Monthly Archives: December 2025

Reflecting on Mt. 2:13-15, 19-23

Don’t you wish we knew more about the Holy Family?  We’d love to know about Joseph, the silent protector of Mary and Jesus.  He utters not a word in scripture, yet his humility in accepting God’s miraculous work, and his divine role in that unfolding, makes him the perfect model for all fathers who strive to protect and defend their children.

The earliest artistic rendering of Mary is a fresco, c. 150 A.D., in the Catacomb of Priscilla in Rome.  It’s so touching to see her, protectively cradling Jesus, on this ancient wall upon which the martyrs of Rome carved their faith. About this time, a book appeared, The First Gospel of James, which was immediately beloved by the Christian communities in Rome.  Though never accepted as part of the New Testament, it contrived to give background stories of Mary and Joseph that we crave to know even today.

It’s in this popular second-century book, for example, that we discover the names of Mary’s parents. Can you name them? If you are—ahem—of a certain age, you can jump up with, “Yes! They are Anna and Joachim!” And HOW do you know that? Well, it’s nowhere in scripture, but it IS in this First Gospel (or Protoevangelum) of James, which practically no one has read, but it was so important to the tradition of the Church that their names are even preserved in the Catechism.

We have so many questions about them. When we see them in heaven, we can get all the answers.

What would you most like to ask Joseph or Mary?

Kathy McGovern c. 2025 

Reflecting on John 1: 1-18

When you think of Christmases past, do you have some that you treasure more than all others? Here are some of mine:

1.       Every single Christmas Day of my childhood, after hearing from my dad for at least eleven months that we were going to the poorhouse, my four siblings and I walked into our magical living room to see every toy our hearts could desire. There were games, and dolls, and baseballs, and gloves, and dresses, and bikes, and all manner of ecstasy. I think we felt an overwhelming sense of how deeply we were loved, especially since, with the shadow of debtor’s prison hanging over them and all, our parents still broke the bank for us. It took adulthood to finally figure out that things might not have been as desperate as portrayed. 

2.       I remember singing “O Holy Night” for Midnight Mass, and walking out into the beautiful, snowy night, the lights twinkling, the carols wafting, all my friends there with their families, and being held in the stunning, wondrous beauty of it all.

3.       Certainly the most dramatic Christmas of my life was attempting to get myself and seventy pilgrims to Midnight Mass in Manger Square in Bethlehem in 1996. Every single descendant of Abraham—Jewish, Christian, and Muslim—was crammed into that square. It was frightening, hilarious, and a piece of my heart is still in the nave of St. Catherine’s Church. 

4.       So, Christmas will always be the surety of wondrous, unconditional love, the joy of making music with beloved friends, the little town of Bethlehem, and my rock-solid belief that the hopes and fears of all the years were met in Him that night.

What are your favorite Christmas memories?

Kathy McGovern ©2025 

Reflecting on Matthew 1: 18-24

It’s Advent in Cycle A. That’s Matthew’s cycle, which means we’re going to read a lot about St. Joseph. Matthew loves St. Joseph — don’t we all? —and gives us many stories about him that, if not for him, would never have been recorded.

It’s only Matthew who knows that when Joseph first heard of Mary’s pregnancy, he was thinking about divorcing her quietly  (1:19). Do you remember the story from John’s gospel about the woman caught in adultery (8:1-11)? That would have been Mary’s fate, the self-righteous mob grabbing their stones to murder her.

But St. Joseph decided to divorce her quietly. My great friend Father Pat Dolan asks if that was what Jesus was remembering when he set free the poor woman caught in adultery. Did Joseph and Mary tell Jesus the story of his miraculous conception as he was growing up? Was he simply displaying the mercy he learned from them?

Here’s what Matthew records Jesus saying, over and over: I desire mercy, not sacrifice (9:13). Right off the bat, in Matthew’s first chapter, St. Joseph teaches us the meaning of mercy when he decides not to expose his betrothed to public disgrace.

Do you remember that great dreamer from the book of Genesis whose name was also Joseph? When he was locked up in Pharaoh’s dungeon, the Lord showed him mercy (39:21). And it was through that mercy that he was put in a position to save the world from famine.

The two Josephs, separated by 1,600 years, show us the meaning of the word “mercy.” This Advent, let somebody off the hook. Mercy can save the world once again.

What mercy will you show to someone this season?

Kathy McGovern ©2025

Reflecting on Matthew 11: 2-11

Can you imagine? Jesus said there was no one greater than John the Baptist, and yet the least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he. Oh, take us to your kingdom, Jesus!

What will the kingdom of heaven be like? I think we have glimmers. Can you remember those magical Christmases of your youth? I can. The tinsel, those beautiful, bubbly lights on the tree, singing carols by candlelight. So many memories.

And, oh, the reunions! Our beloved dead will be radiantly alive, strong, and young again. There will be so much joy and laughter that we’ll wonder how heaven can hold it all. Every hard thing will be forgotten, and forgiven. This is what the kingdom of heaven will be like.  Seriously. Imagine it.

There will be no death there. No illness. Everyone we knew and loved will be young again, healthy again, delighting in play with those with whom they may have been estranged in this life.

And about that. There will be rapturous homecomings with those who distanced themselves from us. There will be joyous tears, and healing conversations about the reasons for the estrangement. Everyone will listen to the other, without defensiveness or anger. And we will feel our hearts break with compassion for those who stayed away, as we realize, maybe for the first time, the pain they experienced in all those long years of isolation.

All your favorite saints are waiting to greet you. All the mysteries that confounded you in life will be unraveled and revealed. Those who were unhoused in this life will open their warm homes to you. Soon, and very soon, we are going to see the King.

What is your greatest longing for the kingdom of heaven?

Kathy McGovern ©2025

Reflecting on Isaiah 11:1-10

There are so many ways to waste time on the internet these days, but I can’t stop myself from lingering over those heart-warming videos of those inter-species animals playing and cuddling up together.

Here’s a cat and dog opening a door, a bear and tiger snuggling, and a beautiful bird swimming with a dolphin. What speaks to us, I think, in these anomalies of nature is that the animals seem to delight in getting to know each other, to investigate each other’s fur and size and wingspan, without fear of betrayal or attack.

It’s that peaceable kingdom, that idyllic and lovely playground where animals frolic instead of preying on each other, which Isaiah promises. Imagine it. Despite everything we have ever thought, the most terrifying of tigers is actually meant to snuggle contentedly with the sheep in the pasture. Why? Because the tiger is not hungry, and is not hunting among the defenseless lambs for food for her cubs. Take hunger out of the equation, and the Peaceable Kingdom has already arrived.

Some memory extraction might be required. Eagles and fish will need to rethink their relationship. Tigers might need to unlearn what they’ve known for thousands of years. But oh, what a fun education that would be.

Are humans smart enough to attend this school? Can the most recent―and by far most predatory― arrivals in Earth’s long history miraculously pull together and save ourselves? Can we, finally, learn to work together to open the locked door, to find comfort in each other, to delight in swimming the seas together? As Advent always asks, “If not now, when? If not us, who?”

How are you helping to bring about the Peaceable Kingdom?

Kathy McGovern ©2025