Shawn The Baptist - Sunday Scriptures

Even with the normal crowds of half a million or more, the March for Life almost never gets much coverage from the left-leaning media. With a major snow storm predicted to hit DC right at the time of the March, this year's March was one of the smallest, only a couple hundred thousand (I know... not so small, right?), and thus got almost no coverage again. That is...until... until a bunch of buses on their way home got stuck for 22 hours on the Pennsylvania turnpike.

Not wanting to go a day without the Eucharist, students from these buses got out and...get this... built an altar out of snow and celebrated Mass with several hundred people on the side of the frozen turnpike. Now medial started covering this. Almost in spite of themselves, they had to report that all these people were coming from the March for Life in DC. The March got more coverage this year than any year I can remember.

This is the way God words. He takes what looks like a huge disappointment, and turns it into a great victory. Today's homily points out some of the many ways that God did this in the past week. May we all take spiritual joy and confidence from these days, knowing that we win in the end despite whatever obstacles Satan thrown in our way.

When he asks us to do something we don't understand how to we respond? We've got to fill the jars all the way, just like the servants at Cana

Explore the meaning of epiphany and its relevance today. Discover how subtle signs can guide our paths like the magi.

The octave of Christmas is filled with more than just shepherds and angels. Many of the days are filled with bloodshed and martyrdom.

After the story of Christmas in St. Luke's gospel, perhaps the second best known story of Christmas is the story of "A Christmas Carol."

Like the time of John the Baptist, we too should live our life with urgency. The Messiah has come, but he's coming back. It could be any day.

Christmas means that God became concretely present in our world. So, we need to do some concrete things to get ready to welcome him today.

Advent is a reminder that that Jesus really is coming back and we need to be ready. are we truly making an effort to "run forth" to meet him.

Our readings today remind us of God's reign from before time began, throughout all time, and unto eternity. God always was and always will be. Today we honor Jesus with the earthly title of king. Yet we are reminded by the gospel that Jesus himself tells us that his true kingdom is not here in this world. We pray in the Our Father prayer for the coming of God's kingdom and that his will would be done on earth as it is in heaven. We honor our king Jesus by trying to make this world as much as possible conform to the way that Jesus truly is king in heaven. As we do so, we know that this world will never be perfect. Rather than a cause to despair, these imperfections keep us longing for the day when the king will return in glory and everything will be made right. May we all eagerly await the coming of that day, the return of the king.

In ancient Roman times when emperors acted like gods and believed too often in their own immortality, one of his servants was given the job to walk beside him in procession and whisper the words "memento mori," that is, "remember death." Today's readings and the entire month of November give us a change to remember death. How do we see death? Are we scared? Do we look forward to it? Perhaps most times we don't even really think about it. The recent terrorist attacks in Paris perhaps have us a little more mindful these days about death. Today's homily gives some insights into death and what we might expect.