Tag: Virgin Mary
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The Scandal We Long For – A Sermon on Matthew 1:18-25
What is the most shocking part of today’s gospel (Matthew 1:18-25, Advent 4A)? What’s the thing that makes you wonder whether it really happened the way Matthew describes? What’s the hardest part to believe? For most people, I suspect, the thing that raises questions, controversy, and debate is Mary’s virginity. Aren’t virginity and pregnancy mutually Read more
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The Womb that Contains What the Heavens Cannot
From you, our God who is before eternity, became a child! He has made your womb His throne, making it more spacious than the heavens. In you, O woman full of grace, all creation exults. Glory to you! (Joseph Raya, Theotokos: Mary Mother of our Lord God and Savior Jesus Christ, 40.) Read more
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Prayer and Praise to the Blessed Virgin Mary
O most Holy Virgin, he who gives you venerable and glorious titles does not fail to tell the truth; on the contrary, it falls short of your worthiness. Look on us benevolently from heaven! Govern us with peace; guide us, without intimidating us before the judge’s throne; and make us worthy to be seated on Read more
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Believing Like Mary and Elizabeth
What if we really believed God is uniquely present and active in the circumstances of each of our lives, speaking a word? What if we truly believed there would be a fulfillment of the word spoken? What if instead of allowing our circumstances to determine what we believe we allowed our believing to reinterpret the Read more
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God’s Conspiracy Gives Life
Jesus “breathed on them and said to them, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit’” (John 20:22). Recall a moment when you held another person so close that you could hear his or her breathing, the sound of life. Maybe it was your husband or wife, a parent, your child or grandchild, a dear friend. Cheek to cheek. Read more
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Magnifying Mary; It Is Truly Meet.
Today, August 15, is the Feast of St. Mary. As the one who on earth stood in the most intimate relationship with the incarnate Son of God, she, of all the human race, must have the place of highest honor in the eternal life of God. (Holy Women, Holy Men) “It is truly right to Read more
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Ave Regina Caelorum
The Feast of the Presentation of our Lord is the hinge between Christmas and the cross. It holds in tension life and death, light and darkness, the salvation Simeon sees in the child and the sword that will pierce Mary’s soul. With the Feast of the Presentation the Marian hymn following compline is the Ave Read more
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Witnesses and Interrogators – A Sermon on John 1:6-8, 19-28; Advent 3B
The collect and readings for the Third Sunday of Advent may be found here. The following sermon focuses on the gospel, John 1:6-8, 19-28. There are, today’s gospel suggests, two ways of approaching life and God’s presence in the world. One way is demonstrated by John. The other way is demonstrated by the priests and Read more
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The Feast of St. Mary the Virgin, Dormition, and Assumption
Today, August 15, is one of the great Marian feast days. The Eastern Orthodox call it the Feast of the Dormition while Roman Catholics call it the Feast of the Assumption. They deal with the same event but the interpretation is a bit different. The Rev. Patrick Comerford offers the following distinction: The Orthodox Church Read more
Interrupting the Silence 