https://fradamroyal.com/reflections/2025/Recent content in 2025 Reflections on Homilies & ThoughtsHugoen-ushttps://fradamroyal.com/reflections/2025/two_paintings/Fri, 19 Dec 2025 00:00:00 +0000https://fradamroyal.com/reflections/2025/two_paintings/Two images of the Resurrection—one traditional, one contemporary—reveal more than artistic taste. A Renaissance anachronism quietly proclaims the Incarnation: Christ rose for every age, not only first-century Jerusalem. But when modern soldiers and concrete appear around the empty tomb, many of us flinch. Why? This reflection explores that discomfort, exposing how easily we confine faith to the past, and invites us to see the risen Lord as present here and now—judging, redeeming, and remaking our world.https://fradamroyal.com/reflections/2025/advent_by_candlelight/Tue, 09 Dec 2025 00:00:00 +0000https://fradamroyal.com/reflections/2025/advent_by_candlelight/By candlelight, these four Advent reflections trace a path from wakefulness to repentance, from fragile faith to renewed trust. Beginning with Jesus’ warning to stay awake, they move through John’s call to bear fruit, Christ’s assurance that grace is truly at work, and the quiet courage of Joseph. Together they invite us to let God enter ordinary life, weakness, and uncertainty, so the light of Emmanuel can be born anew.https://fradamroyal.com/reflections/2025/pride_humility_franciscan/Sun, 24 Aug 2025 18:30:00 +0000https://fradamroyal.com/reflections/2025/pride_humility_franciscan/<p>Pride and humility stand in sharp opposition. Pride has long been considered the root of all sin, while humility is the cornerstone of holiness. For those who walk in the footsteps of St. Francis of Assisi, humility is not an optional virtue but the very ground on which the Franciscan life is built. Francis himself called his followers the fratres minores, the “lesser brothers,” and referred to himself as “the least of the brothers,” echoing Christ’s own humility in the Incarnation. To understand this tension, we must first consider how pride manifests in human life, then reflect on the Franciscan witness of humility, and finally turn to the cultivation of humility in daily practice.</p>https://fradamroyal.com/reflections/2025/tragedy_solomon/Thu, 07 Aug 2025 16:37:43 -0500https://fradamroyal.com/reflections/2025/tragedy_solomon/Solomon seems untouchable: wisdom like water, a temple rising in glory, a kingdom at peace. Yet his story turns tragic as multiplied loves divide his heart and altars to lesser gods eclipse devotion—until the kingdom itself begins to tear. This reflection looks at why gifted people still fall, how private drift becomes communal ruin, and why Solomon’s legacy is finally not achievement but mercy: the God who remains faithful when we do not—and invites us to return, undivided, to the One who loves us still.