January 21 2026 - St. Agnes (school mass) - Treasuring Christ

 Today, we celebrate one of the beloved martyrs of the Church, who was killed for being a Christian at a very young age. When she was martyred, St. Agnes was just thirteen-years-old, the age of our eighth graders. By then, though, Agnes had already given her heart to Jesus in a profound way. She had made a special commitment to God, a religious consecration, vowing never to marry, but to spend her life in total dedication and prayerful service to Jesus and the Church.

She was arrested and killed because the world hated that she loved Jesus more than anything. Can you imagine? She was a holy soul, a pure soul, a soul devoted to God. And she was hated for it. The world can be an evil place. The hearts of those who hate the message of Jesus can be selfish, prideful, twisted and cruel. 

But Agnes reminds us of the beauty of belonging to Jesus without hesitation. 

In today’s Gospel, Jesus tells two short stories. He says the Kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in a field, and like a pearl of great price. In both stories, when the person discovers how valuable the treasure really is, they do something very important: they give up everything else so they can have it.

That is exactly what St. Agnes did. Agnes discovered something far more valuable than popularity, comfort, or even her own safety. She discovered that loving Jesus, belonging to Him, and following Him was the greatest treasure anyone could ever have. And no one could take that away from her, not even when they threatened her life. 

Now, Jesus is not telling us that we aren’t real Christians unless we are martyred…But He is asking us an important question, the most important question there is: What matters to you most? If the answer is not Jesus, you’ve chosen poorly. 

Sometimes we treat other things like they are more important than following Jesus--fitting in, worldly success, earthly possessions, having the newest things, or getting our own way. But those things don’t last. They disappear, break, and often disappoint us. Jesus never does.

St. Agnes shows us that even a young person can make Jesus their greatest treasure. She teaches us that holiness is not about how old you are—it’s about how much you trust and love God. When we choose what is right, when we pray, when we are kind even when it’s hard, when we are generous, and seek wisdom, we are choosing the treasure of the Kingdom.

May St. Agnes help us to recognize how precious loving Jesus and following Jesus truly is. And may she help us to have the courage to choose Jesus—again and again—as our greatest treasure, for the glory of God and the salvation of souls.

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To God the Father almighty, dear brothers and sisters, may every prayer of our heart be directed, for his will it is that all humanity should be saved and come to the knowledge of truth.

That during this season of Ordinary Time, Church leaders and all Christians may grow in the practice of the virtues and make use of their spiritual gifts in service to God. 

That faith, hope, love and Christian courage, patience, and generosity may flourish in our school community.

For all those preparing for baptism and full initiation: that they may be open to the grace of conversion and the joy of the followers of Christ.  

For those who struggle because of addiction, mental illness, chronic sickness, unemployment, or ongoing trials of any kind: that they may be healed and strengthened in Christ. And for the victims of the fires in California. 

For the repose of the souls of our departed loved ones…

O God, our refuge and our strength, hear the prayers of your Church, for you yourself are the source of all devotion, and grant, we pray, that what we ask in faith we may truly obtain.  Through Christ our Lord.

2nd Sunday in Ordinary Time 2025 - Servant, Sacrifice and Savior

 

The readings on this 2nd Sunday of Ordinary Time invite us to reflect on who Jesus is and, inseparably, who we are called to become in him.

In the First Reading from Isaiah, we hear one of the great “Servant Songs” in which Isaiah prophecies that God will raise up a servant, who from the womb will be a light to the nations that God’s salvation may reach to the ends of the earth.” 

Christians have always recognized that this passage finds its definitive fulfillment in Jesus Christ. Recall that Gospel story of the angel appearing to Joseph—while still in the Virgin’s womb it is revealed that the child was to be named Jesus—which means God saves. Jesus’ very identity is God who saves. He has come to gather what is scattered, to bring salvation to the whole world.

Jesus’ identity as Savior is made unmistakably clear in today’s Gospel. John the Baptist sees Jesus approaching and declares, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.” “Lamb of God” is not simply a poetic title. In Jewish worship, the sacrificial Lamb was offered as a way of pleading to God for the forgiveness of sins.  

But John doesn’t just call Jesus a sacrificial lamb, but the Lamb of God. The sacrificial Lamb that God makes of Himself for the forgiveness of the sins of all people. 

I saw an internet video this last week where a Muslim man was arguing with a Christian, claiming that the most high God would never take on something as lowly and corrupt as human flesh and die such an ignoble death as crucifixion. “Why, why would the Most High God do such a thing” the Muslim argued. To which the Christian responded, “because God loves us, and wished to save us from our sins.”

As Lamb of God, Jesus reveals the glory of God’s love for us.  He willingly embraces suffering and death out of love. So our readings, reveal that Jesus is Servant, He is Savior, He is the Lamb, He is Love incarnate. But our readings don’t just reveal who Jesus is. They also teach us about ourselves, what it means to belong to Him and follow Him.

St. Paul, addressed the Corinthian Christians with a striking description: “you who have been sanctified in Christ Jesus, [are] called to be holy.” 

Paul explains here that Christians who have been sanctified by Christ, reborn in the waters of baptism, washed clean by the blood of the Lamb, are called to be holy. Christians are to be about the business of growing in holiness—of becoming as holy as we possibly can.

Holiness is not an optional spiritual upgrade for a few particularly devout people. It is a universal calling—a calling for every member of the baptized. To follow Jesus means to willingly walk the path of holiness.

Vatican II articulated this universal call to holiness. Prior to Vatican II, there was confusion, at least at the level of common Catholic culture, about whether holiness was even possible for people who did not enter religious life. The common understanding was that if you married and raised a family, you could never reach true sanctity. But Scripture is clear, the testimony of the saints is clear: all those who have been sanctified through baptism are called to be as holy as you possibly can. All are called to strive to become canonizable saints, whether you are married, single, a member of the clergy, or a member of a religious congregation. 

And we have seen laity—married and single in this past century canonized. Think of the married parents of St. Therese and Lisieaux—Saints Louis and Zelie Martin, and the recently canonized teenage St. Carlos Acutis. It is not hubris to make canonization our goal: nothing less befits our baptismal calling and Christian identity. 

The Psalm today gives us a particular insight into our call to holiness. “Sacrifice or offering you wished not…Holocausts or sin-offerings you sought not”…but “ears open to obedience”.

There was a school of thought in the old Jewish practice that as long as we simply offered the right animal sacrifices, followed all of the ritual purity laws, that’s what was pleasing to God. But the Psalm is clear, that God doesn’t want or need mere external adherence to ritual laws, he wants the trust and hope and surrender and love of our hearts, he wants hearts that delight in obedience out of Love for Him. 

In this, Jesus is the model for us. He is the Humble Servant who offers himself to the Father out of burning love. Yes, of course, we are called to be faithful to the formalities of liturgical law and the moral precepts of the Church—whether we like them or not. But God doesn’t just want surface level adherence—he wants hearts open to being transformed from the deepest depths of ourselves—pious hearts which desire what is good because God is good and wish to be completely pleasing—hearts which are conformed to the Most Sacred Heart of Our Lord which enthusiastically present themselves to God every day, again in the words of our psalm today “Here am I, Lord; I come to do your will.” In your law and in your purposes are my delight.

To seek holiness doesn’t mean that God expects us to be flawless right now. If you are struggling with sin, which is all of us, to be holy is to seek God’s mercy and help in overcoming sin because you wish to have a life that is in union with the Father. If you have been given gifts, holiness means seeking God’s help in putting those gifts into His service, for His purposes, not our own selfish whims. Holiness means doing what we can with the time, talent, and treasure we have been given to serve God with hearts that delight in Him.  

Each time we come to the altar, each time we present ourselves to receive Holy Communion, we aren’t just fulfilling our religious obligations—our hearts are truly meant to echo and resound with the words of the Psalm, which Christ made his own: “Here am I, Lord; I come to do your will.” May those words be not just a hallow refrain; may they become the pattern of our lives—lives of holiness, obedience, and loving service, united to Christ the Servant, for the glory of God and the salvation of souls.

1st Week in Ordinary Time 2025 - Wednesday - Healing for the body, light for the mind, deliverance from evil

 After the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord this last Sunday, our weekday readings this week all through Lent, take us through a sequential reading through the beginning chapters of St. Mark’s Gospel. Monday, we read of Jesus beginning his public ministry preaching “This is the time of fulfillment. The Kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the Gospel.” He then called the fishermen, peter, james, Andrew, and john, to be his first followers.

Yesterday, we read of Jesus coming to Capernaum and commanding and casting out the unclean spirit.

Today, continuing still through chapter 1 of the Gospel of Mark, Jesus brings physical healing to Simon Peter’s mother-in-law, and then many people, and drove out many demons, and then goes on to preach throughout Galilee. 

Throughout Mark's Gospel, Jesus is portrayed as the Messiah who brings about the Kingdom of God through his words and deeds. He is a man-of-action who backs up his teachings with miraculous work.

He brings life to the body, light to the mind, deliverance from the powers of evil. Those of us who follow him now, recognize that he continues to do these things in our lives and in our world.  

He brings life to our bodies. Even though we continue to experience physical illness, the ailments of age, we are not discouraged by these things. United to Christ, our physical struggles bring about an increase in trust in God, and reminder that this passing earthly life is an anticipation of the resurrection.

He gives light to our minds through the truth of his teachings which guide us, they help us to know our purpose, they help us discern between right and wrong, they help us to recognize the futility of living only for the things of the world, they help us to cooperate with God’s grace which enables us to become the people God made us to be.

And, he delivers us from the powers of evil. He helps us to be free from the bondage of sin, he helps us to be faithful to God in times of temptation, he helps us destroy the works of the devil in our society. 

And doing all these things for us personally, he transforms us to be instruments in his hands, to encourage the afflicted, to instruct the ignorant, to preach his Gospel, to help other break the bonds of sin in their own lives.

What we see Jesus doing in the Scriptures, we see him doing in our own lives, and he sends us out to be his instruments in the world. “Very truly I tell you,” he says in John’s Gospel, “whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these.”

As we read through the Scriptures during Ordinary Time, may we come not only to a deeper understanding of who Jesus is, and appreciation for what he has done for us, but come to a deeper cooperation with Him, in who we are called to be, for the glory of God and the salvation of souls.

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With confidence in Jesus Christ, who proclaims the Kingdom of God and brings healing, light, and deliverance, let us offer our prayers to the Father:

For the Church, that she may faithfully proclaim the nearness of the Kingdom of God in both word and deed, and that through her ministry many may come to repentance, healing, and new life in Christ, let us pray to the Lord.

For those who suffer in body, especially the sick, the elderly, and those burdened by chronic illness, that united to Christ they may find strength, hope, and trust in God’s promise of resurrection and eternal life, let us pray to the Lord.

For those struggling against sin and temptation, that Christ, who drives out the powers of evil, may grant them freedom, perseverance, and the grace to live as faithful disciples, let us pray to the Lord.

For our society, that the works of the devil—violence, deception, injustice, and division—may be overcome by the transforming power of the Gospel, and that we may be instruments of peace, truth, and mercy, let us pray to the Lord.

For the faithful departed, that having shared in Christ’s sufferings in this life, they may now share fully in His resurrection and glory, let us pray to the Lord.

For the prayers we voice in our hearts, and for X, for whom this mass is offered.

Heavenly Father, you sent your Son to proclaim the Kingdom and to heal your people. Hear the prayers we offer in faith, and make us willing instruments of your saving love, through Christ our Lord. Amen.

1st Monday of Ordinary Time 2026 - God transforms the Ordinary

 

Now that the Christmas season is ended, we enter into a few weeks of Ordinary time before Lent, beginning early this year, on Wednesday, February 18.

Ordinary Time unpacks the teaching, preaching, and miraculous workings of Jesus’ earthly ministry.

On this first day of Ordinary Time, we hear the first words uttered by Jesus in the Gospel of Mark, “This is the time of fulfillment. The Kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the Gospel.”

Jesus uttered those words at the beginning of his earthly ministry to announce that God was breaking into history in a decisive way to fulfill his promises, to usher in the new era of the kingdom. Jesus was announcing a turning point—a turning point in history for fallen man to turn back towards God in order to live anew in God’s grace. 

These words are so fitting as we begin Ordinary Time. For, this is the time of the year in which Christians are to cooperate with the grace of God to transform our ordinary lives.

God is with us after the high holy days when the tree is taken down, the nativity is put away. God’s grace is to animate the ordinary moments of life, our ordinary relationships and ordinary habits. 

God’s grace is to animate us when we go grocery shopping, when we are folding socks and washing dishes and shoveling snow. His peace is meant to mark our ordinary conversations with the people we see every day. His wisdom is meant to guide the governance of our families and our civic life. God’s grace is meant to transform the ordinary.

Notice that in this very same Gospel passage that the Lord announces to ordinary fishermen, that they were going to be transformed as well. Following him brings transformation. Christians no longer live simply for ourselves, for catching fish to put food on our table and feed our families. Jesus brings an added dimension to life—we are now meant to be about God’s purposes—transformed into His instruments.

Ordinary fishermen and transformed into fishers of men. Hearing this at the beginning of ordinary time is a reminder that we too are to be about God’s work in catching souls. Following Jesus means being open to being used as his instruments—as fishing poles and bait—to catch souls for Him—through our prayers, in our speech, in our witness.

God’s grace is to mark our ordinary behaviors and relationships, but those activities are now oriented to something new—they have a purpose—to lead souls to God. Always in the background in our minds—in each conversation, in each activity—how can I help this soul to Jesus—how can I glorify God in this activity. 

May God’s grace mark the ordinary, but also keep us mindful of our new task of leading souls to Him for the glory of God and salvation of souls. 

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To God the Father Almighty we direct the prayers of our heart for the needs and salvation of humanity and the good of His faithful ones.

For the holy Church of God, that the Lord may graciously watch over her and care for her.

For the peoples of the world, that the Lord may graciously preserve harmony among them.

For those preparing for baptism and to enter into full communion with the Catholic Church, that this time of instruction and prayer may be a time of fulfillment of God’s promises in their lives.

For all the needs of the sick and the suffering, the homebound, those in nursing homes and hospitals, the underemployed and unemployed, immigrants and refugees, victims of natural disaster, war, and terrorism, for all those who grieve the loss of a loved one, and those who will die today, for their comfort, and the consolation of their families.

For our beloved dead, and for the poor souls in purgatory.

For X for whom this mass is offered, and the prayers we voice now in our hearts.

O God, our refuge and our strength, hear the prayers of your Church, for you yourself are the source of all devotion, and grant, we pray, that what we ask in faith we may truly obtain. Through Christ our Lord.

Epiphany 2026 - They went home a different route

 

Happy Epiphany everyone. 

The word Epiphany certainly isn’t an everyday word. And that’s sort of fitting because an epiphany isn’t something you typically experience every day. 

Epiphany comes from the Greek word which means “Revelation”. An epiphany reveals something.  The Christmas season feast of the Epiphany celebrates the Revelation that Jesus Christ, the one born in Bethlehem, is God and Savior of the entire world. This is an epiphany that has certainly changed things--all time is now structured around this moment. 

In today’s Gospel, we hear of those three wise men from the east, whom tradition names Melchior, Balthezar, and Caspar: how the Christ Child was revealed to them as Savior of all people, times, and places.

After receiving this epiphany, and traveling to Bethlehem where they found the newborn Savior, they worshipped him and adored him.  Then in a dream an angel told them that King Herod whom they had met on the way to Bethlehem had terribly vicious designs to kill the Messiah, to kill baby Jesus.  So as we just heard, they departed for their home country by another way, they went home by another route.  

There’s that notion of epiphany: “they went home by another route”. They searched for the savior, they found him, and upon finding him, they were changed forever.  There is the important spiritual truth: Once you truly meet Jesus Christ and adore Him, once his identity is revealed to you, once receive that epiphany, once you place your faith in Him, your life is changed forever. And that means even though you return home, you go home differently, you go home by a different route.  

That is why the word Epiphany is so fitting for today’s feast. An epiphany changes you. We love stories about epiphanies don’t we?  Some of our favorite non-biblical stories contain characters who have life changing epiphanies. 

Think of the miserly Ebenezer Scrooge, indifferent to the suffering of others, including his overworked, underpaid employee Bob Crachett. Scrooge has a dream in which he is given a glimpse of his past, present, and future—a revelation of his life, if you will. And this experience, coming to understand the consequences of how he treats people, how his greed and self-centeredness brings misery to others leads him to change his life. The epiphany of the goodness he was capable of, changed his life, and he would go on to live a life of charity that would impact the lives of others.

Another one of my favorite literary epiphanies is that of Jean Valjean from Victor Hugo’s Les Misérables. The hardened ex-convict Jean Valjean is welcomed into the home of a kindly bishop. But, in the midst of night, Valjean decides to steal the bishop’s silver candlesticks. He is quickly arrested and brought before the bishop. But, rather than condemning him, the bishop shows Jean Valjean radical kindness and mercy. The compassion and mercy of the bishop leads Valjean to an epiphany, that God is real and that there is goodness in the world, and he is called to a life of goodness. So Valjean dedicates his life to helping others, even at great cost to himself, including raising the orphan daughter of a prostitute. 

But epiphanies don’t just happen in fiction. The lives of the saints are full of life-changing epiphanies. The murderous pharisee Saul, has an epiphany on the road to Damascus, that he is silencing and persecuting the Word of God. He definitely went home by a different route, dedicating his life, as an apostle, to the spread of the Gospel.

Saint Ignatius of Loyola, began life, an arrogant nobleman, seeking fame through war, full of ambition, vain about his appearance, addicted to gambling and immoral in his relations with women.  He went everywhere armed, looking for a fight, obsessed with proving himself in battle. But an epiphany occurred in his life, which changed him forever. 

After rushing into battle, his legs were shattered and wounded by a cannonball.  And as he lay convalescing in bed, his sister-in-law gave him two books, a life of Christ and a collection of the lives of the Saints.  There in his solace, shattered, broken, he met Christ.  He repented of letting his vanity, and his pride, and lust, and violence rule his life.  He began to pray, and dedicated himself to Christ.  He founded the Jesuit Order and became a soldier in quite a different sense, soldiers in spreading the Gospel throughout the world—to the deepest jungles and most foreign lands.

Perhaps some of you here have also had life changing epiphanies, in fact, I hope you have. Maybe you were raised without religion, and came to understand the truth of Christ. Maybe the faith was practiced in a lukewarm way in your family, and upon meeting Jesus you have come to a deeper practice of the faith than your parents. 

Even if you were baptized Catholic as an infant, I hope you’ve had many ephiphanies as well, that the Lord is calling you deeper, to deeper union with him, more devoted prayer, more intentional practice of the virtues, a deeper understanding of the truths of our faith than you received in 8th grade, and a deeper commitment to charitable service.

Later this month we will celebrate the Rite of Acceptance for members of the OCIA who have come to the epiphany that Christ is calling them to follow him as fully initiated Catholics.

But, God wants to continue to reveal himself in epiphany moments in our lives as well.  Our daily prayer, when we kneel, humbly before God with our desires for conversation and for peace and healing—those are meant to be epiphany moments.  

Vatican II called Sunday Mass the source and summit of the Christian life: like the wise men who encountered the Christ child, we too who encounter Christ in word and sacrament and should return home a different route.  Do you come to Mass desiring that? Hoping for that? Open to that epiphany moment? where your encounter with the Lord Jesus at Mass changes you, so that you go home a different person than when you came? I hope you do. Perhaps, go home a different route today, pondering a little more deeply how the Lord is calling you to something profound in this year of our Lord 2026.

After encountering the Lord in the Eucharist today, you will be sent out into the world. Deeper prayer, intentional virtue, more generous service, for the glory of God and the salvation of souls.

Holy Family 2025 - Example and Virtues of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph

 Shortly after the close of the Second Vatican Council, sixty years ago, in order to continue the spirit of engagement of the Church in the Modern World, Pope Paul VI established what is called the Synod of Bishops. The Pope wanted Bishops from around the world to continue to meet periodically to discuss and provide him counsel regarding questions and important matters facing the Church.

Prior to his passing, Pope Francis called for a Synod on Synodailty. Kind of abstract, but he wanted the bishops to help him reflect upon what it means for the Church to be constantly examining her mission in light of the new challenges and changes in society.

10 years ago, Pope Francis called another synod discuss an issue deeply important to the Church: the pastoral care and promotion of marriage and families.  

It wasn’t the first synod on the family. Pope St. John Paul II called a synod on the family back in 1980, after which he issued his great post-synodal apostolic exhortation called, Familiaris Consortio. Listen to the Pope’s insightful words:

“The family in the modern world”, wrote Pope John Paul, “as much as and perhaps more than any other institution, has been beset by the many profound and rapid changes that have affected society and culture. Many families are living this situation in fidelity to those values that constitute the foundation of the institution of the family. Others have become uncertain and bewildered over their role or even doubtful and almost unaware of the ultimate meaning and truth of conjugal and family life.”

In other words, from the Pope’s perspective, there are those families who understand to build their families on the teachings of Jesus,  like so many of you. Then, there are those who are confused about what that means. And, then there are those who are clueless about the importance of building one’s family on Christ. And the Church has a mission to each of these types of families—to all families, and each of us should consider how we are called to help each of these types of families. 

Fast forward to 2015. Pope Francis calls another synod on the family, he listens to bishops, and not just to bishops but he also gathers a number of ordinary families, like yours gain insight about their struggles, and he compiled all of these thoughts, plus his own, into the post-synodal apostolic exhortation called Amoris Laetitia. And in this document, Pope Francis enumerated a number of challenges facing families today. 

He mentioned materialism. Materialism, the love of stuff, seeking meaning and purpose in stuff, keeps families from fulfilling their mission, loving God, loving each other and spreading the Gospel as they should. He mentioned narcissism. “Narcissism”, he said, “makes people incapable of looking beyond themselves, beyond their own desires and needs.” Narcissism within families can be a tremendous source of dysfunction. 

He spoke of the cultural ideologies that devalue marriage and family and the fear that some young people have of entering into such a commitment. He mentioned the false notion of overpopulation fueled by world politics which leads to a mentality against having children. He spoke of “spread of pornography and the commercialization of the body, fostered also by a misuse of the internet,” and of course, “the weakening of faith and religious practice” which has had disastrous consequences for society. 

Today is the Christmas Feast of the Holy Family, a feast instituted only in the 1920s, but a feast vital for our time, in which we ask God to help us amidst all of these cultural and interpersonal challenges to imitate the example and virtues of the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph. In the Gospel today we read of Joseph listening to the voice of an angel guiding him to protect his family from the evils of his time: the murderous plot of King Herod. So, meditating on their example and virtues of the Holy Family is so vital in helping us to act rightly amidst the evils of our own day. 

The first evil Pope Francis mentioned was materialism. Where society values materialism, we see the Holy Family practicing holy poverty. The Christ child was born in the straw poverty of the Bethlehem stable. At his presentation, the family could only offer the oblation of the poor—two turtle doves. When Joseph received word from the Angel regarding the murderous intent of King Herod, the poor family took refuge in the foreign land of Egypt. 

They were poor, but they humbly trusted in God and treasured the things of God. Together, they embodied the first of the beatitudes: “Blessed are the poor in spirit” placing their trust and confidence in God rather than trusting material possessions and earthly power to bring them happiness. 

Secondly, where society values narcissism, we see the Holy Family practicing selflessness. Scripture portrays their sweet and Holy Charity. We read of Our Lady going in haste to help her elderly cousin Elizabeth, and Our Lady at the wedding at Cana shows holy attentiveness to the needs of the newly married couple. St. Joseph looks to the needs of Mary and Jesus, as the great guardian of the holy family, protecting them from Herod’s murderous plots, providing for them through years of labor and sweat. Charity towards each other and toward their neighbor filled their lives, so too must it be for us.

Thirdly, the purity, chastity and self-control of the Holy Family stands in contrast to the perversion, indulgence, decadence, and other habits of instant gratification of our modern society. In their purity and chastity, the Holy Family fulfilled another one of the Lord’s Beatitudes, “Blessed are the pure of heart, for they shall see God.” They remind us of the need to guard our eyes and our minds from those evils which keep us from seeing God. 

Fourthly, we see in many countries, including our own, a sharp decline in religious practice and fulfillment of religious obligations among families. The Holy Family shows us the importance of fulling our religious duties. The Holy Family was accustomed to making the annual pilgrimage to Jerusalem for Passover. And even though it required sacrifice and effort to make that pilgrimage, they were faithful. And their fulfillment of this obligation was not without drama, as it is for many families. But they were faithful. They remind us to be faithful, too.

In the holy family we see the remedy for many of the evils that beset us, but also we see the power of holy families. God chose to enter the world as Savior, through a family. So too God wants to use the holy families of our Church NOW. The world needs holy families—the holy families of our parish—to be open to being used by God in so many ways, but primarily to lead others to heaven, to Christ. Holy families are a powerful evangelical instrument God uses to draw souls to Himself.

As we continue this Christmas season, allow the Holy Family to help your family love and trust God in all of your family activities, to value the things of heaven over the things of earth by imitating their poverty, to practice purity and chastity, to show the world the importance of right religion by seeking first the kingdom of God for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

December 25 2025 - Christmas - Save us from slop

 Merry Christmas every one.

Since 2003, every year Mirriam-Webster dictionary has declared a Word of the Year. Typically, the Words of the Year reflect cultural events from the year prior.

For example, the Word of the Year in 2008 was “bailout” due to the government’s role that year of bailing out banks and financial institutions due to the 2008 financial crisis. In 2004, the Word of the Year was “blog”—a new concept at the time—where writers would post a log of activities or thoughts on the world-wide-web—a web-log, a blog. In 2020, the word was “pandemic”. And in 2022, the word was “gaslighting” due to a growing sense in society that we might not be getting the whole truth about world affairs.

This year, Mirriam-Webster declared that the Word of the Year is “slop”.  “Slop” is defined as “the constant flow of digital content of low quality that is usually produced by means of artificial intelligence.”

“AI Slop is Everywhere,” warned The Wall Street Journal earlier this year. The internet, but also, our culture in general seems to be filling-up with machine-made junk-content that’s cheap, endless, and hard to escape.

And it’s not just media content, is it? Everything seems cheap lately. Companies are cutting corners; products don’t seem to be “made-to-last” as they used to. Everything seems to be low-effort, artificial and lacking deep meaning.

We’ve been experiencing cultural decline for several decades now, but this flood of slop in the last year or two is deeply concerning as it seems like it slop and sloppiness has infected just about everything from government and the education system, to our food, our architecture, our music, even our human relationships—low-effort, artificial, lacking deep-meaning.

Why do I bring up this idea of slop on this most holy Christmas evening? Because to us is born a Savior, Jesus Christ the Lord.

Tonight we celebrate the birth of the one who is the remedy for the infection of slop. Again, that infection is not simply technological, economic, or cultural. Those are symptoms. The deeper illness is spiritual. What we are experiencing as slop—the cheapening of truth, beauty, work, and even love—is the fruit of the human heart wounded by sin.

From the beginning, in the Garden of Eden, Sin always involves lowering our standards—seeking less than what we were made for. Instead of striving for what is true, good, and beautiful, we sin seeks what is easy, convenient, and artificial. Instead of meaning, we accept distraction. Instead of communion, we accept consumerism to make us happy.

Yet, into this world marked by corruption, the Savior was born. Not in power and spectacle, but in poverty and silence. To save us from sin, God did not send a lecture, or a policy, or a technological fix. He took on our very flesh to redeem us. The eternal Son of God enters our broken human condition from the inside. He does not stand at a distance diagnosing our sickness; He takes it upon Himself, and becomes our remedy. This is what the name Jesus means: “God saves.” He comes not merely to inform us and to inspire us, but to restore us and redeem us.

Where sin trains us to settle, Christ reawakens our desire for wholeness and holiness once again, by reorienting us to God.

And we might be surprised to learn that God desires our wholeness and healing even more than we do. The Incarnation is God’s refusal to let humanity remain degraded. In the Child of Bethlehem, God declares that human life is worth saving, human nature is worth redeeming. Humanity is not cheap and artificial, it is worth saving. It is worth dying for.

And that is why Christmas matters so much. Christmas is not about presents and recreating nostalgic feelings. It’s about allowing God to reorder our lives to what is most important, allowing God to heal us from the root of our being. God wants to save precisely those parts of us that settle for artificial substitutes for the meaning and life that comes from Him.

Those of you who only come to church once or twice a year, might wonder, why every year at Christmas, the priest invites you to come to church more often. It’s because God loves you and wants more for you than artificial substitutes and a superficial relationship. True meaningful purpose is not found on the outskirts of the Church, but by drawing as near to Christ as you possibly can, by practicing our religion as fervently as you can.

Artificial intelligence cannot save this world. Nor can politics or economics, or some lazy amalgamation of religious ideas. Salvation cannot be found in an idea or technology, but in the person of Jesus Christ who founded a Church and died for our sins and wants a profound relationship with each one of us.

As we heard in our second reading from Paul to Titus: “The grace of God has appeared, saving all and training us to reject godless ways and worldly desires and to live temperately, justly, and devoutly in this age…to make us eager for what is good”

That is the alternative to slop. Learning again how to honestly and authentically seek what is truly good for us.

Christ is born to enable us to live as fully human beings again: men and women who seek truth instead of convenience, beauty instead of novelty, communion instead of consumption, and holiness instead of distraction.

If you feel exhausted and unhappy, disillusioned, or unsatisfied—if you sense that much of what the world offers feels hollow and thin: that restlessness is a sign that you were made for more. And A Savior has been born for you. A remedy has been given. Seek him wholeheartedly, love him profoundly.

May the peace of the newborn King—who alone can save—fill your hearts and your homes this Christmas for the glory of God and the salvation of souls.