Keep Mary in Your Mind and Jesus Will Grow in Your Heart

 

Deacon Dave · Keep Mary in Your Mind and Jesus Will Grow in Your Heart

Homily for the Solemnity of Mary Mother of God, Jan.1, 2026. Galatians 4:4-7; Gospel of St. Luke 2:16-21. Theme: Keep Mary in Your Mind and Jesus Will Grow in Your Heart. 

 The figure of the Madonna holding the Baby Jesus has been a favorite subject of artists and sculptors for centuries. I think it’s because it’s an image that really captures the heart, warms the soul, and directs the mind to that special bond that exists between mother and child in every culture, in every time, and in every place. The intimate bond between Jesus and Mary has always had a cherished place in popular Catholic devotion, where it has been treasured as something precious and vital. As a matter of fact, the pre-eminent and most ancient title that we give to Mary is the one that honors her maternal bond with Christ that we are celebrating in today’s Liturgy: Mother of God. 

 Now, isn’t that an amazing thing to think about? God the Son, Second Person of the Blessed Trinity, the Eternal Word through whom all things were created, became a man and had a mother who carried him in her womb, nursed him at her breast, loved him with all her being and was always there for Him. She pondered her memories of Him throughout her life as all mothers do and as today’s Gospel reminds us. But at the same time, it’s important to remember that in calling Mary the Mother of God we do not mean that she pre-existed God or that she is greater than God as some people mistakenly think. 

 Instead, this beautiful title of Mary attests to the fact that she made it possible for God to come to earth as our Beloved Brother and Savior. She made it possible for the God of Creation to actually and personally experience His creation as a real man, living in every way as we do except for sin. Her motherhood made it possible for Jesus to truly be Emmanuel, God-with-us. Due to her cooperation with God’s grace and plan, Christ was able to heal and transform our humanity from the inside out, so to speak, by participating in it and blessing it with His divinity. 

 Calling Mary the Mother of God tells us why she is so very important to the entire story and saving mission of Jesus. But it also tells us that she is very important to the stories and lives of everyday Christians like you and me. Without her there would be no Christmas. Without her we would not be Christians. Without her we would not be the adopted sons and daughters of God that we are. And for these reasons we rejoice to participate in the Liturgy today in her honor as a way of saying “thank you” for doing her part in the plan of God for our salvation! 

 St. Paul makes reference to this maternal mission of Mary in our Second Reading. He reminds us that God the Son came to earth and made possible our divine adoption as children of the Father precisely because of a woman, namely, Mary. And so the blessings of her motherhood have also been extended to us and have become an important part of our own story as Christians. But Jesus didn’t just use Mary as a means to an end and then disregard her. He didn’t toss her aside once she served the purpose of enabling him to come in the flesh to planet Earth. Her mission as Mother of God, Mother of Christ and by extension, Mother of Christians, is meant to continue forever. 

 And so, we should strive to have a bond with Mary and open our hearts to her love just as Jesus did. Jesus and Mary lived in a deep and mutual relationship of love, a life-long interpersonal relationship as Mother and Child. Imagine what this must have been like for two people who, because they are both free from sin, were able to love perfectly, to love unselfishly, to love completely. Consider the deep emotion, the heartfelt joy in each other’s presence. Ponder the unbreakable bond between them, from the first-time Mary held that precious Infant in her arms on that first Christmas until the last time she held Him, bloody and lifeless, on Good Friday. 

 St. Paul tells us elsewhere in the New Testament that as Christians we are called to have the same attitude and outlook as Jesus in all things (see Philippians 2:5). So, this obviously would include our devotion towards Mary. Let’s ask Jesus today for the grace to love and honor Mary like He did. And let’s ask Mary to mother us as she mothered Him; to form us through her prayers and her active spiritual presence in our lives into living images of Jesus, her Beloved Son and our Beloved Brother. There’s a saying in Catholicism based on Mary as our best example of discipleship which goes like this: “Keep Mary in your mind and Jesus will grow in your heart.” I think that committing to doing so would make an excellent New Year’s resolution for us all!

Joseph, the Unsung Hero of Christmas

 

Deacon Dave · Joseph, the Unsung Hero of Christmas

Homily for the Fourth Day of Christmas, Holy Family Sunday, December 28, 2025. Gospel of St. Matthew 2:13-15, 19-23. Theme: Joseph, the Unsung Hero of Christmas 

 Christmas is full of so many supernatural events that are the very heart and soul of the Nativity story that we all know so well. We hear of Mary and the miracle of a Virgin Birth. We are told of angels announcing the Messiah’s arrival to shepherds. And we follow Magi who are guided by a miraculous star to pay homage to the Newborn King. But in all of this, St. Joseph remains the man behind the scenes and so he has often been called the “over-looked member of the Holy Family”. But on today’s feast of the Holy Family, I would like to propose that it is actually Joseph who is the unsung hero of Christmas. And I say this because If we take a good look at the entire story we can see that this hidden, silent and dependable man is in fact someone who made Christmas as we know it possible. 

 Today's Gospel shows Joseph doing what he did best: going into action for the sake of Jesus. You see, when the Magi came to pay homage to the Newborn King, they had innocently and inadvertently revealed the Messiah’s birth to Herod which sent him into a frenzy. And then, after they had secretly returned to their homeland and Herod realized that he had been tricked, he ordered the slaughter of all male infants of the region in order to eliminate the threat and nuisance of a Newborn King. But thanks to Joseph’s quick and obedient response to a heaven-sent dream, the Baby-Messiah was already on the road to Egypt by the time Herod’s henchmen arrived in the little town of Bethlehem. So we can honestly say that St. Joseph literally saved Christmas! 

 However, that wasn’t the first time that he had stepped up to the plate to save Jesus and Mary. Many months before, he ignored the village gossipers of Nazareth, and boldly took Mary into his home as his wife. Now, he could have played the victim and made a big deal out of the socially humiliating situation of her pregnancy, but he wasn't that kind of guy. Enlightened by an angel-dream, he reaffirmed the love that had drawn him to Mary in the first place, and with this very same love he embraced her child as his child, as their child. He gave both Mary and her unborn Son the care and protection they needed in that culture, and so we have here another piece of the puzzle as to how St. Joseph made Christmas as we know it possible. 

 Soon after this, Joseph was called into action once again for the sake of his budding family. He had to travel to Bethlehem in obedience to the Roman census and this wasn’t an easy task back then. But he knew that if he ignored this duty they would face strict fines and Roman justice. So Joseph traveled with his 9-month pregnant wife on a 10-day long, 90-mile journey by donkey and on foot, from Nazareth to Bethlehem. Then once there, he had no choice but to accept shelter for them among the animals in a stable-cave. But you see, Joseph's commitment to always doing the right thing even when it’s difficult, brought about the fulfillment of the prophecy which foretold that the Savior would be born in Bethlehem. And so, we can chalk up another one to Joseph for making Christmas as we know it possible! 

 And then 8 days after Jesus was born, Joseph again publicly stood up for the Christ Child. He proudly named him at his circumcision ceremony, which may not seem like a big deal to us today. But back then this was not just a religious ritual. It was also a binding legal action. Joseph was in fact declaring by this action that Mary’s baby was now his very own son, with every right and every claim to his family line and family name. This was a huge thing in ancient Israel, because the paternal bond of adoption was considered stronger than that of biology since the child was intentionally chosen by the father and not just a product of happenstance. And so Jesus became a true member of the House of David and thus once again, through Joseph, a Christmas prophecy was fulfilled which foretold that the Savior would be a royal Messiah, a descendent of the great King David. 

 Now as if all of this itself wasn’t enough, there is still another very important reason why St. Joseph is the unsung hero of the Nativity. And it has to do with the very meaning of Christmas itself and not just with events surrounding it. Christmas means that the Savior was born a man so that he could show us, by word and example, how to live as children of the Father and reach Heaven. But here’s the thing: both the Bible and the Church teach that even though he was God, Jesus had to learn what it was like to actually BE a man, which is something very different from being the Creator of man. BEING a man was something that he could only learn through lived experience. And so God the Son needed a male role model who could show him exactly what being a man looked like. Just as he had found the perfect mother for himself in Mary, so he found the best of fathers for this very purpose in Joseph and personally chose him. 

 Jesus lived under the daily gaze and direction of Joseph, who gave him a shining example of virtuous masculinity. He learned from him how to grow into a good and honest man of God, who met his responsibilities and thought of others before himself. This means that the Man Jesus, whom we meet and see in the Gospels as our Savior and Teacher, was very much the product of Joseph of Nazareth. And it’s because of this, because of Joseph’s nurturing, that we ourselves can now turn to Jesus with confidence because, as we say, “like father, like son”, and Christ had the very best of examples to follow! So, we can thank St. Joseph in great measure for giving us the Jesus we know and love today. ​ Joseph was totally and truly a father and role model to Jesus from his conception and birth and then beyond as they lived out their daily family life in Nazareth. And so to me, this is the best reason we can have for being devoted to St. Joseph ourselves, just as Jesus was, and for honoring this silent, strong and dependable man as the unsung hero of Christmas.

We Would’ve Never Thought of This!

 

Deacon Dave · 251224_001

Homily for the Solemnity of Christmas. Gospel of St. Luke 2:1-14. Theme: We Would’ve Never Thought of This! 

 I never cease to be amazed every time I look at a Nativity scene and gaze at the animal’s manger. For I see something astounding, something beyond belief, something that cannot be ignored. I see God, the one True God, Creator of our amazing vast universe, lying there as a human child, a baby, an infant. And there He is…vulnerable…dependent…having come to share our humanity in the flesh, so that we can one day come to share in his divinity by grace. 

 Back when I was an unbeliever searching for belief, one of the reasons I found the Nativity story so authentic was precisely because it is so totally opposite of anything and everything we human beings create concerning God and religion. If we look at the history and the practice of religion across the ages, we see that when it comes to worshipping gods, we humans design them simply as superhuman-versions of ourselves. All one has to do to see this is look at ancient Greece and Rome, or examine the Vikings of Scandinavia or the Druids of the British Isles and see what manmade gods and religions look like. These manmade gods are reflections of what we ourselves in our innermost selves aspire for and want to possess: Power. Prestige. Position. 

 But now look at the Child in the manger and try if you can see any hint of that power, prestige or position. Is this a god we would create to edify us, to empower us, to motivate us, to provide us with great things? Or is this a God whose life story turns everything we humans ever thought about God and religion upside down? There’s no way we would have ever imagined that the God who is almighty and eternal would love each one of us so much, so passionately really, that it would break his heart to remain apart from us. There’s no way we would have dared to believe that this awesome God would become one of us and roll up his sleeves to get dirty with us in the messiness and busyness of living as a human being! Man-made gods just don’t act like that! It would be too far beneath them. And yet, that’s exactly what the Word and Son of God set off to do with his birth in Bethlehem! 

 This Child lying in a manger would grow up to preach and teach a Gospel of truths that are very different from seeking power, prestige and position.. He will teach mercy and forgiveness, compassion & generosity. He will inspire and instruct us to serve one another even to the giving up of our very lives, which He himself would one day do to prove His great love for us. There is just no way we humans would have ever come up with a god and a birth like this one our own. 

And that’s why every time I see the Nativity scene of Bethlehem with its Child in the animal’s manger, my faith becomes more and more deepened. And it makes me want to echo to others the good news which the angels announced at that first Christmas: “I bring you tidings of great joy…today in the city of David the Savior has been born for you, he who is both Christ and Lord.” Merry Christmas!

A Father for the Son of God

 

Deacon Dave · A Father for the Son of God

Homily for the 4th Sunday of Advent, Dec. 21, 2025. Gospel of St. Matthew 2:18-24. Theme: A Father for the Son of God

 ​In order to better understand today's Gospel, and St. Joseph’s dilemma, it helps to know a bit about ancient Jewish marriage. It had two parts: Betrothal and Wedding. When a couple became "betrothed" (a much different and stronger bond than our relationship of engagement) a marriage contract was agreed upon and signed. They were committed to one another with no way out except for a few very serious exceptions. However, they did not live together until the groom completed the necessary preparations to bring his wife into his home. And so the actual wedding proper was called the “Home-Taking”. Up until that time the couple were morally obligated to refrain from sexual relations. ​ 

So, when Mary became pregnant before the Home-Taking, she found herself in a very precarious situation that meant one of two things for her: at best, she would be shunned by family and villagers and at worst, she could be stoned to death on the legal grounds of infidelity. And thus, we arrive at poor Joseph’s dilemma. For him, it meant trusting Mary’s word and believing the unbelievable. For the people, it meant that Mary was unfaithful and should be publicly rejected by Joseph to preserve his own dignity and reputation. ​

 But Joseph knew Mary better than anyone. He knew her virtue, her integrity, her goodness and her obedience to God’s Law. He knew very well what we would call her “holiness”. It just could not be possible in his mind that she had either been unfaithful or that she had lied to him. There just had to be another answer. We can well imagine the tossing and turning, the sweating and kicking of blankets that accompanied his fits of sleep that night! ​ 

But then God came to the rescue by sending Joseph an angel dream. Through this dream, he was assured that his intuition was correct and that Mary had been faithful. He was informed that the Child was of God. The dream showed Joseph a third way out of this dilemma; a way that saved Mary from gossip or death, but that would cast a dark shadow upon his own reputation. The angel directed Joseph to not only take Mary as his wife but to publicly declare himself to be the legal father of her Child. ​

 Now, how would he do this? By standing up and holding the Holy Infant in his arms at the Jewish circumcision ceremony. And that time he would be the one to officially name the Child and in Judaism these two ritual actions meant that he was publicly declaring the boy to be his own son, legally if not biologically. It was Joseph’s perfect solution. Or rather, it was God’s perfect solution! He now had a new way of embracing the situation, ready and eager to take Mary into his home and be father to her heaven-sent Child. ​ ​

However, Joseph’s love for Mary, his self-forgetfulness and compassion as a righteous man, moved him to carry out this noble act without any public explanation. And that’s key to his action. He did not specify the exact nature of his relationship to Jesus. This was his and Mary’s shared secret which they kept within the privacy of their spousal relationship. And so the villagers assumed that he was indeed the biological father. As a matter of fact, the Gospels will later on identify Jesus as "the son of Joseph" or "the son of the carpenter". And so the clueless villagers most likely gossiped that it was Joseph who was at fault for breaking the celibacy rule and not Mary. He was the one who could not wait until the “Home Taking”, but had jumped the gun with her, so to speak, forcing Mary into disregarding Jewish custom. And in their mind she, who was just another poor and humble village girl, had no choice but to comply. ​

 Joseph's reputation was besmirched by this plan of action, but what mattered more to him was that Mary would remain innocent. This shows us that he was indeed a man of integrity, a man whose love moved him to sacrifice himself, no matter what the personal cost. As a man, as a husband and a father, I myself am deeply moved by the self-sacrificing love that St. Joseph had for Jesus and Mary. His plans for marriage took a wild turn that he didn’t expect. He freely sacrificed his desires for sexual intimacy and biological fatherhood, two things that are extremely important to a man, for the sake of Mary’s unique prophetic role as the Ever-Virgin Mother of God’s Son. ​

 The Gospel today presents us with this noble and inspirational insight into Joseph as a husband and father whose love and devotion were so great that he was willing to take a fall for the sake of his family. As we draw closer to the celebration of the Nativity of the Lord, let's do our best to grow in our devotion to St. Joseph. We literally would not have Christmas without him! No wonder that it was this amazing man whom God himself chose to become his male role-model when he came to live in the flesh on planet Earth. And in response, Joseph devoted his whole life to simply being the best man that he could be for Jesus, thus earning him the right to truly be called “father to the Son of God”.

Are You Really the One?

 

Deacon Dave · Are You Really the One?

Homily for the Third Sunday of Advent, Dec. 11, 2022. Isaiah 35:1-6, 10; Gospel of St. Matthew 11:2-11. Theme: Are You Really the One? 

 For over a thousand years before the birth of Christ, God’s people awaited the arrival of the Messiah. The prophets had foretold that this “One-Who-Is-To-Come” (as the Messiah was sometimes called) would work great signs and wonders to show that God’s Kingdom was breaking into human history. We heard one of these prophecies in our first reading from the Book of Isaiah. And then in the Gospel Jesus quotes that same Old Testament prophecy in response to the questions posed by St. John the Baptist: “Are you really him? Are you really the long-promised Messiah? Or should we look for another?” Our Lord uses Isaiah’s description of the Messiah's mission as a kind of resume to affirm his identity: the blind see, the lame walk, and the dead are restored to life. 

 Now, I find the question of St. John the Baptist to be both confusing and encouraging at the same time! First let’s look at the aspect of it that can be confusing to me. Why would he ask if Jesus was the Messiah? He had great proof that he was! At the Baptism John saw the Holy Spirit come down upon his cousin Jesus in the form of a dove. In addition, he clearly heard God the Father’s voice identifying Christ as his beloved Son. And we know he recognized Jesus as the Savior because he said about him: “Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world!” 

 But this leads me to the encouraging part. The experience of the saints tell us that a crisis of faith is a normal part of growing in our relationship with Christ. So, why should we exclude St. John the Baptist from going through this common spiritual experience? And the fact that he asked this question of Jesus while he was imprisoned is a very important clue to this possibly being a crisis of faith. I mean, after all, don’t we all tend to question God and double-think his love for us particularly when we are going through struggles, sufferings and difficulties? 

 At such times we might find ourselves re-examining key things we profess to believe: Is Jesus truly God and risen from the dead? Does God actually hear our prayers and answer them? Is Heaven for real or is it just a pipedream to get us through the fear of death? It’s tempting to ask these questions, particularly at Christmas. Why? Because we spend time singing “Joy to the World” for the Prince of Peace has come, but then we encounter the daily news and hear all the terrible things going on around us. Where is the Kingdom of Peace? Where are the glad tidings of comfort and joy? And so we wonder… has he really come? Is he who he said he was? Or should we look for the way to peace from someone else? 

 But if we dare to ponder further into this mystery of evil, I think we will see that our doubts are arising because of us, not because Christ is “less than” he said or we believed. We, and not Jesus, are the ones who have failed to be what we said we were: Christians, who are called to love others as Christ has loved us. We are in effect blocking the Prince of Peace from bestowing his reign of harmony upon earth because we refuse to live by the teachings of his Gospel. We are supposed to be the leavens of peace in the world but we allow sin and selfishness to get in the way. 

 So, before I place blame where it doesn’t belong, I need to ask myself, “What situation or relationship in my life is contributing to the disharmony in the world?” “Where or with whom am I supposed to be a messenger of the Prince of Peace?” The Nativity of Jesus is an opportunity for us to humble ourselves at his manger in spirit and to recommit to the Christmas message of bringing “peace to people on earth.’ 

It’s within each of us and within each of our lives that charity and social harmony through spiritual rebirth begins. An old but still popular religious hymn from the 1950’s that says this well, ”Let there be peace on earth and let it begin with me..” A corrupt heart will corrupt everything it touches, but a healed heart can begin to heal the environment around it. And so the Prince of Peace begins the work of changing the world by changing each one of us who live in it! This transformation by God’s grace is an important part of what we mean by “salvation”. St. John the Baptist’s core message was, “Repent, prepare the way of the Lord, for the Kingdom of God is near.” Let's follow his directive by asking Jesus to clarify our doubts and to strengthen our faith, so that our lives as Christian instruments of peace will affirm that he is indeed the “One-Who-is-toCome”.