The readings for this homily: https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/011426.cfm Father Chris Alar, MIC, reflects on the heart of the discernment of every vocation: learning to listen to God. Vocation is not just about priesthood or religious life — it is the unique call God has placed in your life. Marriage, single life, priesthood, religious life — each is holy, each is purposeful, and each is a path to sanctity when lived in prayer and trust.

As headlines stir anxiety about the possibility of global conflict, Fr. Matthew Tomeny, MIC, turns our attention to a war already raging — one that has claimed more innocent lives than any battlefield in history. While nations prepare for external enemies, the Church is called to confront a deeper crisis: the systematic destruction of human life in the womb.

On this great solemnity, Fr. Chris reflects on the mystery at the heart of the Marian Fathers’ charism: the Immaculate Conception—God’s greatest act of mercy ever given to a creature. Despite the grief of losing his father just days earlier, he reminds us that Our Lady’s purity is the blueprint for our own path to holiness. Long before the dogma was defined in 1854, the Church cherished this truth in Scripture and Sacred Tradition, seen in Gabriel’s greeting, “Hail, full of grace,” revealing Mary as wholly transformed by divine life.