December 28 through January 3, 2026
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(December 28, 2025: Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph)
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“God’s chosen ones...”
Today’s selection from the Book of Sirach certainly shares in the spirit of the Fourth Commandment: “Honor your mother and father.” The reading is telling us that our relationships with others - especially those with whom we share so much time and contact every day - are the primary expression of the disposition of our hearts, minds, affections and attitudes.
The selection from the Letter to the Colossians confronts us with the gift - and the challenge - of creating that “space” we call “family,” a space in which we first learn something of what it means to be sons and daughters of God. As God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, we must clothe ourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience. Insofar as a holy life is not the same as a stress-free or trouble-free life (just look at the very early life, of Jesus, Mary and Joseph), we all need to practice these virtues all the time with the hope of establishing, maintaining and strengthening family, especially - God forbid - when we ruffle, distract, disappoint or hurt one another.
Francis de Sales calls us to live a life of devotion in ways that fit the demands and responsibilities of the state and stage of live in which we find ourselves. What is a devout life? It is nothing more complicated (but more demanding) than doing what is right in the eyes of God, and in relation to one another, carefully, frequently and diligently. It is precisely in the vocation in which we find ourselves, especially in those roles so basic as mother, father, brother, sister, wife, husband, son or daughter that we must practice the devout life.
Francis de Sales tells us:
“The little, unattractive and hardly noticeable virtues which are required of us in our household, our place of work, among friends, with strangers, any time and all the time, these are the virtues for us.” (Introduction, Part III, Chapter 2).
Of course, the most important practice is that of love, which not only reconciles, but also purifies and, dare we say, even glorifies the best of human relationships. It is only in relationship with one another that the practice of the little, everyday virtues flowers into love, not only helping to create a better life here on earth, but also providing a foretaste of the eternal life promised to us in heaven.
As we celebrate the Feast of The Holy Family, we realize that we actually know very little about the day-to-day give-and-take of the relationships among Jesus, Mary and Joseph. Family life – a hidden life – is a way of life that requires both science and art. Considering Jesus’ fidelity to - and consistency in - his pursuit of justice, peace, reconciliation and freedom, we certainly can sense where Jesus first acquired as a child so many of the skills he would later practice in his adult life.
After all, charity, peace, justice, forgiveness - like so many things - begin at home!
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(December 29, 2025: Thomas Becket, Bishop and Martyr)
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“This is the way we may know that we are in union with him: to walk just as he walked.”
In his book This Saint’s for You, Thomas Craughwell writes:
“Nothing in Thomas Becket’s early life suggested that he would become a defender of the liberty of the Church, to say nothing of becoming a martyr. He was a shrewd administrator with a special talent for making money. He proved to be the ideal royal servant: whatever King Henry II wanted done, Becket accomplished. When the old archbishop died, Henry took it upon himself to name the new archbishop rather than wait for the pope to do so: thinking he would be the perfect choice, Henry chose Becket. With one of his closest friends as archbishop of Canterbury, Henry believed that he could extend his royal authority over the Church in England.”
“Turned out, Henry was wrong.”
“Once Thomas was consecrated archbishop of Canterbury he became a changed man. He did penance to make up for years of careless living. The man who had once refused to clothe one freezing beggar now gave lavishly to the poor. We don’t know if Henry noticed the change that had come over his friend, but when the king made his first move against the Church it became clear that Becket would not be the puppet archbishop for which Henry had hoped. In their first disagreement, Henry argued that priests who committed crimes were treated too leniently by Church courts and they should submit to the civil courts of England. Becket replied that laymen did not have jurisdiction over clergymen. Stung by Becket’s opposition, Henry brought a host of false charges against his one-time friend. He had Becket indicted for squandering royal funds and even accused the archbishop of treason. Death threats from the king’s men followed, prompting Becket to flee to France for fear of losing his life.”
“For the next six years Henry and Becket jockeyed for position, each trying to win the pope’s support. In the end a truce was worked out, allowing Becket to return home to Canterbury, although the central issue of the Church’s liberty remained unresolved. When Becket subsequently excommunicated bishops who had both supported Henry and also infringed on the prerogatives of the archbishop of Canterbury, Henry threw one of his infamous tantrums, ending by crying aloud, ‘Will no one relieve me of this troublesome priest?’ Four of the king’s knights – bitter enemies of Becket – set out at once for Canterbury where they confronted Becket in his own cathedral. When Becket refused to give in to all of Henry’s demands, the knights hacked the archbishop to death at the foot of the altar.”
“The shock of Becket’s murder reverberated across Europe. Henry submitted to public penance, letting the monks of Canterbury flog him as he knelt before his former-friend’s tomb. St. Thomas Becket quarreled with his king over the liberty of the Church, but throughout the entire ordeal it was the rights of the diocesan clergy that had hung in the balance…and for which Becket gave his life.” (This Saint’s for You, pp. 134-135)
How do we know that Thomas Becket was “in union” with Jesus? The archbishop of Canterbury walked “just as He walked”. Just as in the case of Jesus, Thomas stood his ground when threatened by the face of oppression. Just as in the case of Jesus, Thomas ultimately gave his life to protect – and promote – the freedom and liberty of others.
Like Thomas Becket, how might God be calling us to walk in the ways of Jesus – today?
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(December 30, 2025: Sixth Day, Octave of Christmas)
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“Do not love the world or the things of the world. The world and its enticement are passing away. But whoever does the will of God remains forever.”
This statement sounds pretty harsh, doesn’t it? Insofar as the world and so many things of the world are gifts from a loving God, should we not appreciate them? Should we not celebrate and cherish them? Should we – dare we say it – love the world and the things of this world?
In his Introduction to the Devout Life, Francis de Sales wrote:
“When our worldly goods cleave to our hearts, what complaints, what trouble and what impatience do we experience if a storm, a thief or a cheat should take away from us any part of our possessions. When our goods do not cleave to our hearts and we think about them only because of the care as God wants us to have for them, then we won’t lose reason or peace of mind if or when they are taken from us.”
He continued:
“If you are too strongly attached to the goods of the world that you possess, if you are too solicitous about them, if you set your heart on them, if you are always thinking about them and if you fear losing them with a strong, anxious fear, then believe me…you love them too much. It is impossible to take great please in a thing without having extraordinary affection for it.” (IDL, II, Chapter 6, p. 116)
Pay close attention to what Francis de Sales is saying. While he isn’t suggesting that we should hate the world (it is, after all, a gift from God that God has commissioned us to care for and cultivate!), Francis seems to be encouraging us to make a subtle – but lifesaving – distinction. We should take great delight in the world and many things of this world, but we should reserve our love for relationships alone – our relationships with God, with others and with ourselves. Even as we possess things, we should do our best to prevent those things from possessing us. Put another way, while celebrating the manifold gifts of creation during the course of our lives on earth, we should remind ourselves from time to time that we can’t take them with us into heaven – with one exception, of course.
Love!
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(December 31, 2025: Seventh Day, Octave of Christmas)
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“Every lie is alien to the truth…”
In his Introduction to the Devout Life, Francis de Sales wrote:
“Your language should be restrained, frank, sincere, candid, unaffected and honest. Be on guard against equivocation, ambiguity or dissimulation. While it is not always advisable to say all that is true, it is never permissible to speak against the truth. Therefore, you must become accustomed to never tell a deliberate lie whether to excuse yourself or for some other purposes, remembering always that God is the ‘God of truth.’ If you happen to tell a lie inadvertently, correct it immediately by an explanation or making amends. An honest explanation always has more grace and force to excuse us that a lie has…Lying, double-dealing and dissimulation are always signs of a weak, mean mind.” (IDL, Part III, Chapter 30, p. 206)
Jesus tells us “The truth will set you free.” (John 8:32)
Today, do you want to be free? Then don’t merely tell the truth but also be a truthful – and truth-filled – person.
AND/OR
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(December 31, 2025: New Year ’s Eve)
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An Exhortation by St. Jane de Chantal on the Beginning of a New Year
We are about to bring another year to an end, a year like so many years which have come before it.
Time passes by. The years come and go, and some day we, likewise, will pass and come to an end as well. We must make a strong and absolute resolution that, if Our Lord should gift us with yet another full year, we will make better use of it than those years that have come – and gone – before. Let us walk with a new step in God’s divine service to our neighbor and to our greater perfection. Let us take great courage to labor in earnest.
Please take this to heart. What is the point of being gifted with a new year if not to recommit ourselves to the task at hand? Otherwise, we should not be astonished to find ourselves in the same place at the conclusion of this year with little or nothing to show for it. I desire that this not happen to you; rather, consider how you can make good use of every day that God is pleased to give you. Let us embrace the responsibilities and challenges of life in the best way that we can; let us employ the time that God gives us with great care. While we hope in God’s divine goodness, may we also remember to aspire to actually do what is good.
So, then, let us live this New Year in the name of our Lord. Let us redouble our efforts at serving God and one another faithfully, especially in small and simple ways. God only expects what we can do, but what we can do God clearly expects. Therefore, let us be diligent in giving our best to God, leaving the rest in the hands of God’s infinite generosity.
(Based upon St. Jane de Chantal’s Exhortation for the last Saturday of 1629, On the Shortness of Life. Found in Conferences of St. Jane de Chantal. Newman Bookshop: Westminster, Maryland. 1947. Pages 106 – 107)
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(January 1, 2025: Mary, Mother of God)
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“The Lord bless you and keep you! The Lord let his face shine upon you and be gracious to you! The Lord look upon you kindly and give you peace!”
In his Introduction to the Devout Life, Francis de Sales wrote:
“Honor, venerate and respect with special love the holy and glorious Virgin Mary who, being the Mother of Jesus Christ our Brother, is also in truth our very mother. Let us then have recourse to her, and as her little children cast ourselves into her bosom with perfect confidence, at all times and on all occasions let us invoke her maternal love whilst striving to imitate her virtues…” (Living Jesus, p. 224)
As we begin another New Year, let us rededicate our lives to the glorious Virgin Mary. Let us honor, venerate and respect her. Let us turn to her. Let us have confidence in her. Let us invoke her maternal love while striving to imitate her virtues. For her part, may Mary – Mother of Jesus – help us in our efforts every day during this New Year to be worthy brothers and sisters of her Son. And in so doing, may God bless us and keep us. May the Lord let his face shine upon us and be gracious to us. May the Lord look upon us kindly and give us peace!
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(January 2, 2025: Basil the Great)
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“Remain in him...”
In his book This Saint’s for You, Thomas Craughwell writes:
“In Basil’s day most monks and nuns were hermits living in isolated corners of the deserts of North Africa and the Middle East. Arguing that people are ‘sociable beings, and not isolated or savage,’ he urged the hermits to form communities near towns and cities where ordinary Christians could profit from their prayers and, inspired by their example, deepen their own religious life. The monks and nuns could take in orphans and open schools, recruiting a new generation for the religious life. To this day in the Eastern Church, St. Basil’s guidelines for monks and nuns remain the standard.” (This Saint’s for You, p. 359)
In today’s selection from the First Letter of John the word “remain(s)” is used six times. The author challenges us to remain in Jesus in order that Jesus may remain in us. Among other things, “remain” is defined as “to continue in the same state or condition, to continue to be in the same place, stay or stay behind.” At first glance this definition seems to suggest that remaining in Jesus is somehow static - that’s about staying the same, that it’s about treading water, that it’s about running in place. The word “remain” feels passive. The problem is that Jesus is anything but passive; Jesus is all about action.
To remain in Jesus requires effort. To remain in Jesus requires energy. To remain in Jesus requires endurance. However, as St. Basil the Great would suggest, to “remain in him” isn’t limited to Jesus. As “sociable beings” we need something else in order to remain – that is, “to endure or persist” – with Jesus.
We need to “endure and persist” as Church. We need to “endure and persist” as community. We need to “endure and persist” with one another. After all, we are the Body of Christ. Together!
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(January 3, 2025: Most Holy Name of Jesus)
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“Those who have this hope based on him make themselves pure, as he is pure...”
Have you ever looked closely at the outside of a carton of Breyer’s Ice Cream? Somewhere in the vicinity of the image of the mint leaf you will find the “Pledge of Purity.” This trademarked pledge (inaugurated in 1908 by Henry Breyer himself) personally guaranteed that each container contained the highest-quality, all natural ingredients available.
This notion of purity might be very helpful in our attempts to understand today’s selection from the First Letter of John. After all, who of us can claim to be “pure?” Who us can claim to be perfect? Who of us can claim to be without blemish? With the exception of Mary, the Mother of Jesus, such “purity” is reserved for God, and for God alone.
So, where does that leave us?
Well, if being “pure” is about being all-natural, we can strive for that. If being “pure” is about being real, we can strive for that. If being “pure” is about being authentic, we can strive for that. If being “pure” is about being transparent, we can strive for that. If being “pure” is about being guileless, we can strive for that. If being “pure” is about avoiding artificiality in any/all its forms, we can strive for that. If being “pure” is about being unadulterated, we can strive for that. In short, if being “pure” is about being true to whom God wants us to be - no more, no less – we can strive for that.
Look at the life of Jesus himself. He was all-natural. He was real. He was authentic. He was guileless. He was unadulterated. He was transparent. He eschewed anything artificial. In short, Jesus was faithful to whom God wanted him to be: no more, no less.
Today, ow can we hope to imitate the purity of Jesus in our relationship with God, in our relationship with ourselves and in our relationships with one another? Help yourself to a heaping and healthy scoop of “Breyer’s” spirituality.
Avoid anything artificial! Keep it natural! Keep it real!
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