Tuesday of the Twelfth Week in Ordinary Time
As I reflect on the texts before us today, I am struck by the simple yet powerful wisdom God offers us for living well with one another. If only we all could follow that wisdom. Our world would be utterly transformed.
Memorial of Saint Aloysius Gonzaga, Religious
Scripture Readings
I often get called in to settle a dispute between my children. They come to me because one feels wronged and they are seeking judgment. Judgment is a major theme in today's readings.
Saturday of the Eleventh Week in Ordinary Time
One of my favorite pastimes is spending time in nature. The trees, flowers, birds, insects, (even cicadas!) and animals reveal God’s amazing generosity and creativity. Jesus often uses elements of the created world to share deep truths of the kingdom. God calls us to see and learn from our created world, and in return, God calls us to care for this great gift of love that is shared with us.
Friday of the Eleventh Week in Ordinary Time
"The lamp of the body is the eye. If your eye is sound, then your whole body will be filled with light." (Matthew 6:19-23) What does Jesus mean when he says this?
Thursday of the Eleventh Week in Ordinary Time
Legend has it that St. Francis and his dear friend Brother Leo wanted to spend one evening meditating on the Our Father. Each of them retreated to their quarters for the night, and agreed to meet in the morning. Brother Leo, after reciting the prayer hundreds of times, was excited to share his good work with his friend. However, in the morning St. Francis was nowhere to be found. Brother Leo went to his room and found him in a trance. After several failed attempts to get his attention, Brother Leo shook him. Leo was eager to share the numerous times he recited the Our Father, but was surprised to learn Francis did not even complete the prayer once. He told Leo, “I started by saying the words “our” and “Father,” and I just couldn’t move on from there.” Brother Leo was stunned and humbled by Francis’s deep devotion.
Wednesday of the Eleventh Week in Ordinary Time
Lately I’ve been pondering what it means to be generous. How do I define generosity? How do I know if I’m being generous toward God and others? What measures or metrics can I apply to determine whether or not I’m being generous? I haven’t answered those questions for myself yet, but I have concluded that authentic generosity flows from gratitude. Put another way, gratitude becomes the fertile field from which the fruit of generosity springs. Today’s readings invite further reflection on this proposal.
Tuesday of the Eleventh Week in Ordinary Time
In my opinion, today’s readings contain the most challenging command in Christianity. Love your enemies. The logic is inescapable: God makes rain fall on the just and the unjust. God’s love is indiscriminate, and so our love should be indiscriminate. But it is so hard to love and pray for the people who we perceive to be our enemies. And in this part of the world, our personal enemies are (mostly) not trying to kill us or even seriously persecute us. The commandment is even harder for people in other places and times that are and were persecuted to the point of martyrdom.
Monday of the Eleventh Week in Ordinary Time
Today's Gospel presents a well-known portion of the Sermon on the Mount, but also one that takes time to parse through. In Jesus' reframing of "An eye for an eye," we can be left wondering how is a disciple supposed to handle provocation. To frame this reflection I want to offer something that has always made sense to me. For a long time now I have approached moral questions like today's gospel from a threefold perspective instead of a twofold perspective. The three tiers being morally wrong, morally acceptable, and morally excellent.
Memorial of the Immaculate Heart of Mary
It is difficult living out our faith in these challenging times. Today’s gospel gives us the perfect role model to imitate as we seek to be disciples of Jesus. Mary leads the way in living out her faith, actively seeking her Son, and reflecting in prayer on God’s love for her. Today on the feast of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, it is helpful for us to look to Mary and her heart of grace, so we can learn how to deepen our relationship with God.
Solemnity of Most Sacred Heart of Jesus
On this Solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, the readings emphasize God’s love for us. Displayed through divine patience, understood through the fulfillment of Scripture and poured out through Jesus’ body, God’s eternal love calls us to be patient, grateful, and joyful.
Thursday of the Tenth Week in Ordinary Time
When Jesus died on the cross, he not only reconciled us to God (that is, paid for our sins). He also reconciled us to one another. The reasoning is pretty simple. If we are all reconciled to God then we have no reason not to be reconciled to one another. And if we are reconciled to God and to one another, we have no business killing one another.
Wednesday of the Tenth Week in Ordinary Time
I’m sure we’ve all had to present ourselves with our qualifications at one point or another. When searching for a job, we look at the qualifications section of the job description to know whether or not we would be considered for the position. Candidates running for public office present their qualifications and must meet certain criteria to be eligible. We must be qualified to apply for loans, receive credit cards, and the like. We’re used to having to “measure up” to be considered worthy of positions, privileges, and opportunities. How glorious it is that with God, we do not have to become qualified ourselves, it is God who qualifies us in Christ! Today, may we find renewed confidence in Christ and rest in our belovedness as God’s daughters and sons.
Tuesday of the Tenth Week in Ordinary Time
Today’s first reading seemed a little confusing to me. I had to use my imagination a bit, asking, ‘what were they complaining about? The yes, the no, or that there seemed to be a bunch of yes’s and no’s?’ I can’t say for sure what Paul and the Corinthian Church were talking about, but maybe they were frustrated with the burdens of a faith in conflict with the larger culture. Romans sacrificed animals to their gods at lavish festivals, had all sorts of sinful sexual habits, and worked seven days a week because they didn’t have a Sabbath. To them, Christians must have looked like lazy people who can’t do anything fun.
Monday of the Tenth Week in Ordinary Time
Ten times in seven verses we encounter the word "Encourage" in some form or another in today's first reading. At some point I became annoyed with how frequently St. Paul was using the word. At that point I knew I was being encouraged to write about the word.
Memorial of Saint Boniface, Bishop and Martyr
Gratitude is vital part of a joyful and holy Christian life. When we take opportunities to reflect on our blessings and recognize them as gifts, we come to realize that we are loved. Today’s reading from Tobit reminds us that it is important not just to be thankful for God’s many blessings, but to praise God through our words and deeds. It is through our lives of service and giving that we proclaim God’s goodness to others and share in building God’s kingdom
Friday of the Ninth Week in Ordinary Time
Some years ago while going through a particularly dark time, I attended our annual parish retreat. At one point we were given the opportunity to choose a stone from many varied stones placed on a table. Each stone had one of the fruits of the Spirit written on it, but the stones were placed with the word facing down so that we did not know which “fruit” we were choosing. I was moved to tears when walking back to my pew I turned my stone over and read “Joy.” I had not experienced joy in a while and recognized that God knew it was the one that I truly needed. This is what came to me as I reflected on today’s reading from the Book of Tobit.
Memorial of Saint Charles Lwanga and Companions, Martyrs
Today is the feast day of Saint Charles Lwanga and his companions. Lwanga was one of twenty-two Ugandan men who were imprisoned for their refusal to commit immoral acts at the command of King Mwanga. He continued to preach the Catholic faith in prison right up until the moment of his death. King Mwanga’s hope to destroy the Christian faith backfired. Many people were inspired by these young martyrs, and the faith grew and spread. Charles Lwanga and his companions remained courageous and unshakable in their faith despite the hardships and torture the faced. We, too, are called to be witnesses to Christian living by the examples of our own lives. We are all called upon to spread the word of God, whether by word or deed.
Wednesday of the Ninth Week in Ordinary Time
My attention is captured today by the refrain of the Responsorial Psalm. To you, O Lord, I lift my Soul. Similarly, in the Eucharistic Prayer of the Mass, we respond to the priest’s invitation to lift our hearts by saying we lift them up to the Lord. I invite us to reflect on what this “lifting” means, and then to focus our prayer today on consciously, actively lifting heart and soul to God.
Memorial of Saint Justin, Martyr
The Book of Tobit is a wonderful short story; it’s worth reading all at once. Today’s excerpt focuses on what happens when we lose our ability to see for ourselves. It’s a tough situation. When I don’t know what’s going on, I’m forced to rely on others for my information. Are they telling me the unbiased truth? Can I believe what they say? What if they tell me something that’s hard to believe, or something that I don’t want to believe is true? Beyond disbelief, do I get angry at the messenger? Do I blame them for the bad news they shared?
Feast of the Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary
I used to work in a bookstore. It was an awesome job that enabled me to be surrounded by both my favorite hobby (reading, organizing, and even smelling old books) and my favorite collectible (Shelves! Well, rather the books that filled the shelves). As I read today’s first reading I was taken back to my bookstore days as I would organize the Self-Help, Relationship, Pets, or many other sections where you could find an unreal number of books claiming to have the 3 easy steps to this, 5 easy steps to that, or 6 Easy Steps to World Peace and Getting your Baby to Sleep Through the Night (those two topics might be more related than I first thought). As I read Paul’s words I first thought, “Wow, this is like Practical Christian Living for Dummies or something.” Then I realized Paul writes about rejoicing in this passage, but says little about joy explicitly. That is when I decided this is Paul’s 20 Impossible Steps, Without the Grace of God, to Joy. This wordy title will be our outline today as we briefly discuss these 20 steps, facing impossibility, and recognizing our Joy.