Homily for the Solemnity of the Epiphany

Homily for the Solemnity of the Epiphany

Jan. 4, 2026
Eph 3: 2-3, 5-6
Villa Maria, Bronx
Our Lady of the Assumption, Bronx

Adoration of the Magi
(Bernardo Cavallino)

“The Gentiles are coheirs, members of the same body, and copartners in the promise in Christ Jesus thru the Gospel” (Eph 3: 6).

Epiphany means “manifestation.”  In some parts of the Christian world, the day when Christ was made manifest to the world is celebrated as a feast greater than Christmas.

The magi came to the Christ Child bearing gifts as for a god.  But we celebrate today God’s gift of salvation to the entire human race.  God opens a gift for us.

God had made a promise and a covenant with Abraham, and from that promise and covenant sprang Israel, God’s chosen people.  So the prophet could proclaim, “Rise up in splendor, Jerusalem!  Your light has come; the glory of the Lord shines upon you” (Is 60:1).

That prophecy expands the reach of God’s light:  “all shall come … proclaiming the praises of the Lord” (60:6)—from Midian, Ephah, and Sheba, i.e., from the nomadic tribes of the Sinai and Arabia.

St. Matthew shows the reach of God’s light in his account of the “magi from the east” who came to Jerusalem (2:1) and then traveled on a few more miles to “do homage” to the Christ child (2:11).  The light of a divine star lit their path.  Thru them, God lights a path for all the nations—the Gentiles—to come forward and be joined to Christ as “coheirs, members of the same body,” in St. Paul’s words.

No longer is Israel God’s only people.  Thru Israel—thru Jewish Jesus—all the nations that will come are now God’s people.  God’s promise expands to all “in Christ Jesus thru the Gospel.”  God reaches out to and welcomes into his family the Babylonians and Persians from whom the magi perhaps came—and to Greeks, Romans, Africans, and Arabs, all that crowd named by St. Luke on Pentecost Day (Acts 2:9-11); and in succeeding centuries to Italians, Irish, French, and Germans, to Chinese and Filipinos, to every nation on the earth.  “Lord, every nation on earth will adore you” (Responsory).

How and why God reaches out to us with his divine light is a mystery.  Our prayer after Communion will refer to “the mystery in which you [God] have willed us to participate.”  Our participation begins with our “yes” to Christ in Baptism and continues as we walk in his light by our manner of life, as we join Christ in worship of his Father at Mass, as we share in the Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus, so becoming “members of the same body,” and with Jesus “coheirs in [God’s] promise.”

Homily for Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God

Homily for the Solemnity of
Mary, Mother of God

Jan. 1, 2026
Luke 2: 16-21
Gal 4: 4-7
Christian Brothers, St. Joseph’s Residence, N.R.

The Circumcision of Jesus (Andrea Mantegna)

On the 8th day, in accordance with the Law, Mary’s child becomes a son of the covenant.  He receives his name, “YHWH is salvation” or “YHWH saves.”[1]  Paul links his birth with our ransom (Gal 4:4-5), the ransom that brings us into a new covenant, the covenant of God’s grace by which we are saved and become children of God.

Jesus was “born under the Law” (4:4).  On its face, that means the Law of Moses, the law that commanded circumcision and the other ritual practices which Jesus of Nazareth observed faithfully.  Beyond that, it means the law of human frailty and death, to which Jesus likewise submitted.  By submitting to death, he was able to incorporate us into his life, to covenant us with himself in a union both physical and spiritual, a union of human nature and of the Holy Spirit.  “God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts,” enabling us to name God our “Abba” and to become heirs of eternal life along with his only-begotten Son (4:6-7).

Jesus received his humanity from his mother, of course.  So we are happy to honor her; by sharing her humanity with him “thru fruitful virginity,” as the collect expresses it, he has been able to “bestow on the human race the grace of eternal salvation” (collect), to give to us a share in his sonship by adoption.  The true Son makes us adopted sons and daughters.

The 1st antiphon in last evening’s Vespers puts it neatly:  “O marvelous exchange!  Man’s Creator has become man, born of a virgin.  We have been made sharers in the divinity of Christ, who humbled himself to share in our humanity.”[2]

A “marvelous exchange,” indeed!  A mystery of faith.  Praise to Mary, mother of Jesus, mother of God, mother of our salvation.

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[1] That’s what “Jesus” means.

[2] LOH 1:477.

17 Catholic Missionaries Were Killed in 2025

17 Catholic Missionaries Were Killed in 2025

“The hope of missionaries and pastoral workers who are killed is a hope filled with immortality.”

(Agenzia Fides, 30/12/2025)

(ANS – Rome – December 31, 2025) – Even the hope of missionaries and pastoral workers who are killed is “a hope full of immortality, because their testimony remains as a prophecy of the victory of good over evil.”

That comment by Pope Leo XIV introduces the usual report published at the end of the year by the Fides Agency on Catholic missionaries and pastoral workers killed around the world. It suggests in a simple way the very source of Christian hope, the pledge of a life that does not die.

The often sparse information on the biographies and circumstances of their deaths shows again this year that the missionaries killed were not in the spotlight for sensational deeds. They bore witness to Christ in their everyday occupations, even when working in contexts marked by violence and conflict.

Some data

In 2025, according to information gathered by Fides Agency, 17 Catholic missionaries were killed worldwide: priests, religious, seminarians, and lay people.

The highest number of pastoral workers killed was recorded in Africa, where 10 missionaries (6 priests, 2 seminarians, 2 catechists) were murdered. In the Americas, 4 missionaries (2 priests, 2 religious sisters) were killed, and in Asia, 2 (one priest and one lay person). One priest was killed in Europe. In recent years, Africa and America have alternated at the top of this tragic ranking.

Among the 10 pastoral workers killed in Africa, 5 lost their lives in Nigeria, 2 in Burkina Faso, 1 in Sierra Leone, 1 in Kenya, and 1 in Sudan. Of the 4 missionaries killed in America, 2 nuns were murdered in Haiti, 1 priest was killed in Mexico, and another priest of Indian origin was killed in the United States.

Of the 2 priests killed in Asia, 1 was brutally murdered in Burma and the other was killed in the Philippines.

The only priest killed in Europe lost his life in Poland.

Among the pastoral workers killed in 2025 was the young Nigerian seminarian Emmanuel Alabi, who died during a forced march imposed on him by his captors, who had attacked the minor seminary in Ivianokpodi and, after wounding him, had kidnapped him along with 2 of his companions. Sister Evanette Onezaire and Sister Jeanne Voltaire, murdered by members of one of the armed gangs that hold Haiti in check;  also Donald Martin, the first Burmese Catholic priest killed in the civil conflict that is bloodying Burma, whose lifeless body, horribly mutilated, was found by some parishioners in the parish complex.

From 2000 to 2025, 626 Catholic missionaries were killed worldwide.

“These brothers and sisters may seem like failures, but today we see that this is not the case. Now, as then, the seed of their sacrifices, which seems to die, sprouts and bears fruit, because God continues to work wonders through them, changing hearts and saving people” (Pope Francis, December 26, 2023, liturgical feast of St. Stephen the Protomartyr).

The complete Fides Dossier, in PDF format, can be downloaded at IT-Dossier_Operatori_pastorali_uccisi_2025.pdf.

Read OSV's report: Vatican agency says 17 churchworkers murdered in 2025 - OSV News

Homily for December 30

Homily for December 30
Octave of Christmas

2025
1 John 2: 12-17
Collect
Christian Brothers, St. Joseph Residence, N.R.

Christmas Night (Fritz von Uhde)

“May the newness of the Nativity … set us free” (Collect).

Our great feast of Christmas points us toward the paschal mystery, toward our liberation from “the yoke of sin” (Collect).

St. John emphasizes our liberation from our “ancient servitude” (Collect) by repeating to the “young men” of his community that they “have conquered the Evil One” (1 John 2:13-14).  He adds a reminder of the source of their victory:  the strength that comes from the presence of “the word of God [that] remains in you” (2:14).  In John, the Word is the Son of God made flesh (John 1:1,14), he whose “Nativity in the flesh” (Collect) we commemorate.  That word “remains in” us as God’s gift to us.  So long as we embrace the living Word, we’re ready to do God’s will, as Jesus did, and thus we “remain forever” (2:17), i.e., live forever.

We, of course, are no longer “young men” except inasmuch as Christ has rejuvenated us.  We used to pray at the beginning of Mass (I’m old enuf to remember), “Introibo ad altare Dei, ad Deum qui laetificat iuventutem meam” (Ps 43:4).  Freedom from sin lightens our hearts and puts us into a springtime of life regardless of our physical age.

St. John addresses the elders of the community as “fathers” and credits them with “knowing him who is from the beginning” (2:13-14).  They know the Word who was in the beginning, the same Word that became flesh (John 1:1,14).  They know him differently, more intimately, than the young men:  not in an intellectual sense but familiarly.

Those words are addressed to us; we are “fathers” in God’s household.  Our knowledge, our familiarity, our presence to and intimacy with our Lord Jesus gladdens our hearts and gives us power over the Evil One.  It gives us freedom to love God and one another, as John wrote in yesterday’s 1st reading (1 John 2:3-11).  We can walk freely now in God’s light so as to “remain forever” happy, vigorous, and youthful in his blessed light.

Rector Major Delivers Strenna Message for 2026

Rector Major Delivers His Message to the Salesian Family

Strenna 2026

(ANS – Rome – December 27, 2025) – On Saturday, December 27, Rector Major Fr. Fabio Attard made the traditional presentation of the Salesian strenna for the new year at the Generalate of the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians in Rome. This meaningful gesture renews the unity and co-responsibility of the Salesian Family around the message of the rector major each year. It was a well-attended event, which brought together numerous members of the Salesian Family around the strenna that will accompany the spiritual and pastoral journey of 2026.

In the presence of the FMA mother general, Mother Chiara Cazzuola, the councilors of the general council of the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians and representatives of the various groups of the Salesian Family, Fr. Attard, 11th successor of Don Bosco, officially presented Strenna 2026, entitled “Do whatever he tells you - Believers, free to serve,” together with the strenna video produced by the Communication Department in collaboration with IME Communications.

The auditorium witnessed the participation of numerous distinguished guests, including the vicar of the rector major, Fr. Stefano Martoglio; the general councilor for communications, Fr. Fidel Orendain; central delegate of the rector major for the secretariat for the Salesian Family, Fr. Joan Lluis Playà; the world coordinator of the Association of Salesian Cooperators, Antonio Boccia; and the mother general of the Salesian Oblates of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, Mother Graziella Maria Benghini.

The evening was opened by Sr. Leslie Sandigo, FMA general councilor for the Salesian Family, who warmly welcomed those present and those connected via live streaming. In her introductory words, she emphasized the value of the strenna as a gift from the rector major and as a sign of unity for the whole Salesian Family, recalling the heart of the message: to accept Mary’s invitation to the wedding at Cana with the same willingness and freedom as the servants, rediscovering our identity as servants of the Lord at the service of young people.

This was followed by an intense introductory prayer, inspired by the Gospel passage of the wedding at Cana, animated by the singing of the Salesian novices. During the prayer, 5 amphorae were brought onto the stage, symbolizing the great areas of Salesian life and mission – living faith, educational passion, fraternal communion, prophecy, co-responsibility. The last amphora was carried together by the rector major, the mother general, and the Cooperators world coordinator, signifying the shared and co-responsible dimension of the Salesian charism.

At the end of the prayer, the video presentation of Strenna 2026 was screened in a world premiere, offering a current and engaging reading of the theme starting from the Gospel scene at Cana. The video highlighted how Mary’s invitation – “Do whatever he tells you” – opens up a process of faith, freedom, and service, which today can be translated into a concrete journey marked by 4 verbs: look, listen, choose, act. The journey challenges the Salesian Family not to remain spectators, but to be protagonists of God’s action in history, especially alongside young people and those who “have no more wine.”

After watching the video, Srs Ausilia De Siena, FMA general councilor for communications, led a moment of dialog and discussion, involving Marta Rossi, Salesian Cooperator, Alice Ferrigno, student at Auxilium, and Fr. Attard. The dialog, enriched by some comments and questions from the audience, allowed for a deeper understanding of the pastoral meaning of the strenna and its concrete implications for the daily life of educational communities.

In response to questions that emerged from the dialog, about why young people should follow Christ, it was reiterated that faith comes from an encounter and not from a duty, when authentic experiences and credible witnesses open up freedom. How to bring back the “good wine” in a distracted world, the need for an empathetic gaze, capable of entering reality without judging, was emphasized. Regarding the strenna methodology, it was clarified that it is not about techniques, but about processes that arise from being rooted in Christ. To the question of distance from young people, the answer was the creation of credible environments where questions can emerge. On how to go beyond first impressions, it emerged that authentic communities open paths, while the fears of adults risk blocking processes.

On the question of accompaniment, Mary was pointed to as a model of discreet and trusting presence. On the “new wine” for Salesian Cooperators, there was a call to return to Don Bosco’s original vision and to the co-responsibility of the laity. With regard to technological distraction, it was stated that this is a global challenge to be addressed with humanizing relationships. On the role of the servants in the story of the wedding at Cana, it was highlighted that they are not mere executors, but people entrusted with a responsibility: they listen to the word of Jesus, they trust, they take risks, and they become an active part of the miracle, an image of a Salesian Family called to serve with freedom, co-responsibility, and trust in God’s action. Finally, on the witness of faith, it was recalled that the Holy Spirit converts and that believers are asked to sow with fidelity and joy.

At the end of the dialog, Mother Chiara Cazzuola offered a concluding message. She expressed her heartfelt thanks to the rector major for the spiritual depth and richness of content of Strenna 2026, emphasizing how it represents a timely and prophetic call to live a faith rooted in Christ, capable of generating authentic freedom and joyful service, in full fidelity to Don Bosco’s charism. As a symbolic gesture of gratitude, the mother general offered a  significant gift to the rector major: an icon of the Good Shepherd, a sign of communion, entrustment, and shared pastoral responsibility.

The evening ended with the singing of the Magnificat, in an atmosphere of gratitude, communion, and renewed commitment, entrusting the Salesian Family throughout the world with Strenna 2026 as a spiritual and pastoral compass for the coming year.

Homily for Feast of Holy Family

Homily for the Feast of the Holy Family

Col 3: 12-21
Dec. 28, 2025
St. Francis Xavier, Bronx
Our Lady of the Assumption, Bronx

“Brothers and sisters:  Put on, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, heartfelt compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience, bearing with one another and forgiving one another” (Col 3: 12).

St. Paul winds up many of his letters with practical advice or admonitions for Christ’s faithful.  With scarcely any exception, his words are timely.  If you doubt that, just start reading advice columns like Dear Abby.

Family travails appear constantly in such columns.  Further, if you’ve been paying any attention to the world around us, you’re aware that family life in our country and in much of what’s called the western world is in trouble.  Generational discord, of course, isn’t new.  The divorce rates, tho, are shocking.  The proportion of couples living together without a marital commitment is huge.  The definition of family has been expanded to include a big variety of arrangements, some of which can’t be called godly.

At root, most family difficulties and challenges, I would say, come down to individualism, or to use other terms, self-centeredness or selfishness.  When we were tots, most of us probably thought the world revolved around us, and many of us (including me) still struggle at least a little bit with that misperception.  We’ve all met people like Professor Henry Higgins, to whom Eliza Doolittle sings resentfully in My Fair Lady:

What a fool I was, what a dominated fool,
to think that you were the earth and the sky,
What a fool I was,

What a mutton-headed dolt was I!
No, my reverberated friend,
you are not the beginning and the end.
There'll be spring every year without you.

England still will be here without you.
There'll be fruit on the tree.
And a shore by the sea.
There'll be crumpets and tea without you.

Without your pulling it the tide comes in,
without your twirling it the Earth can spin,
Without your pushing them, the clouds roll by,
If they can do without you, ducky, so can I.
I can stand on my own without you.[1]

What’s the solution to one’s self-centeredness?  What St. Paul advises:  that we strive to clothe ourselves in the virtues of Christ.  He listed compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, patience, forbearance, and forgiveness.  We could also remember the 3 keywords of family life that Pope Francis proposed: “please, thank you, and I’m sorry.”

St. Paul adds:  “Let the peace of Christ control your hearts, the peace into which you were called in one body.  And be thankful” (3:15).  “You were called” into Christ’s body, which is the Church.  You were called also into a family—not only Christ’s family but the particular blood family in which you were born and the one which you formed thru marriage and parenthood.  “You were called”; this is God’s doing, for it was he who chose you, called you, and designed for you a safe path toward eternity.

If it’s God’s doing, then Christ is in charge.  “Let the peace of Christ control your hearts.”  If he guides you, you won’t have room for selfishness.  You’ll be ready and willing to practice the virtues that make family life flourish and bring peace.  Your gratitude to God—and to your spouse, your parents, your children, your brothers and sisters—will strengthen your family life.

After that, “whatever you do, in word or in deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father thru him” (3:17).  He is Lord.  He’s in charge of your heart and your whole life.  Follow him, and thank God for redeeming you thru him.

One more point.  At the top, I said, “With scarcely any exception, Paul’s words are timely.”  One exception would be to read and obey literally what he says about wives and husbands.  Paul also said that in one’s standing with Christ there’s no longer a distinction between male or female, between slave or free person (Gal 3:28).  We don’t live in Paul’s 1st-century Greek and Roman culture.  Christian wives and husbands today are to subordinate themselves to each other, to love each other, to avoid bitterness toward each other (Col 3:18-19)—or rancor or harsh language.  Husbands and wives are teammates seeking sanctity with Christ’s help—like St. Louis and St. Zelie Martin, the canonized parents of St. Therese of Lisieux.  Marriage is a sacrament so that spouses will raise holy children and will help each other make their way to heaven.  Reaching heaven is the purpose our lives; this morning’s collect prayed that we might “delight one day in eternal rewards in the joy of God’s house.”

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[1] Some lines omitted.

Homily for Christmas Mass during the Day

Homily for Christmas Mass during Day

Dec. 25, 2025
John 1: 1-5, 9-14
Christian Brothers, St. Joseph’s Residence, N.R.

The Nativity (Sebastiano Mainardi)

“The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us” (John 1: 14).

During Israel’s exodus from Egypt and for generations after, until Solomon built the Temple in Jerusalem, the Chosen People kept the ark of the covenant, God’s material dwelling place, in a tent.  That tent was pitched wherever the Israelites moved in the Sinai wilderness, moving along with them and their flo  cks.  “Anyone who wished to consult the Lord would go to this meeting tent outside the camp.  Whenever Moses went out to the tent, the people would all rise and stand at the entrance of their own tents, watching Moses until he entered the tent.  As Moses entered the tent, the column of cloud would come down and stand at its entrance while the Lord spoke with Moses. (Ex 33:7-9)

“On coming out [of the tent], he would tell the Israelites all that had been commanded.  Then the Israelites would see that the skin of Moses’ face was radiant…” (Ex 34:34-35), radiant with the light of God’s glory.

When David thought of building a more dignified home for the ark, he explained to his prophet Nathan, “Here I am living in a house of cedar, while the ark of God dwells in a tent!” (2 Sam 7:2).  God declined David’s proposal to build a more fitting house for the ark, for God’s home among the Hebrews.

That experience of divine presence is evoked when John proclaims that the Word of God “came to his own … and made his dwelling among us, and we saw his glory” (1:11,14).  “Made his dwelling among us” is literally “pitched his tent among us.”  As we journey toward the Promised Land, the land of “grace and truth” and God’s glory (1:14), the Word of God lives among us and moves along with us.  He stays with us in the living Word of the Scriptures, and he stays with us in the sacraments, signs of his presence among us, and he stays with us in our tabernacles—a word that means “tents.”

Ever since Gabriel came to the Virgin Mother at Nazareth, the Word made flesh has dwelt in our human flesh, never far from us.  He dwells in us when our bodies become Eucharistic tabernacles.  In the Eucharist he makes us his own, giving us “power to become children of God” (1:12), promising us a share in his glory. 

I am the light of the world
(outside USCCB HQ, Washington)

Thru his presence in his Church, in his Word, and in his sacraments, his “light shines in the darkness” (1:5) of our journey, guiding us toward eternal light.  That eternal light has been reported by many people who’ve had near-death experiences, drawing them and comforting them.  Naturally—or supernaturally—enuf, for that’s God’s promise, the reason why the Word pitched his tent among us and journeys with us, his brothers and sisters and co-heirs whom he makes his own chosen people.

Homily for Christmas Mass at Nite

Homily for Christmas Mass at Nite

Dec. 25, 2025
Luke 2: 1-14
Bridgettines & guests, Darien, Conn.

Capture of the Hessians at Trenton
(John Trumbull)

249 years, 364 days ago—i.e., on Christmas nite, 1775, George Washington ferried the Continental Army across the ice-filled Delaware River.  At dawn on Dec. 26, they attacked and captured the partied-out Hessian troops at Trenton, and by that unexpected, brilliant stroke kept our Revolution alive.

There are many records of that narrative of real history involving real people, real places, and real time.

St. Luke, as close to a real historian as we have in the New Testament, takes care to place our Savior Jesus Christ in a specific time and place.  “In the days of King Herod” of Judea (1:5), when Augustus ruled Rome, an angel came to a virgin named Mary at Nazareth, and because “a decree went out from Caesar Augustus” (2:1), Joseph brought his pregnant wife to Bethlehem.  St. Luke narrates a story of real people, real places, real time, real history—not a Greek myth, not imagined events from “a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away.”

In this specific time, in this specific place, God enters our real world to bring real salvation.  “The grace of God has appeared.  Our great God and Savior Jesus Christ gave himself for us to deliver us …” (Titus 2:11-14).

Let’s attend to one detail of Luke’s narrative—not as dramatic as Washington’s crossing the Delaware, but more significant for humanity.  St. Luke takes care to note that Jesus is Mary’s “firstborn son” (2:7).  We already know that Mary was a virgin when Gabriel appeared to her and she conceived.  Luke isn’t giving us news here.  Nor is he implying that more children, the so-called brothers and sisters of Jesus (Mark 6:3 and ǁ), followed from Mary.  Those “brothers and sisters” are never referenced as her children or St. Joseph’s; only Jesus is.  The Catholic tradition has always regarded those brothers and sisters as Jesus’ cousins and Mary as “ever virgin.”

Birth of Jesus (Giotto, Lower Church at Assisi)

St. Luke is giving us biblical theology.  Since the days of Moses and the Exodus, when God sent his angel to slay the firstborn sons of Egypt but spared the Hebrews whose homes had been marked by the blood of the passover lambs, the firstborn sons of the Jews had belonged to God, specially consecrated to him (Ex 13:1).  They had to be redeemed thru an offering made to God (13:13).

The Virgin’s firstborn son belonged to God in a unique way.  He was not only her son but also God’s.  His whole life was consecrated to his Father’s service—and to our redemption from slavery to sin.

Further, Jesus is the firstborn of other sons and daughters—sons and daughters of God.  St. Paul, whose disciple Luke was, calls Jesus “the firstborn among many brothers and sisters” (Rom 8:29).  Pope Benedict comments on this:  “Having risen, he is now ‘first-born’ in a new way, and at the same time he is the beginning of a host of brethren.  In the new birth of the resurrection, Jesus is no longer merely the first in dignity, he now ushers in a new humanity.  Once he has broken through the iron door of death, there are many more who can pass through with him—many who in baptism have died with him and risen with him.”[1]

No wonder the angels proclaimed “good news of great joy that will be for all the people” (Luke 2:10).  Yes, a Savior, a Redeemer, has been born for us—in real time, in real history, to save us really from our sins and to make us really God’s beloved children.

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[1] Jesus of Nazareth: The Infancy Narratives, trans. Philip J. Whitmore (NY: Image, 2012), p. 70.