this time of the pandemic, that the passage of time has two speeds, painfully slow and blink of the eye fast, nothing in between. Today we celebrate our Savior, Jesus Christ as the King of the U ...
Dear Friend of Carmel Mission,
This weekend marks the beginning of our parish retreat, Mission at the Mission. Many of you may remember Fr. Max Oliva from his visit with us earlier this year, and I am delighted to welcome him back to the Mission for this important time of community growth. Each weekday presentation ...
Dear Friend of Carmel Mission,
It is encouraging to discover that our Catholic tradition of the Sunday collection has truly ancient roots, as we learn in today’s Gospel reading. We find Jesus with His disciples “opposite the treasury.” This was an courtyard like area in front of the temple with thirteen trum ...
Dear Friend of Carmel Mission,
In today’s Gospel Jesus is very clear on what is most important, to love and serve the one true God with all your heart and to love your neighbor as yourself. The primacy of the one true God was the foundation of Jesus’ Jewish faith. If you love and care for God, you must love an ...
Dear Friend of Carmel Mission,
Last weekend in my homilies I reflected on how frustrating it must have been at times for Jesus to work with His disciples. In the past weeks we have found them, on the whole, pre-occupied with personal gain, status, and Jesus’ supposed coming worldly glory. They were, at best, ign ...
Dear Friend of Carmel Mission,
As I read the Gospel today I could not help but think that Jesus must have been experiencing a “Groundhog’s Day” moment with His disciples. He had been trying for weeks to explain to them what awaits Him in Jerusalem as well as the true meaning of His mission and their disciple ...
