Whatever their plans were, I think it’s safe to say that the future God had in store for Mary and Joseph was not one either of them expected.

Advent is drawing quickly to a close, and Christmas is coming soon. The change is upon us. Do we rise to accept it, or do we fall on our faces in fear?

We go to Mass. We go to Confession. We pray. We read Scripture. In doing all these things, again and again, we go out to the desert. What are we expecting to see?

It is so beautiful to be culturally Catholic. But actions, rituals, traditions, sentiments — none of it matters unless it bears the fruit of a transformed heart.

Look to the watershed moments, these little (and big) apocalypses. In these moments that change us, for better or worse, God is there, working, waiting.

It’s taken me a few hundred read-throughs of this Gospel passage to finally understand a painful truth: I am Gestas, “the bad thief.”

As my husband and I drove our firstborn child home from the hospital, I sat alongside my daughter in the backseat. Terrified, exhausted, exhilarated and confused.

It matters why you do something, not just how you do it. Are we allowing our worship to transform us, or are we only concerned with transforming our worship?