Archdiocese Of St. Louis

Episode 1, "Into the Desert," features Molly Judd and Joe Dobrynski as they reflect on this Sunday’s Gospel passage and share their stories and insights about this season. “The Whole 40” is a young adult podcast reflecting on the season Lent. Check back each week as young adults from the STLYA community share their Lenten journey. Musical Credit: The Oh Hellos "Dear Wormwood" 2015

On this episode of the Catholic Gateway Podcast, you’ll learn about the Taize Community of Taize, France. During Memorial Day weekend 2017, May 26-29, the brothers of Taize, in conjunction with the Archdiocese of St. Louis and many other religious denominations and organizations in the St. Louis region, will host a “Pilgrimage of Trust” with the purpose of bringing together people of various backgrounds to help heal many of the obvious divisions that exist across our St. Louis community. This episode features Br. Emile, who is one of the main organizers of the Pilgrimage of Trust St. Louis. Br. Emile shared some history of the Taize community, the purpose of the St. Louis Pilgrimage of Trust, and ways you can be involved. Leading up to the Memorial Day weekend events, many churches in the St. Louis area are holding prayer services and candid conversations on important topics. Visit https://pilgrimageoftruststl.com for more information about Taize, upcoming events, and to register for the Pilgrimage of Trust

In an archdiocese that ranks 8th in the country in number of students enrolled in Catholic schools, Catholic Schools Week (January 29-February 4, 2017) is an important week of celebration. On this episode we hear from Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic School in University City about some of their Catholic Schools Week celebrations and Sue Brown from the Archdiocesan Education Office joins the podcast. Also, Jennifer Brinker provides an update on #BB203, a bill in the St. Louis City board of aldermen that could have a big impact on religious liberty.

Several hundred thousand people are estimated to have participated in the 2017 March for Life, including 2100 teenagers, youth ministers, chaperones, and volunteers from St. Louis who made the 18 hour trek to Washington, D.C. as part of the Generation Life Pilgrimage coordinated by the Office of Youth Ministry of the Archdiocese of St. Louis. Here is what some of those pilgrims had to say before they boarded the buses as they prepared for the trip.

Most Reverend Robert J. Carlson, Archbishop of St. Louis delivers his homily for Midnight Mass at the Cathedral Basilica of Saint Louis on Christmas Day 2016.

Well, here we are! Our Advent journey has transitioned to the Christmas season. Tomorrow, we celebrate the birth of Jesus, our Savior, the Messiah. Today’s Jesse Tree symbol is the "Chi Rho" which is an ancient symbol combining the first two Greek letters of the word "Christ," which means "anointed one." Christmas itself combines many wonderful aspects of God’s Love: peace, joy, giving, as well as the birthday of His Son. The Liturgical year begins at Advent, and birthdays are a new beginning and great reminder of God’s love for us and our life-long journey with Christ. To celebrate the birth of our Savior, we hope you'll consider joining us at the Cathedral Basilica of Saint Louis for Midnight Mass tonight, or one of three Masses on Christmas Day. In my family, we have an additional reason to celebrate and commemorate Christmas. Some years ago, when I was almost 4 years of age, my sister was born on Christmas Eve. I vividly remember different points from that Christmas-talking with my Mom over the phone

Today, the person that we are looking at is Jesus, and our symbol for the Jesse Tree is the manger. An angel told the shepherds that they would find their Savior, Messiah and Lord “wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger” (Lk 2:12). So the shepherds went in haste and found Jesus - in a feeding trough - and they feasted their eyes on Him. How fitting that Jesus – who would grow up to say, “I AM the Bread of Life” – would first find rest in a place where animals looked for food. Jesus is always available to satisfy our deepest hungers. If you are hungry for companionship, know that He is with you. If you are hungry for love, just ask Him to show you all the ways He is always loving you. If you are hungry for peace, spend some time in Adoration of the Prince of Peace. Our deepest hungers are always satisfied when we receive the Eucharist - Jesus, the Bread of Life. The Lord came with great humility – choosing to be born as an infant, in ultimate poverty. Newborns rely on their parents for absolutel

Today, our meditation on the Jesse Tree for December 22 is St. Joseph. His symbol on the Jesse Tree is a “Hammer.” Let’s take a few moments to reflect on St. Joseph. We know he was a carpenter. That’s why his symbol is the hammer. Sometimes he’s known as “Joseph the Worker.” Joseph has been held up by the Church as an example of the virtue of good old-fashioned hard work. When you work for something, it’s important to you. Every work begins with a plan, then the gathering of materials – depending on the project they may be a significant expense. The time and effort to create something is valuable too. Any real work is the product of hope and the investment of effort. Our relationships, career, our home, our family; all are things we work hard for. What happens when they don’t turn out the way we hoped? St. Joseph appears in the Gospel as a carpenter who is ready to start a family with a young virgin named Mary. But from Joseph’s perspective everything was falling apart. Mary was with-ch

Today’s Jesse Tree figure is Zechariah. Now there’s a difference between the gospel story of Zechariah and other biblical stories of children of promise. In other stories like Samson and Isaac and Samuel parents firmly believed that God would do what he said. Now in Luke’s Gospel, Zechariah has a vision of Gabriel in the splendor of the temple, and yet he does not believe, and therefore as result he is struck mute until after the birth of his son John the Baptist. What Luke does is, Luke draws a contrast between the Annunciation given to Zechariah by the Angel Gabriel, and the Annunciation to Mary. Mary firmly believes although she does not quite fully understand, and as a result, she says, “I am handmaid of the Lord, be it unto me according to your word.” Zechariah in contrast, he hesitates and he doubts. We should reflect that on where our faith lies. Do we believe that God can do the unlikely and even the impossible in our lives? Now you might remember in the gospel from this past Sunday that the ang

Today’s Jesse Tree reflection focuses on Elizabeth, mother of John the Baptist and cousin of Mary. Her symbol is that of a mother and child---something particularly important to our ministry at Good Shepherd and a wonderful reflection of the joyful hope of Advent. Pregnancy, like Advent, is a time of expectancy---of both longing and preparation, but it can also be a time of stress, fear and anxiety. I would love to have been a fly on the wall in the home of Elizabeth, six months pregnant, in the days that followed the arrival of her cousin, Mary, now pregnant with Jesus! After all, Elizabeth had been barren all her life and had miraculously conceived in old age, and Mary…a virgin, had just said yes to the most important unplanned pregnancy in history – one that would bring our Lord and Savior into the world. I can only imagine that it made for some colorful dinner conversation between these now sainted mothers to be. Assuredly, Mary and Elizabeth would have felt some of the same anxiety all of

O Holy Night! I love that song. Hello! My name is Brian Niebrugge, and I work with the Office of Stewardship and the Annual Catholic Appeal for the Archdiocese of St. Louis. Our Jesse Tree reflection today focuses on the Blessed Virgin Mary and our symbol is the lily. Isn’t it wonderful, at this time of year, to see so many images of Mary on display? I know, it is difficult sometimes to see the over-commercialization of Christmas. But isn’t it awesome to walk into a public place and hear “Ave Maria” or “Silent Night” being broadcast through the PA? Isn’t it great to see images of the Holy Family in public places of honor? I am convinced that God uses the over-commercialization of Christmas to draw more attention to his Mother and to keep the mystery of His Incarnation present to an unbelieving world. Mary, like the lily, pure and white, is the Mother of the Church and the Mother of the world. As the Mother of God, Mary received, nurtured, and brought forth the physical body of Christ. Now, she works constan

Today we begin the fourth and final week of Advent and a very unconventional herald appears on our Jesse Tree. John the Baptist might not have been the originator of the ugly Christmas sweater, but his camel hair clothing certainly made him an unusual-looking messenger from God. He was clearly foretold by the prophet Isaiah: “A voice of one calling out, “Clear the way for the Lord in the wilderness; Make smooth in the desert a highway for our God” (Isaiah 40:3). John the Baptist taught that we all need the mercy of God that comes through repentance. In his day, John the Baptist told the Israelites that even though they were collectively the chosen people, each of them still had the individual responsibility to choose Him. In a similar way, we should not rely on our past goodness, or let our past failings define us, but resolve each day anew to make God the center of our life. By his teaching and physical appearance, John the Baptist reminded us that the things of this world will pass away. His messa

As we continue our advent journey anticipating the birth of Jesus focusing on different characters of the Jesse Tree, today being Nehemiah (read Nehemiah 8-9: http://usccb.org/bible/nehemiah/8), we we are shifting that focus a bit as we begin a special period in our Advent preparation known as the Octave before Christmas. During this time we recite or chant the O Antiphons following the "Magnificat" during Vespers from December 17 through December 23. They are called the O Antiphons because each begins with the interjection, “O,” followed by a title for the Messiah given in the prophecies of Isaiah. You may be more familiar with the metrical paraphrase version of the O antiphons that make up the very familiar Advent hymn “O Come, O Come Emmanuel,” but if we are not familiar with the actual texts of the antiphons we are missing a great deal of their meaning. While we do not have time in this brief reflection to read the Antiphons in their entirety, I encourage you to do so in your personal prayer time. The

Today, our prophetic figure is the Old Testament Prophet Habakkuk, and the symbol is the watchtower. Habakkuk lived in a dangerous time, when enemies could appear without warning to destroy the city. Jerusalem was protected by a wall, which had numerous watchtowers from which soldiers could stand watch. Habakkuk uses the image of the watchtower in his book of prophecies. In chapter 2 we read, “I will take my stand to watch, and station myself on the tower…” But Habakkuk was not using his watchtower to search for enemies, he was watching for the coming of the Lord. When we set a watchtower in our own souls, and wait for the Lord, we will see some challenging images, but we will also see great beauty. Habakkuk saw many things from his watchtower that called for repentance; greed, violence, and injustice, but he also saw that in the end the Lord would be triumphant; “The earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord,” and later, “The Lord is in his holy temple; let all the earth keep silence

In the book of Jeremiah, the prophet tells of the fall of Jerusalem and the seeming desertion of the Lord from His people. There is great sorrow, echoed in the profoundly anguished lamentations that follow: “…worn out from weeping are my eyes…let your tears flow like a torrent day and night…” The doom and despair is overpowering. But in the middle of his book, Jeremiah’s great oracle gives us a glimpse of hope, a promise of joy ahead: “…The days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel…I will place my law within them and write it upon their hearts….I will be their God and they shall be my people…” And here, in the middle of Advent, we light the pink candle on the wreath…a symbol of that rejoicing. We are so close to the fulfillment of God’s covenant, to the end of our tears. Joy is just within our reach. Not just happiness which may only linger as long as a smile…not merriness which barely outlives a party…but deep, abiding JOY! Remember what the angels san

Today our Jesse Tree reflection focuses on the calling of the prophet Isaiah and the symbol of the Burning Coal. (Isaiah 6) Isaiah is called by God in the midst of the moral decline of Israel and Judah. God calls him and sends him as a prophet to His people calling them to repent and turn back to God. It’s during this calling that Isaiah is overcome with an awareness of his own sinfulness and cries out “Woe is me! I am lost, for I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips; yet my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!” (Isaiah 6:5) At that very moment, a seraph takes a burning coal from the altar of God and touches it to Isaiah’s lips so as to cleanse him from his sinfulness, and prepare him for the mission God was calling him to as His prophet. Freed from his own sin, Isaiah goes forth to call the people to repentance. He also proclaims to them God’s promise of hope and salvation which we hear in his prophecies proclaiming the coming of Immanuel. As we journey throu

This past summer I went on my first overnight camping trip. A bunch of my friends loaded into a car and we headed for the Virginia mountainside. As we started putting things together for our tent. I was reminded of one of the passages from the Transfiguration that always perplexed me. Jesus and a few of his closest disciples walk up a mountain. While in the heights alone with the Lord, Jesus is transfigured before them revealing all His glory. Peter—I imagine—not sure of what to say, asks Jesus if he should set up three tents for those present. Tents were temples and tabernacles in the Old Testament which makes it seems as though, Peter deeply desired to stay—to dwell—in a tent alone with Jesus on a high mountain. However, what Peter was about to understand is: he already had what we wait for in expectation during Advent. In Advent we await the word made flesh that will dwell among us, that will be “tabernacled” among us. With today’s image being an empty tent, I wonder if Peter’s words could stir a d

Advent is the season of hope. One of the ways we grow in hope is immersing ourselves in the Scriptures' testimony of God's faithfulness. The ornaments and symbols of the Jesse Tree remind us of this. Today, we remember the prophet Elijah and the symbol of a stone table. As recounted in Kings, Elijah defeats the prophets of the false God Baal, and ends the drought in Samaria at the altar of the Lord. In other words, he drives away evil and receives God's blessing from this sacred space of the altar. The Blessed Virgin Mary affirms this idea of a sacred space by asking Juan Diego to build a "house." She speaks of a "house of worship" or a church. In our churches, we see evil driven away, and our offerings given to God. During advent, we ask Our Lady, the lady of the house, the Mother of the Church, to give us to her Son, and to give her Son to us. Musical credit: "O Holy Night" · Christine Westhoff · Timothy Allen Hark ℗ 2014 Christine Westhoff

Today on our Jesse Tree, we are considering David as we move along our Advent journey to Christmas. You probably remember David from the story of his defeat of Goliath, the giant with a slingshot. The symbol of David is a shepherd’s crook. When I see a crook it reminds me of the long sticks or branches that my brother and I whittled at the beginning of each summer we spent in the Allegheny Mountains of Pennsylvania. We used the stick for protection, to keep rattle snakes away as we went picking huckleberries. When David was young, he used a shepherd’s “crook” for a variety of purposes as he spent years in the fields and mountains with the family sheep. As shepherd, we can imagine that surrounded by the peace and harmony of nature, David’s love for God and for his creation grew. We have clear evidence that in those years David opened his heart to the voice of God. Our proof is his poems and songs which we call the Psalms, found in the Old Testament. We are certain that Jesus learned to pray the Psalms of D

In today's reflection we focus on the Prophet Samuel and the symbol of the crown, signifying his role in anointing a King for the Israelites. As told in the first Book of Samuel, the Israelites ask for a king. Acting as God's agent, Samuel anoints Saul: "Then, from a flask he had with him, Samuel poured oil on Saul’s head and kissed him, saying: 'The LORD anoints you ruler over his people Israel. You are the one who will govern the LORD’s people and save them from the power of their enemies all around them.'" But Saul makes a huge mistake. Through Samuel, God instructs him to punish the Amalekites for what they did to the Israelites, who were barred as they came from Egypt. Saul rejects God's word, and spared the Amalekites' king and the best of the fat sheep and oxen, claiming he made a sacrifice. But Samuel says to Saul, obedience to God is better than sacrifice; you have rejected God, therefore God has rejected you. So Samuel is sent by God to search for a new king. He's instructed to go to Bethlehem, w