Fr. Bob’s Weekly Reflections

Why all this fuss over the birth of a child in a small, insignificant part of the Roman Empire? What difference does Jesus make? To start with, His birthday marks the division of human history into B.C., before Christ, and A.D., Anno Domini, after Christ.

There it is, right at the beginning of this Gospel, the perennial human question: what should we do? Very few of us escape that question at some time in our lives.

Christmas can sneak up on us while we are caught up in the mad whirl of shopping and parties, and then be gone without a trace.

It should be no secret to anyone that we do not know the date of Christ’s birth, and so the Church baptized a Pagan feast.

Jesus is king because He is what He is. Not a mere man, but the God-man, God with us, God in human form.

November is a strange time of year. Trees have finally lost their leaves, but winter’s snow has not come full force.

A famous pediatric cancer doctor at a well-known children’s hospital in London was being given an award. He started the pediatric cancer research center, but he was also known for his kindness and compassion.

A man in his 30s came to St. Christopher’s Inn seeking help. He was a lawyer, and appeared successful. I asked him what made him come into treatment, and he replied that he been drinking for years and years.

In our Gospel today we have a blind beggar, Bartimaeus, and he hears that Jesus is walking by. This is his chance, perhaps his only chance, to speak with this miracle worker.

I’ve recently been meeting with college business students, and this is what they are saying: “I want to write my own ticket. High Tech is a wide-open field.”