Wednesday of the Third Week of Lent
Imagine the impact the Church would have in the world if all Christ-followers authentically lived out the Gospel! One of the valid criticisms voiced by non-believers is that Christians don’t “walk the talk.” Our witness becomes one of hypocrisy rather than authenticity when we hear God’s Word but don’t put it into practice. Today’s readings invite us to consider the extent to which we “hear and observe” God’s word. As we more genuinely follow Christ’s teachings, not only will we experience the blessings of abundant life, but we become influential witnesses to Christ’s truth and love, drawing others into the presence of God. Our lives become contagious with the Gospel as we hear and transmit life and love.
Tuesday of the Third Week of Lent
We hear in the first reading Azariah imploring God to protect him in his personal situation, as well as the people of Israel in their national situation. These people are cut off from the way they connected with God for generations: temple sacrifice. By worshiping God in the Temple, ancient Israel meet the Lord and were assured of his presence and covenant. We too sometimes feel cut off from God. The Sacraments can be a little more difficult to access these days. Worship looks and feels different than it once did. It is a long, desert time.
Monday of the Third Week of Lent
Children of Men came out when I was in college. If you are unfamiliar with it, it is a movie based on a book and is set in the near future after a near-apocalyptic tragedy. Human beings stopped being able to conceive children. The movie is set nearly two decades after the strange event and this gritty, violent, and intense movie shows the imaginings of how much harsher the world would be if we were not tempered by our love for children. This may spoil part of the movie for you, but this theme is driven home when an entire warzone comes to a halt as soldiers hear the cries of a newborn child being carried through the violence. The darkness and grittiness of Children of Men came to mind as I read today's first reading.
Saturday of the Second Week of Lent
All of today’s scripture focuses on the great mercy of God. This is the Good News! We find great joy and hope in the belief that God will always be ready to forgive and welcome us back. The challenge for us is that we sometimes believe that God’s mercy should be limited to those we believe deserve His forgiveness. Jesus reminds us that God’s mercy is beyond measure and is available to all who ask and believe.
Friday of the Second Week of Lent
“The stone that the builders rejected
has become the cornerstone;
by the Lord has this been done,
and it is wonderful in our eyes”
Thursday of the Second Week of Lent
It is really to his credit that the rich man in Luke’s gospel wants so desperately for a message to be given to his five brothers to change their ways so that they will avoid the destiny he has met. Because of his desire to spare his brothers, we know that he is not simply a bad person. As he suffers, he thinks of his brothers. Abraham responds saying that it will be up to his brothers to work out their salvation. The rich man can’t do it for them.
Wednesday of the Second Week of Lent
Today’s Gospel starkly confronts us with our call to emulate Christ. It gets our attention, bringing us face-to-face, front and center with our Lord himself, the Suffering Servant. As I look him in the face, the One who was so purely humble, selfless, and willing to suffer, even to undergo death for me – do I see myself mirrored there? Do I become more aware of my self-serving tendencies and inherent selfishness? Today’s Gospel brings us to a place where humility and pride collide. As we read and pray, let’s allow the text to read us, to read our lives, and to humble us toward a more authentic life of servanthood.
Tuesday of the Second Week of Lent
Prince of Gomorra! What a name! Why is Isaiah calling his readers this? There must be some bad people that the sacred author is addressing, right? But rather than punishment or vengeance, God is calling for repentance. ‘Set things right. Make justice your aim.’
Monday of the Second Week in Lent
The Word made flesh. This is who we believe Jesus is. He, though intangible, entered into tangible reality. The mind that thought up toes could now wiggle and even stub his own! In doing so, Jesus exhibits an extraordinary ability to teach in tangible ways. He can break things down for us and give truly practical analogies. He teaches us both with his words and the way he uses them.
Saturday of the First Week of Lent
In today’s gospel, Jesus invites us to be “perfect” like the Father. As human beings, we are made in the image of God, yet our humanity is filled with imperfections and sin. Jesus recognizes our weaknesses, and calls us to look to Him to know the way to love in the most perfect way.
Friday of the First Week of Lent
“Do I indeed derive any pleasure from the death of the wicked?” (Ezekiel 18:23a) Although the Book of the Prophet Ezekiel tells us this was God’s rhetorical-like question, I found myself asking myself that question as I read today’s first reading. If I’m completely honest, I have (like most people, I suspect), enjoyed an occasional Good vs Evil movie or novel in which the wicked character dies, especially if their death involves what we perceive to be much deserved suffering. And I’m sure I have been tempted to rejoice at the actual death of a seemingly evil or wicked person. Whether or not we derive any pleasure from the death of a wicked person, thankfully our God does not.
Thursday of the First Week of Lent
In today’s first reading we meet a Jewish woman named Esther who is Queen of Persia. After learning her people were to be killed, she prepared to enter the presence of the king without permission —a move that risked her own life. Before she did this, she prayed to God to protect His people and to help give her courage to address the King. She lay prostrate upon the ground, together with her handmaids, from morning until evening knowing that her fate and the fate of her people were totally in God’s hands. She ultimately convinced the King to let her people defend themselves and the Jewish people survived.
Wednesday of the First Week of Lent
We’re quite accustomed to reading signs, aren’t we? We need directional signs to help us navigate while driving. We look at signage to identify places of business as we walk down a sidewalk. The signs in Lowe’s help us find the plumbing fixtures, electrical boxes, or whatever. When hiking, I’m always thankful for signs along the trails that tell me I’m still following the correct path. Advertisers compete to make their signs most attractive so that I’ll be drawn toward their company’s goods and services. We rely on signs throughout every day to guide us and give us confidence that we’re headed in the right direction, staying true to course, making wise choices, and finding the thing or destination we seek. I wonder if it’s because of the reliance on signs in the day-to-day that many times we seek signs in our spiritual life, in our journey of faith. If I’m out on a long hike on unfamiliar and unmarked trails, I may become fearful of losing my way. I lack confidence in my ability to find my way without adequate signage. Maybe it’s the same sometimes as we seek to remain purposefully on the path God lays out for us. Today’s scriptures tell us that we don’t need a sign when we have the very real presence of God. Our confidence comes not from being convinced but from the conviction that God is with us.
Tuesday of the First Week of Lent
I love the Our Father, and there is so much to love in it.
Feast of the Chair of Saint Peter, Apostle
Today is the Feast of the Chair of St Peter. I know, we Catholics are not only crazy enough to bless our cars, houses, and pets, but we also have a feast day for a chair! We are an interesting breed aren't we?
Saturday after Ash Wednesday
It is Lent. We are getting deeper into a season of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. During this time it is easy to get distracted by what we aren’t doing. There are habits, foods, or drinks from which we are fasting and that is good. However, sometimes I don’t think we explore enough prepositions. Not only are there the things from which I fast, there are things for which I fast. This broader view can be summarized to include fasting for prayer, fasting for charity, and fasting for obedience.
Friday after Ash Wednesday
We tend to hate fasting in our household. When we are hungry, we can become more irritable, prone to arguments, and generally grumpy. Snickers latched on to the idea several years ago with their slogan, “You’re not you when you’re hungry”. We have noticed this to be pretty accurate in our experience with our children as well. As dinner time rolls around each evening, if we haven’t fed them by a certain time, there is a noticeable tension that builds (and sometimes bursts). But how do we transcend this tension when we are called to fast?
Thursday after Ash Wednesday
In his wonderful book, Falling Upward: A Spirituality for the Two Halves of Life, Richard Rohr (a Franciscan priest) writes eloquently about these two halves of life and why we must, one way or another, make our way from the first into the second.
Ash Wednesday
Imagine the most incredible invitation you could ever receive. Take a moment and imagine what that might be for you. The most incredible invitation . . . Some of the world’s amazing invitations include things like attending a Royal Wedding, induction into the Hall of Fame for your given profession, attending the Academy Awards, consideration for a Nobel Prize, performing at the half time show of the Super Bowl, receiving a full-ride scholarship to a prestigious university, receiving an all-expense paid luxury vacation, the list goes on . . . it struck me today that Lent is one of the most incredible invitations a person can receive. God invites you; God invites me, God invites us together to embark on the journey of a lifetime! God invites us to a unique opportunity to shed the things that hold us back, to become reconciled with God, to grow in intimacy with God, and to become more like Christ. You may have a particular attitude and approach toward Lent each year, but this year I invite you to enter into Lent as if it were the first time. Accept this invitation of a lifetime with a fresh and generous YES and allow the wonder of endless possibilities for growth to overwhelm you. Let’s throw wide open the doors of our hearts, minds, bodies, and souls to receive all that God has for us this Lent.
Tuesday of the Sixth Week in Ordinary Time
I hear a parental God in today’s readings. A very frustrated, parental God. In fact, in the first reading from Genesis, God is so frustrated with the state of the world, the “wickedness” of human kind, that God even regrets that he made human kind. And God’s “heart was grieved.” That’s pretty strong emotion. Similarly, in the gospel reading from Mark, we hear of Jesus’ frustrations with his disciples. Almost like a frustrated parent, we hear Jesus
exclaiming, “Do you not yet understand or comprehend? …Do you have eyes and not see, ears and not hear? And do you not remember…? Do you still not understand?”!!