The feast of Christmas is one that everyone loves for it is a celebration of God’s love for us. Through the Incarnation, God became man without losing His divinity. He gave Himself to us out of pure love and for our salvation. It is a great mystery–one that we are called to reflect upon and celebrate during this time of the liturgical year.

During the time leading to the Nativity, we are invited through the liturgy to spend time with Our Lady and consider why she makes the tumultuous journey to Bethlehem to give birth to Our Savior. She does this to fulfill the promise that God gave to His people.

The season of Advent can be related to almost every aspect of our spiritual life. From Advent springs forth our spiritual journey with Christ, from the moment of His birth to His salvific death on Calvary. Moreover, the season of Advent relates in a special way to the priestly vocation and the development of seminarians into ordained clerics of Christ.

Joy is the echo of God’s life in us. Through the Incarnation, God wishes to give His life to humanity and His life is one of joy. And this joy is a supernatural joy, a spiritual joy, and it orients us ever toward Our Lord and our eternal destiny with Him.

The Nativity, which is one of the most important feasts of the year, offers an opportunity for Catholics to reflect on Our Lord’s mercy. As Scripture, particularly the Old Testament attests, God is willing to forgive even the gravest sins of those who seek His mercy. We may find ourselves turning away from God frequently,…

The Feast of the Immaculate Conception is followed immediately by the commemoration of Our Lady of Guadalupe’s first apparition to St. Juan Diego nearly 500 years ago. This event and the spread of Catholicism in what is today Mexico reminds us of the power of the Faith to overcome the darkness of idolatry and the barbarism of religious practices that disregard the sanctity of life while resisting God’s desire for mankind’s salvation.

Why did God not give those angels who rebelled against Him a second chance yet He came and died in agony to save us from our multitude of sins? This sermon explores four reasons for Our Lord’s decision, with special emphasis on God’s unique compassion for mankind.

When God created the world, He placed mankind at the pinnacle of that creation. Yet through our first parents, Adam and Eve, original sin came into the world and was passed down through the human race. War, disease, deprivation, and death itself resulted. Yet Our Lord in His infinite mercy and love raised up good out of evil by exempting His mother from this stain and thus prepared the way for His coming.

The season of Advent is a time of joyful preparation for Our Lord’s Incarnation. The four candles on the Advent Wreath remind us both of our one brief time of preparation, but also of the much longer period chronicled in the Old Testament. Yet as we learn from that time in history, preparing for the Savior’s coming is not tantamount to receiving Him.

The time of Advent is a time of paradox. The purple veil on the tabernacle, the use of the penitential Psalms at Lauds, and other liturgical rubrics point to this season as being one of penance. Yet on Sundays and other feast days, a festive spirit takes precedence. How we should understand this seeming contradiction is the subject of this sermon.