These reflections are a result of more than 40 years of ministry as a Roman Catholic priest. Most of these years I spent in the Diocese of Charlotte which covers Western North Carolina. Now I am retired, and live in Medellín, Colombia where I continue to serve as a priest in the Archdiocese of Medellín.

Thursday, Advent III, O Root of Jesse, December 19

I am Gabriel, who stand before God. I was sent to speak to you and to announce to you this good news. But now you will be speechless and unable to talk until the day these things take place, because you did not believe my words, which will be fulfilled at their proper time. (Lk 1:5-25)
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/121924.cfm
What a perfect punishment for a priest . . . Zechariah will be mute until the birth of John the Baptist! As we continue to read the Infancy Gospels in Matthew and Luke in this last part of Advent, the time of the O Antiphons, we hear again the promise that God fulfills in the coming of the Christ. In honor of the Root of Jesse, today’s photo is of the Duffee Oak in Mobile, Alabama.