This Tuesday, August 29th, we celebrate the martyrdom of St. John the Baptist. The drunken oath of a king with a shallow sense of honor, a seductive dance and the hateful heart of a queen combined to bring about the martyrdom of John the Baptist. The greatest of prophets suffered the fate of so many Old Testament prophets before him: rejection and martyrdom. The “voice crying in the desert” did not hesitate to accuse the guilty, did not hesitate to speak the truth. (Read more…)

On Tuesday, August 15th, the church has always held to the belief that Mary was assumed, body and soul, into a heavenly state, even though the belief was not declared as dogmatic until 1950.  The early church had a robust tradition of revering relics from the saints of the day, and their complete lack of relics from the Mother of Jesus was seen as evidence of this Marian belief.  The celebration of the event as a feast dates back to the fourth century in the East and the seventh century in the West. (Read more…)

Today, we celebrated the feast of The Transfiguration of the Lord. All three Synoptic Gospels tell the story of the Transfiguration (Matthew 17:1-8; Mark 9:2-9; Luke 9:28-36). With remarkable agreement, all three place the event shortly after Peter’s confession of faith that Jesus is the Messiah and Jesus’ first prediction of his passion and death. Peter’s eagerness to erect tents or booths on the spot suggests it occurred during the week-long Jewish Feast of Booths in the fall. (Read more…)

“Jesus loved Martha and Mary and Lazarus.”  This unique statement in John’s gospel tells us of the special relationship Jesus had with Martha, her sister, and her brother.  Apparently Jesus was a frequent guest at Martha’s home in Bethany, a small village two miles from Jerusalem.  We read of three visits in Luke 10:38-42, John 11:1-53, and John 12:1-9.

Martha welcomes Jesus and his disciples into her home and immediately goes to work to serve them.  Hospitality is paramount in the Middle East and Martha believed in its importance.  Imagine her frustration when her sister Mary ignores the rule of hospitality and Martha’s work in order to sit and listen to Jesus.  Instead of speaking to her sister, she asks Jesus to intervene. (Read more…)

On Wednesday, we celebrate the Feast of Sts. Joachim and Anne. Joachim and Anne were the parents of Jesus’ mother, Mary. We don’t know many details about their lives because they are never mentioned in the New Testament. Everything we know about them comes down through tradition — the stories people told about them.

We believe that they were respected members of the Jewish community and that they wanted to become parents so much that Joachim went into the desert to fast and pray that God would hear their prayer. (Read more…)