VEYM LEAGUE OF CHAPTERS
Bishop Robert Barron Friends, today’s Gospel centers on one of the most beloved figures in Christian history: Joseph, the foster father of Jesus. He’s featured in countless works of art and is prominent in the devotional lives of many. Yet we know almost nothing about him. The scant verses here in Matthew offer the most … Read moreMonday, December 18, 2023
Bishop Robert Barron Friends, in today’s Gospel, we are told that John “was sent from God.” The Baptist came, the Gospel writer tells us, “for testimony, to testify to the light”—for he was not, himself, the light. From time immemorial, God has sent messengers, spokespersons. Think of all the prophets and patriarchs of Israel, indeed … Read moreSunday, December 17, 2023
Bishop Robert Barron Friends, today’s Gospel passage identifies the appearance of John the Baptist with the expected return of the prophet Elijah. John, the herald of Christ, appears in the desert. Here he stands for all of us in the desert of sin, the lifeless place. It is as though John purposely went there to … Read moreSaturday, December 16, 2023
Bishop Robert Barron Friends, in today’s Gospel, the Pharisees compare the eating habits of John the Baptist, who fasted, and Jesus, who dined with sinners. In the carefully stratified society of Jesus’ time, a righteous person would never associate with the unrighteous, for fear of becoming unclean. But here is Jesus, scandalizing everyone because he … Read moreFriday, December 15, 2023
Bishop Robert Barron Friends, in today’s Gospel, Jesus says to the crowds, “From the days of John the Baptist until now, the Kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and the violent are taking it by force.” The title for Flannery O’Connor’s irresistibly powerful second and final novel, The Violent Bear It Away, is taken from the … Read moreThursday, December 14, 2023
Bishop Robert Barron Friends, in today’s Gospel, Jesus is not offering us one more philosophy of God. He is offering us the view from the inside of the Trinity. And that is why we should respond to his compelling invitation: “Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you … Read moreWednesday, December 13, 2023
Bishop Robert Barron Friends, today we celebrate the great feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe. What followed the apparition of Mary at Tepeyac is one of the most astounding chapters in the history of Christian evangelization. Though Franciscan missionaries had been laboring in Mexico for twenty years, they had made little progress. But within ten … Read moreTuesday, December 12, 2023
Bishop Robert Barron Friends, our Gospel for today tells that wonderful story of the healing of the paralytic. People gather by the dozens to hear Jesus, crowding around the doorway of the house. They bring him a paralyzed man, and because there is no way to get him through the door, they climb up on … Read moreMonday, December 11, 2023
Bishop Robert Barron Friends, today we hear the opening line of Mark’s Gospel: “The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ the Son of God.” This can sound anodyne and harmlessly pious to us, but in the first century, those were fighting words. Mark’s Greek term euangelion, which we render as “good news,” was a … Read moreSunday, December 10, 2023
Bishop Robert Barron Friends, today Jesus instructs us to pray for laborers for the harvest, for disciples to do the work of evangelization. We need to organize our lives around evangelization. Everything we do ought to be related somehow to it. This doesn’t mean that we all have to become professional evangelizers. Remember, you can … Read moreSaturday, December 9, 2023