Welcoming the Gift of Life

In the same address to international ambassadors (on January 9) in which Pope Leo warns against "the zeal for war" and many other forms of violence against the dignity of human persons, he also stresses the gift and vocation of every human life, the fundamental importance of marriage and the family, and the particular necessity "for enabling families to welcome and fully care for unborn life." He categorically rejects abortion and calls for protection of the lives of unborn children and support for their mothers.

Like all his predecessors, Pope Leo XIV proclaims the Gospel imperative of the inviolable dignity of the life and vocation of every human person without exception.

"Human beings are created in the image and likeness of God, who, 'by calling them into existence out of love, has at the same time called them to love.' This vocation is revealed in a privileged and unique way within the family. It is in this context that we learn to love and foster the capacity to serve life, thus contributing to the development of society and the Church’s mission....

"The vocation to love and to life, which manifests itself in an important way in the exclusive and indissoluble union between a woman and a man, implies a fundamental ethical imperative for enabling families to welcome and fully care for unborn life. This is increasingly a priority, especially in those countries that are experiencing a dramatic decline in birth rates. Life, in fact, is a priceless gift that develops within a committed relationship based on mutual self-giving and service.

"In light of this profound vision of life as a gift to be cherished, and of the family as its responsible guardian, we categorically reject any practice that denies or exploits the origin of life and its development. Among these is abortion, which cuts short a growing life and refuses to welcome the gift of life. In this regard, the Holy See expresses deep concern about projects aimed at financing cross-border mobility for the purpose of accessing the so-called 'right to safe abortion.' It also considers it deplorable that public resources are allocated to suppress life, rather than being invested to support mothers and families. 

"The primary objective must remain the protection of every unborn child and the effective and concrete support of every woman so that she is able to welcome life." 

~Pope Leo XIV

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"In all the Dioceses of the United States of America, January 22 ... shall be observed as a particular day of prayer for the full restoration of the legal guarantee of the right to life and of penance for violations to the dignity of the human person committed through acts of abortion" (United States Conference of Catholic Bishops).

Saint Agnes: A Love Greater than the Violence of this World

⭐Happy Saint Agnes Day!⭐

"What I longed for, I now see; what I hoped for, I now possess; in heaven I am espoused to him whom on earth I loved with all my heart."

These words, placed on Agnes's lips in one of the ancient antiphons from today's Roman liturgy, express the 1700 year old memory of this singular young girl, consecrated virgin, bride of Christ, martyr. We too have this longing and this hope, and we are called each day to respond to His Love with all the love of our hearts.

And like Saint Agnes, we must long to see Him and offer ourselves in love for Him, whatever the circumstances we face, in all the ways in which we are called to witness to the sacredness of the life and vocation of every human person... even when we are threatened with violence by the powers of this world. 

Christ — for whom we long, hope for, and love — creates, redeems, and calls to Himself every human person. His Love for human persons is greater than all the violence of this world. His affirmation of the gift of human life is greater than all the worldly powers bent on destroying life.

Let us long to see Him, to see ourselves and one another through His eyes, and to love through His Heart.

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. at Prayer

“O Thou Eternal God, out of whose absolute power and infinite intelligence the whole universe has come into being, we humbly confess that we have not loved thee with our hearts, souls and minds, and we have not loved our neighbors as Christ loved us. We have all too often lived by our own selfish impulses rather than by the life of sacrificial love as revealed by Christ. We often give in order to receive. We love our friends and hate our enemies. We go the first mile but dare not travel the second. We forgive but dare not forget. And so as we look within ourselves, we are confronted with the appalling fact that the history of our lives is the history of an eternal revolt against thee. But thou, O God, have mercy upon us. Forgive us for what we could have been but failed to be. Give us the intelligence to know thy will. Give us the courage to do thy will. Give us the devotion to love thy will. In the name and spirit of Jesus we pray. Amen.”

Source: Martin Luther King, Jr., “Thou, Dear God”: Prayers That Open Hearts and Spirits (King Legacy, 2014).

War and Trees

Europe and the USA are staring each other down over Greenland. The United States is threatening to use military force (“if necessary”) to seize Greenland, claiming that the island is crucial for national security.

I can see plausible reasons for the security idea, with the warming Arctic Ocean. There is also talk of building a massive “missile defense shield” that will supposedly require incorporating the Denmark-ruled territory. Really? And this gives us the “right of conquest” and subjugation of another nation’s territory? It does no such thing!

Why can’t these plans be accomplished in cooperation with the NATO alliance? What about mutual defense? What about basic trust between long-allied nations? Instead, my country is breaking away from NATO. The break may already be irreparable. But there is to be posturing and aggression and arrogance rather than cooperation and understanding.

The current U.S. regime is an agent of chaos. I have never been so troubled by what feels like the imminence of global war on a catastrophic scale as I am right now. More now than during the Cold War. More now than after 9-11. The danger is palpable.

Everyone pray and beg God for mercy.

Meanwhile, I have drawn some more trees. Aside from the evergreens, the trees are bare. They are like fragile sticks exposed to the frozen cold, the pitiless wind, the strange winter light. Their life is hidden deep down inside them. 

I hope to see them bloom again.

Two Leaders from the United States, Two Different Visions

I understand that the first person quoted here is not a politician, and places himself at the service of all nations. Nevertheless he has a right and duty to address the truth that underlies how nations ought to be governed in the so-called "real world." 

This person doesn’t brag about his past accomplishments, but he is not naive. 

He has decades of global experience, particularly in Latin America. He lived through the 1980s and 1990s in Peru, during the days of the most brutal communist insurgency in the history of that continent — the dreaded, cult-like, murderous Sindero Luminoso (the "Shining Path"). He also lived through the almost-equally brutal State repression that followed under the government of Alberto Fujimori. He has seen — up close — the many sides of human power imposed without wisdom and justice. He has sacrificed himself immensely in order to care for many of its victims.

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..

The second person I quote below is a brash young man with no international experience and no sign of any familiarity with the wisdom that undergirds "the rule of law" and "peaceful civil coexistence." He places his trust in power. Unfortunately, he is currently one of the architects of United States domestic and foreign policy:

"We live in a world in which you can talk all you want about international niceties and everything else, but we live in a world, in the real world that is governed by strength, that is governed by force, that is governed by power" (Stephen Miller, cabinet official and ideologue of the present USA government).

I stand with Pope Leo. And I weep for my own country with its "zeal for war." I pray for my poor country, for its benighted and undisciplined leaders, and for the world that they risk setting on fire with their presumptuous ambition and recklessness.

God, save us and grant us wisdom, love, mutual respect, intelligence, justice, and peace.

Theophany: God Reveals and Gives Himself

Happy Feast of the "Baptism of the Lord," or — as it is known in the Eastern Church — the "Theophany," which is the culmination of our annual joyful observance of Christmas. 

From Bethlehem to the Jordan, we have celebrated in these days God's "opening up of himself," his giving of himself to us. He who is the Mystery that every human person seeks; he who is on "the other side" of the MORE that every person pleads for in front of reality: he has done something beyond all of our dreams and our myths and our philosophy and our striving. He himself — the Infinite Mystery — has come into our reality, into actual human flesh and blood. God is with us. He has made his dwelling among us and remains with us. He has intervened directly and totally in the story of the human race. God himself dwells in the midst of our cruelty, barbarism, blindness, idolatry, and willful ignorance of his compassion and love.

God has given everything; he has poured himself out in love, and in so doing he manifests his ineffable glory, for God is Love. The fullness of the revelation of God is in this love that overcomes sin, that embraces us and heals us. The Infinite Mystery is Infinite Mercy.

And Divine mercy has a human face and a name: Jesus.

Jesus is the reason for the joy and wonder that fill our hearts in the Christmas season, and at any other time when we recognize in life some sign of him for whom we hope. We celebrate his coming with the awareness that in the risen and glorified Jesus (and in Mary) the New Creation has already begun in its fullness. Meanwhile, we remain in this present age so that we might grow into the fullness of perfect adherence to his mercy, and so that we might announce the gift of God’s love in our world of fear and illusion, frustration and weakness, violence and malice, searching and incomprehensible suffering.

In front of the suffering of our brothers and sisters we must witness that Jesus Christ is the only answer to the search for meaning and the yearning for love that God has fashioned in the depths of every human heart. Only Jesus really knows me; only he can answer for me the question, “Who am I?”

Christians must become more profoundly aware of this fact. They must not rest content and comfortable (or afraid) behind closed doors. They must beg the Lord to deepen the conviction and the ardor of their faith and love, so that they will perceive more concretely that the glory of Christ is the real, superabundant, unimaginable answer to every human misery, every human cry of anguish, every authentic human desire for something more than the limits of this world can give.

We Christians: we need this capacity to see life as it really is. Then we will be able to give love, to bring healing, to meet human needs with God's mercy, to be witnesses.

The fundamental Christian missionary vocation that we all share calls upon us, first of all, to become more deeply aware of the fact that Jesus himself corresponds to the mystery of the human heart — my own heart, and the heart of every person I meet. We must beg God to give us the grace to see our world, our circumstances — vividly — in light of this truth.

We must beg God to teach us how to pray, to open our eyes and our hearts to recognize his presence, to be changed by his "humble glory." We must seek him in the life of the Church, drawing strength from the Eucharist and the sacraments, and from one another in the companionship that is born from this new unity we share in his mercy and love.

We are called to have a faith that lives on the concrete, day to day level with conviction and deep, abiding joy. Jesus is Lord. He has all things. He is the meaning of the universe, the meaning of history, the meaning of today, this day, this moment, now.

He enters into our "now" and transforms it into an invitation to respond in love to the mystery of his love. His presence empowers our hearts and draws us to respond more and more in love to his love, to abandon ourselves to his love.

He is here: he who is the Source who sustains all things and "saves them from nothingness." Human beings live in fear of the Ultimate Mystery; they flee from it because it appears to them to be a gaping abyss of darkness. A true Christian does not deny this mysterious abyss, or seek to replace it with some ideology or cheap sentiment. A true Christian lives the mystery of being human all the way to the abyss and suffers it's darkness. Christian faith knows that Jesus is here too, and above all.

Jesus has fathomed the abyss of our own mystery, and calls upon us to trust in him because the abyss is Eternal Love. The abyss is Mercy that will finally take us beyond yearning and longing, beyond ourselves and our limits and into the fulfillment for which we have been made. He is here and we will be saved if we adhere to him and hold onto him and never let go.

To seek, to live, to bear witness to the enduring presence of Jesus in the world, the presence of Jesus who embraces the whole of life: this is the most essential thing we can do to carry the mystery of Christmas beyond these days of celebration, for it is through us that Jesus continues to appear to the world and make himself known.

The “Eternal Light For All Nations”

May the light of Christmas continue to grow in our hearts in this new year. (Giotto, Nativity.)

"Everything is Reborn from the Silent Power of Life Welcomed"

Before the Christmas Season concludes, I want to present some of the powerful words of Pope Leo's Christmas homily (courtesy of Vatican website). The Pope turns our minds and hearts toward the solidarity of Christ's presence with us, and the way Christ calls us to share his merciful love in a world threatened by great sufferings, escalating violence, the ravages of war that grow greater by the day - all the pain and fragility of human persons who need to experience God's mercy and find therein the ways to listen to one another, to love one another, to forgive one another, to be reconciled. This is the way of peace.

"Here is the surprise that the Christmas liturgy presents to us: the Word of God appears but cannot speak. He comes to us as a newborn baby who can only cry and babble. 'The Word became flesh' (John 1:14). Though he will grow and one day learn the language of his people, for now he speaks only through his simple, fragile presence. 'Flesh' is the radical nakedness that, in Bethlehem as on Calvary, remains even without words – just as so many brothers and sisters, stripped of their dignity and reduced to silence, have no words today. Human flesh asks for care; it pleads for welcome and recognition; it seeks hands capable of tenderness and minds willing to listen; it longs for words of kindness...

“This is the paradoxical way in which peace is already among us: God’s gift invites us in; it seeks to be welcomed and, in turn, inspires our own self-giving. God surprises us because he leaves himself open to rejection. He also captivates us because he draws us away from indifference.  Becoming children of God is a true power – one that remains buried so long as we keep our distance from the cry of children and the frailty of the elderly, from the helpless silence of victims and the resigned melancholy of those who do the evil they do not want...

Dear brothers and sisters, since the Word was made flesh, humanity now speaks, crying out with God’s own desire to encounter us. The Word has pitched his fragile tent among us. How, then, can we not think of the tents in Gaza, exposed for weeks to rain, wind and cold; and of those of so many other refugees and displaced persons on every continent; or of the makeshift shelters of thousands of homeless people in our own cities? Fragile is the flesh of defenseless populations, tried by so many wars, ongoing or concluded, leaving behind rubble and open wounds. Fragile are the minds and lives of young people forced to take up arms, who on the front lines feel the senselessness of what is asked of them and the falsehoods that fill the pompous speeches of those who send them to their deaths.

"When the fragility of others penetrates our hearts, when their pain shatters our rigid certainties, then peace has already begun. The peace of God is born from a newborn’s cry that is welcomed, from weeping that is heard. It is born amidst ruins that call out for new forms of solidarity. It is born from dreams and visions that, like prophecies, reverse the course of history. Yes, all this exists, because Jesus is the Logos, the Meaning, from which everything has taken shape. 'All things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made' (John 1:3). This mystery speaks to us from the nativity scenes we have built; it opens our eyes to a world in which the Word still resonates, 'many times and in many ways' (cf. Hebrews 1:1), and still calls us to conversion...

"This is the way of mission: a path toward others. In God, every word is an addressed word; it is an invitation to conversation, a word never closed in on itself. This is the renewal that the Second Vatican Council promoted, which will bear fruit only if we walk together with the whole of humanity, never separating ourselves from it. The opposite is worldliness: to have oneself at the center. The movement of the Incarnation is a dynamics of conversation.  There will be peace when our monologues are interrupted and, enriched by listening, we fall to our knees before the humanity of the other. In this, the Virgin Mary is the Mother of the Church, the Star of Evangelization, the Queen of Peace. In her, we understand that nothing is born from the display of force, and everything is reborn from the silent power of life welcomed."

The Short Days of January

We've had some beautiful afternoons, even if they are brief. The days are getting longer, but the arc of the sun remains low two weeks after the Winter Solstice.

Still, winter afternoon light lingers as the sun goes down. It covers everything in a gentle golden glow.

Venezuela: A "Splendid Little War"? Or Something Else..?

"I desire to see America fashioned into the greatest nation in the world, greatest not so much by virtue of her area and wealth as by her freedom and glory."

There's a quotation for you. It might seem fitting as a cheer for the latest expansionist foray of the current MAGA regime (until recently the "no-more-foreign-wars" people). But this statement wasn't made by any of the present rulers of the United States, even though it wants to associate "America" with "greatness," and aspires to "America" becoming "the greatest nation in the world."

Every red-blooded patriotic American wants that. Right?

Nevertheless, these words were not written by MAGA or by any previous political party or movement or any citizen in the history of the United States.

In fact, these words are a translation. From Spanish.

And they were written by a man named Simón José Antonio de la Santísima Trinidad Bolívar Palacios Ponte y Blanco, a native of Venezuela and champion of Venezuelan independence and of Latin America as a whole (which is what he meant by "America").

Behind the "iconic" figure of Simon Bolivar as The Liberator, or "the George Washington" of Hispanic America, there stands a complex political and personal figure — a reformer, a democrat, an idealist, and (when he deemed it necessary) a dictator: a man of the Enlightenment, a Freemason and a "bad Catholic" who received the last sacraments before his death and who — more often than not — favored the presence of the Catholic faith in the lives of the Hispanic people.

Simon Bolivar lived a brief stormy life, full of military and political activity, founding states in South America, fleeing failed states and refounding others, fighting wars, writing constitutions, dreaming of a future federated republic encompassing all of (Hispanic) America, and searching for practical government policies to bring it about.

The Latin American political landscape remains tumultuous and complicated to this day, so that it's not surprising that Bolivar is claimed as the inspiration of everyone from Hugo Chavez and the criminally corrupt Chavista regime (that was not overthrown in last weekend's "military operation" in Caracas) to once-again slighted opposition leader Maria Corina Machado and Edmundo Gonzalez — her candidate who won the 2024 presidential election only to have it shamelessly stolen by Maduro and the Chavista gang.

Truly, Venezuela has suffered tremendously in recent years. But now the USA has invaded the capitol city and captured its president by a unilateral military intervention. It has carried out an aggressive act of war against a foreign nation without regard for the requirements of international law. The U.S. regime appears to be expanding the scope of its reckless and confusing actions over the past year regarding both domestic and international affairs. On the other hand, Nicholas Maduro really is a "bad guy" who was destroying his own country and much else besides. His departure is welcome news to millions of Venezuelans. But what happens now? What does the United States intend to do for the people of Venezuela? What can it do?

Right now, Maduro’s Vice-President has taken his place, and the whole Chavista organization remains in control of the government. Yet we have been told that the United States regime is going to "run" Venezuela, with the cooperation of the Chavistas, who presumably will keep the natives under the heels of their boots while we "drill-baby-drill" in the world's largest oil reserves. But (we are told) this is not just about ruthless exploitation of the raw materials of a vulnerable Latin American country. Broad assurances have been given that Venezuela will be rebuilt, reorganized, reformed, and restored as a thriving democracy... after an "undetermined period" of Yankee tutelage.

Forgive my cynicism, but it would appear that the United States is back in the business of "nation-building" — once again without a coherent plan, in a place it knows nothing about, with no idea of the needs of the people who live there, or the complex terrain of their land, or these people's own proud national history.

Simon Bolivar must be turning over in his grave.

How will it all unfold? Who knows? One thing is sure: Anglo-America has plunged into a full-on, long term engagement with Hispanic America. So much for building walls. Might something good come out of this? Perhaps — after more violence and painful lessons learned and humble conversion of many hearts — it will be changed into a genuine collaboration, the beginning of a new experience of solidarity that this hemisphere so desperately needs.

Christmas Week… Epiphany Week!!

As the lovely Christmas Season continues, let’s have a peek at some decorations:

This is ME at Sixty-Three

I’m 63 years old on this day. And I don’t have much to say. Instead two pictures I present here. And I thank God for every moment, every day, every year.

Happy New Year and Merry Christmas Season

Happy New Year 2026! 

And Merry Christmas Day Eight, the Octave of Christmas Week, dedicated to Mary the Mother of Jesus, the Theotokos, the Ever-Virgin Mother of God, Mother of the Word who became flesh in her womb, whose birth we continue to celebrate. 

"Every day can be the beginning of a new life, thanks to God’s generous love, his mercy and the response of our freedom. It is beautiful to view the coming year in this way: as an open journey to be discovered. Indeed, through grace, we can venture forth on this journey with confidence – free and bearers of freedom, forgiven and bringers of forgiveness, trusting in the closeness and goodness of the Lord who accompanies us always….

"As we set out toward the new and unique days that await us, let us ask the Lord to help us experience at every moment, around us and upon us, the warmth of his fatherly embrace and the light of his benevolent gaze. In this way, we may better understand and keep constantly in mind who we are and towards what marvelous destiny we are heading" (Pope Leo XIV).

[Image: Coptic Ethiopian icon of the Nativity]

A "New Reality" at the Center of Human Life

It's interesting to read from old journals I kept intermittently over the years. I have some reflections I wrote in a notebook thirty-five years ago, on December 28, 1990, marking the Feast of the Holy Innocents. The little children killed by Herod in his ruthless attempt to destroy the 'newborn King' in Bethlehem are each and all honored as martyrs and saints in the Church.

Life changes, technologies change, aspirations and disappointments change, nations and governments change. I have certainly changed in so many ways.

Still, my faith remains the same. What I referred to as "the new reality in our midst" in 1990 remains "new" now, at the end of the year 2025. Jesus Christ uniting Himself with us and redeeming us places Him always "at the center of human life."

When we celebrate these feasts each year, we remember and experience afresh the "new reality" of Christ who has come to dwell with us and who renews all things.

From December 28, 1990:

"These martyrs did not preach. Unlike Stephen two days ago they did not see visions. They were simply there. They were victims to man's hatred and fear of God's coming. But God has come, and man's indiscriminate rage against Him cannot conquer Him: rather, in some mysterious way even it becomes the 'stuff' - the material - for something new. God's victorious coming is made manifest by the fact that these unconscious victims of slaughter are real witnesses. The event of their deaths occurs for the sake of the new reality in our midst, and shares in that reality and in the glory it establishes at the center of human life."

Jesus Comes to Save Sinners

Mercy is an incredible thing.

During Christmas we remember Jesus coming among us. He comes for the poor, and for the Gentiles, and for Israel - for the whole world. He comes to seek out and save what is lost. He comes for sinners.

Jesus loves those whom we would regard as the worst sinners, the people we would consider disgusting. He has not given up on them. He loves them, He goes out in search of them, He gives Himself completely for them.

He wants sinners. He wants the most awful people, the disgraceful people, the people we don't want anything to do with. He wants to change their hearts by His grace, to bring them to repentance and conversion, to heal them, to forgive them, and to enable them to love Him. He wants them to be with Him forever. His heart burns with love for them: the ones we think of as gross, horrible people; the ones we would consider irretrievably lost.

He seeks them - indeed, He seeks each and every one of us - with a love beyond anything we could imagine or measure.

This should be a cause for great hope. For who among us looks in the mirror and sees a face with no cause for shame? We are all sinners. But the hope of the world is our hope. Jesus wants to awaken in us and draw forth from our hearts a true sorrow for our sins, and He wants to fill our hearts with His love and transform us and make us beautiful.

On the Cross, in the Church, in the sacraments, and in these beautiful days of Christmas that we celebrate, He shows how He has given Himself to us, and how He longs for us.

He wants us to pray and to open our hearts to Him in trust. We must pray, "Lord, make me the person You will me to be. Shape me, change me, lead me. I believe in Your love for me. I trust in You."

Merry Christmas 2025

Merry Christmas to everyone, from all of us! All the "kids" (and grandkids) are here today. [This picture is a clearer version of the family photo I previously shared on my blog from Catie's baptism in October.]🎄⭐☺️

Christ is born! Come let us adore Him! ⭐ #MerryChristmas #ChristmasDayOne

Janaro Girls are Having Fun! (and some "news")

Presenting the Janaro Girls, the next generation!

Eileen "arranged" the three granddaughters on our couch and took a bunch of pictures while attempting to get all of them to smile at the same time. It was an impossible task, but they did their best.

Catie, of course, doesn't know what's going on. At three months old, she can be put in a sitting position and "leaned" next to four-year-old Maria. When she's not crying or sleeping, Catie pretty much has this face. Actually, she will smile in more personal interactions. She has little dimples and is positively "snuggly." Maria is "composed" and knows her role, although sometimes she looks a little restless and distracted, as if she just wants to get this photo session done. Anna, who just turned two, is the "wild card" here. She is happy to "ham things up" (as the pictures show).

These kiddos just brighten up the whole house whenever they come over. It's wonderful! Otherwise, things are pretty quiet, but sometimes I appreciate that too. My mind feels like it needs "more rest" these days. Quiet is good.

I recall that when I began this blog almost 15 years ago this house was a very noisy house. Five kids living at home with us in this little place. Jojo was the same age as Maria back then. She and her siblings were the "stars of the blog" in those days.

We are looking forward to everyone coming over for Christmas dinner this year (it's gonna be a crowded table🙂). But, of course, the "kids" are all grown up! Jojo is still at home and finishing high school. The others are living their grown-up lives, so I think I should let them tell their own stories. Still, we're a close family and we see them often, and certain events must be noted (portions of this blog serve as a kind of "family chronicle"). Grandchildren continue to move our story into the future, while our (former) kids still have important milestones like graduations, engagements, marriages... engagements...

Remember Teresa Janaro? Of course. The girl I used to say was "only-the-size-of-an-extra-large-pizza"? You have heard much about her over the years. She's 23 years old now, and this past Thanksgiving she got engaged! Will, her fiance, has already appeared in our more recent family pictures, so this is not exactly a surprise. He's a great guy, and I'm looking forward to having another son-in-law. The wedding will be in June 2026. I'll get to be "father of the bride" once again, which is a happy task. You can be sure there will be stories and pictures.

"Let the Earth Be Opened"

Fourth Sunday of Advent.

The days are full of signs. We have struggled through this long night. We have crept along our ways, blind, hoping for some small light, never dreaming that there might be a sun that even now is lifting the darkness from the edge of the sky. A slow brightening, wherein things begin to take shape and faces begin to appear.

The light is coming, the unimagined Dawn.

"The Radiance of Your Glory"

Collect for December 19th. This prayer is very beautiful.

Christmas is almost here!

We Are Not Alone

Pope Leo encourages us to hope for "beautiful and joyful" events to happen to us in the approaching Christmas season, because we are not alone. Jesus walks with us, and his Spirit is at work in us and among us.

"We know that even in the face of the greatest challenges, we are not alone: the Lord is near, he walks with us, and with him at our side, something beautiful and joyful will always happen" (Pope Leo XIV).

Rejoice! And Trust in the Lord.

#GaudeteSunday, the Third Sunday of Advent, is here already. Today we cry out, “Rejoice! The Lord is near.” 

Rejoice! Even if you don't "feel" it. There is a joy "deep-down" within us — greater than our sorrows and pain — that sustains us when we adhere to Jesus Christ. He accompanies us with His love, which is transforming our lives and giving meaning and value to everything in them. 

Every frustration, every pain, every sadness, every suffering, loneliness, weakness, or limitation is "already" being changed into a path to joy by Christ who renews all things. 

Trust in the Lord!

The Virgin of Guadalupe "in Her Own Words"

On this great Feast Day, I want to present two excerpts from the original account of the events of December 9-12, 1531, as dictated by Saint Juan Diego Cuauhtlatoatzin in the language of the Nahua peoples and recorded by an indigenous Mexican, Antonio Valeriano. These are Mary's words to Saint Juan Diego and to all of us, and they are an important complement to the singular icon that accompanies them.

The translation is by Father Martinus Cawley, O.C.S.O., a lifelong scholar of Nahuatl and native Mexican texts, above all the critical edition of Antonio Valeriano's original account, known as the Nican Mopohua. Father Cawley endeavored to render into English the poetic cadence of the text, which corresponds to the rich aesthetic quality of the image.

To communicate herself and her Son, Mary entered a particular place, time, and culture. In the same way, she desires to dwell in a particular way with each one of us, in our families, our homes, and our communities.

In her company, we always find her Son and our Brother, Jesus. And through her we learn how much Jesus wants to stay with us.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The words of Our Lady of Guadalupe to Saint Juan Diego

(as presented in the Nican Mopohua):

"Do know this, do be assured of it in your heart,

My Littlest One,

that I Myself, I am the Entirely and Ever Virgin, Saint Mary,

Mother of the True Divinity, of God Himself.

Because of Him, Life goes on, Creation goes on;

His are all things afar, His are all things near at hand,

things above in the Heavens, things here below on the Earth.

"How truly I wish it, how greatly I desire it,

that here they should erect Me My Temple!

Here would I show forth, here would I lift up to view,

here would I make a gift

of all My Fondness for My Dear Ones,

all My Regard for My Needy Ones,

My Willingness to Aid them,

My Readiness to Protect them.

"For truly I Myself,

I am your Compassionate Mother,

yours, for you yourself,

for everybody here in the Land,

for each and all together,

for all others too, for all Folk of every kind,

who do but cherish Me,

who do but raise their voices to Me,

who do but seek Me,

who do but raise their trust to Me.

"For here I shall listen to their groanings, to their saddenings;

here shall I make well and heal up

their each and every kind of disappointment,

of exhausting pangs, of bitter aching pain."

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

"Do listen,

do be assured of it in your heart, My Littlest One, 

that nothing at all should alarm you, should trouble you, 

nor in any way disturb your countenance, your heart.

"And do not be afraid of this Pestilence,

nor of any other pestilence, 

or any rasping hardship.

"For am I not here, I, Your Mother? 

Are you not in the Cool of My Shadow?

in the Breeziness of My Shade? 

Is it not I that am your Source of Contentment?

Are you not cradled in My Mantle?

cuddled in the Crossing of My Arms? 

Is there anything else for you to need?

"Nothing else, though, should trouble you,

should disquiet you."

Juan Diego, Mother Mary, and God’s Merciful Love

Today is the Feast of Saint Juan Diego Cuauhtlatoatzin, patron of indigenous peoples, instrument and messenger of the Mother of God, the merciful Mother of every human person and all peoples. Here Mary shows and offers her love (which draws its strength entirely from the redeeming grace of her Son Jesus) to the whole world at the dawn of the first global epoch. It was a time full of sorrows and wars and terrible injustices, but also of new opportunities for witness to the Gospel and for mutual service in fraternal love and communion. 

And, in a special way, this great and enduring sign — given in Mexico City in 1531, before there were any borders — also remains among us who dwell in “this land,” as an “icon” of God’s merciful love for all the peoples of “America,” North, Central, and South. 

#OurLadyOfGuadalupe #SaintJuanDiego

Mary, Conceived Without Sin

Happy Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception … and the beginning of the beautiful “Days of Mary” that light up every Advent Season. Here are Saints Joachim and Anna, parents of Mary according to ancient Christian tradition, who were “there” (and did their part) in the events that led up to Mary’s being conceived without original sin. The Byzantine icon represents the Eastern churches’ celebration (tomorrow) of “The Conception [of Mary, in the womb of] Saint Anne.” The miracle was Mary’s being preserved from the “inheritance” of the sin of Adam and Eve (which otherwise marks every human being from the moment they are generated with a “fallen human nature”) by virtue of God’s foreknowledge of the redeeming merits of her Son. Thus, the grace of salvation “begins” with Jesus’s mother, like the first light in the morning sky before the dawn. 

Tomorrow (in the Western Church) is the feast of the humble man who was entrusted 1500 years later with an utterly unique “sign” of Mary’s unconditional maternal love for every human being - the poor indigenous Mexica peasant who I believe to be among the greatest of all the saints: Saint Juan Diego Cuauhtlatoatzin. His tilma still bears today the astonishing, scientifically inexplicable image of “Our Lady of Guadalupe.” Friday, December 12 is the celebration of Nuestra Señora who gave us her image on that day in 1531, and who remains “present” in her “house,” the basilica on Tepeyac hill in Mexico City (virtually the center of the “American continent”). She heals the wounds of all her sons and daughters. She is a sign of unity, solidarity, and hope.

Happy Saint Nicholas Day!

Happy Saint Nicholas Day! 

“O Father and Pontiff [Bishop] Nicholas, the holiness of your life was set before your flock as a rule of faith, and example of meekness and a teaching of temperance; wherefore you acquired greatness through humility and spiritual wealth through poverty. Pray to Christ God that He may save our souls” (Troparion of the Feast of Saint Nicholas, Byzantine Liturgy).

The Commitment to Peace

Pope Leo speaks about the strength that comes from a genuine commitment to PEACE. 

He is not naive. He knows that true peace is difficult, and that authentic dialogue requires patience and the persistent search for lines of communication where mutual trust can be fostered. He knows that self-defense against aggression may be legitimate and necessary, but that it is also fraught with physical and moral perils and the danger of uncontrolled escalation. Legitimate self-defense only underscores the need to bring about a just and lasting peace.

We are called to be peacemakers, to work and pray for peace, to continue to hope for peace.

"The commitment and love for peace know no fear in the face of apparent defeat, are not daunted by disappointment, but look ahead, welcoming and embracing all situations with hope" (Pope Leo XIV).

Saint Francis Xavier, East Asia, and the "Catholicity" of Christ

December 3: The incredible SAINT FRANCIS XAVIER, missionary to East Asia. To his intercession (among others) I entrust my ongoing and increasingly difficult work of studying and "listening to" the great historic civilization of China and the drama and difficulty of its recent past and present reality. Today's Saint began to build a "Great Bridge" to facilitate an encounter with the peoples beyond the "Great Wall", and his confreres - Ruggieri, Ricci, Trigault, Valignano, et. al. along with their Chinese collaborators Li Zhizao, Xu Guangqi, Yang Tingjun, Candida Xu, and many others - continued a remarkable, profoundly human, mutually enriching dialogue of cultures within the missionaries' witness to Christ and the free response of Chinese converts. This permitted the Gospel to take root and flourish in an "organic" Chinese inculturation wherein all that was true and beautiful in China's great wisdom tradition opened itself to the West and showed new facets of the "Catholicity" of Christ's Church. Tragically, misunderstandings and, eventually, the greedy abuses of colonial domination by Western nations obscured this evangelical and cultural work (though not entirely — the Catholic faith remained through the centuries and has endured many trials).

But Francis Xavier was no seeker of earthly power or riches; he was a man on fire with the love of God, with a passion to witness to Jesus through all the world. He preached in India, was the first Catholic missionary in Japan, and longed to reach China - where he finally died of an illness (having reached the limits of human endurance) on an island seven miles from the coast of the southern province of Guangdong. The ardor of his missionary heart brought a great many people to Christ, shined the light of the Gospel explicitly in nations where it had never shone before, and planted seeds - many of which have yet to grow, blossom, and bear fruit. But they will…

Welcome to Advent 2025

This Advent, let us remember that Jesus is with us, that He loves us, and that He is the Lord of history.

The 1700-Year-Old Legacy of the First Council of Nicaea

Pope Leo XIV, Bartholomew (Orthodox Patriarch of Constantinople), and other leaders of Catholic and other ancient churches met together in Turkiye in recent days to mark the 1700th anniversary of the First Ecumenical Council of Nicaea.

The Council was — a remains today — a great source and hope for the unity of all Christians. In the Creed that clarifies the truth revealed by Christ and handed on by the Scriptures and the Apostolic Tradition, we profess our common faith in the Person of Jesus Christ, consubstantial with the Father in His Divinity, who assumed our humanity and entered history for our salvation.

The Example of Dorothy Day

The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops has honored the 45th anniversary of the death of Dorothy Day in this Instagram post. They exhort us to follow her example. She loved and served the poor and recognized the ineradicable dignity of every human person. She also saw prophetically and spoke boldly about problems in the United States of America that many of her fellow Catholics were blind to in her time.

Encouraged by Chicago-born Pope Leo XIV, the U.S. bishops recently spoke firmly for the humanity of immigrants facing this regime’s cruel and chaotic mass deportation policy. Perhaps we are all beginning to appreciate the need to see our own country as Jesus sees us, with great mercy (for he knows our weakness) but also with ardor for suffering persons we would rather ignore — poor persons whose needs we can only see if we break free of our comforts in order to accompany them and share their sufferings.