Jesus says, "I have much more to tell you, but you cannot bear it now." A reflection on why God sometimes withholds understanding and how the Holy Spirit transforms us to receive divine truth.
Paul and Silas's response to their suffering is to sing. This shows their patience, not a worldly patience, which is to simply endure suffering, but a Christian patience which spring out of a knowledge that God will make all things right in the end.
Today's Gospel features the famous dialogue between Jesus and Nicodemus about being "born again" or, more accurately, "born from above" (John 3). Jesus uses the analogy of the wind: "The Spirit blows where it wills... you do not know where it comes from or where it goes."
While we might wish for individual, private appearances of the Risen Lord, God's design for faith is communal. We are meant to come to faith through the shared testimony and proclamation of others—like the apostles (including Thomas after his encounter) and St. John writing the Book of Revelation. Faith isn't meant to be lived "siloed."
It's Holy Thursday! Fr. Dominic addresses why priests are specifically asked to preach on the Institution of the Eucharist, the Priesthood, and the Command of Fraternal Charity today.
Join Fr. Dominic for a powerful homily on Luke 11:14-23 (March 27, 2025), focusing on Jesus' confrontation with evil and His casting out of demons. This reflection explores the ongoing battle between good and evil, and the ways in which some still choose to reject God's message.
Join Fr. Dominic Holtz, OP, for a insightful homily on Deuteronomy 4:1, 5-9 for March 26, 2025. In this reflection, Fr. Dominic unpacks Moses' presentation of God's law, emphasizing that it's a source of pride and guidance, not a burden.
Jesus said, "If your hand causes you to sin, cut it off." We often think that our sins and pettiness and cruelty are just who we are and cannot change. But these are part of a false self. Jesus challenges us to find our better self, our true self, that can overcome sin with God's grace.
In the Book of Sirach, we hear that God's wisdom comes to us first as a stranger in fear and dread, testing us. But once we get to know it and it us, it brings us great comfort and joy.
Today we celebrate the Feast of the Conversion of Paul, whose conversion was both based on his own experiences and choices, and made possible and fostered by the people around him. This was not unusual, and it seems that all conversions are both individual and communal.
In our Gospel today, Jesus calls the 12 apostles to be with him, to preach, and to cast out demons. Only demons are their enemies, not people who disagree with them or even oppose them. For these people, the apostles should give witness to their joy and friendship with Jesus to perhaps win them over. This is good advice for us today as well.
John, the apostle, shared with others about the Love of God he found in Christ so that his own joy would be complete. We have the same opportunity. Let us share with others what we have come to learn about Christ with those around around us, so that they might share in our joy and that our joy might be complete.
