In his poem Desiderata Max Ehrmann states You are a child of the universe no less than the trees and the stars People today have come to see that they are not over and against nature but embedded in it in the very creative matrix that has given them life and that continues to give l

The story of the Innocents is only two verses long but serves at least two purposes for Matthew s story about Jesus nbsp First it exemplifies the furor of Herod the Great at the possibility that a King of the Jews had been born after all Herod be decree of Rome was King of the Jews

St Stephen reminds us 1 In his lengthy speech in Acts 7 the point is made that worship even the glorious worship of God by Israel is now to be made through the person of Jesus There is much amiss in the worship offered to the Father from which His Son is rejected all goals of worship are ac

Matthew s first line in today s Gospel speaks of how the birth of Jesus Christ came about nbsp His story is a gathering of strong traditions already existing in the Christian world of the Mediterranean Basic St Paul s letters are good examples of this already existing tradition nb

These last seven days of Advent are a special time of the Church year among my favorites on the liturgical calendar nbsp Not only do the readings for the daily Masses just before Christmas include the beginnings of the Gospel infancy narratives Matthew 1 on Dec 17-18 Luke 1 on Dec 19-24 but

In Matthew 1 20 the Gospel author cites a prophecy from Isaiah 7 14 concerning a 8220 virgin 8221 Gk parthenos who would give birth to a child Matthew seems to be citing the Septuagint LXX a 3rd century B C translation of the Hebrew Scriptures into Greek which also has parthenos Why