Friday of the Twenty-second Week in Ordinary Time
A few years ago, we took a vacation to the Finger Lakes region of upstate New York. The area is covered with beautiful landscape and is probably best known as one of the premier wine regions in the country. The scenic lakes and rolling hills are a central figure and play a significant part in the renown of the region’s wines, particularly the variety of white wines like riesling. We visited a number of wineries during our stay to participate in tastings and purchased bottles from different places. We are by no means wine connoisseurs but it was fascinating to learn about each winemaker’s process in making the different varieties. In totaling up the bottles we purchased, we transported a couple of cases full of wine back home with us.
Memorial of Saint Gregory the Great, Pope and Doctor of the Church
I can think of so many times in my life when I cast my net, and it came back empty. Maybe you can too.
Wednesday of the Twenty-second Week in Ordinary Time
In today’s first reading, St. Paul employs two helpful metaphors for our lives as disciples – eating and gardening. Both of his exhortations around these themes serve to ground us in Christ, remind us to remain humble, and call us to conversion. Today, let us consider what we’re consuming, who we are emulating, and how we are contributing within God’s Kingdom.
Tuesday of the Twenty-second Week in Ordinary Time
“The Spirit scrutinizes everything” (1 Cor 2:10B). Does that make you nervous? Or are you looking forward to a good look-over from the Spirit? Personally, I don’t enjoy it when someone is looking carefully through my personal business, because I think it’s none of theirs. But we all belong to the Lord, and we were made to serve God by working for the Kingdom. Jesus has redeemed our lives from sin and death, and so our lives and everything that pertains to us is God’s “business.”
Monday of the Twenty-second Week in Ordinary Time
I have two confessions during this reflection. One might make me a mean Dad and the other makes me a pretty awful recruiter. They both have to do with the word “No.” I want to reflect on that word because of the scene that takes place in the Gospel today and our need to handle the word “no” properly.
Memorial of the Passion of Saint John the Baptist
I often wonder “what is my calling?” What is God calling me to do today, this week and for the rest of my time on earth? Have I used my time thus far in a way that has answered the calling I have been given. Today’s readings remind me that it is not about having power, knowledge or strength when assessing my role as a disciple. I am best able to be “who I am called to be” when I recognize that all I have are gifts from God. When I recognize this and then gratefully use these blessings in a way that gives God credit for what I do, then I will become who I am called to be.
Memorial of Saint Augustine, Bishop and Doctor of the Church
A car accident, a heart attack, cancer, covid-19, a tragic fall, drowning, gun violence...the list could go on. We “know neither the day nor the hour” that our life or the life of our loved one will end. Just recently hearing of the sudden death of the not-yet-40-year-old spouse of someone I know, this is what came to mind as I read the final verse of today’s gospel passage from Matthew. “Stay awake, for you know neither the day nor the hour.”(25:13) How suddenly and unexpectedly a life can end -- our own life, the life of someone we care deeply about.
Memorial of Saint Monica
In today’s gospel, Jesus uses a parable to contrast the faithful and prudent servant with the wicked servant. The good servant distributes food to the household. However, the wicked servant neglects his duty, beats his fellow servants, and spends his day with eating and drinking with drunkards. Jesus’ warning is made clear at the conclusion of the parable. The servant’s master will come on an unexpected day and hour and will punish him severely for not caring for his servants.
Wednesday of the Twenty-first Week in Ordinary Time
At first glance, today’s readings appear quite harsh. I’ll admit, I cringed a bit at my first pondering. I see our first reading and the Gospel representing two extremes – complacency in the spiritual life on one end, and a strict legalistic approach to religious life on the opposite. Either side of the pendulum swing depicts a misrepresentation of the life of a disciple of Christ. Today, let us seek to be centered in the Gospel and anchored in the hope that we have in Christ Jesus.
Tuesday of the Twenty-first Week in Ordinary Time
One of my favorite things about being Catholic is the sense of timelessness it gives me. As a member of this church, I feel closely connected to thousands of years of salvation history, and all the human sinfulness that comes along with it. The tendency of humanity to make up fake information and package it in a way that is believable to many is, unfortunately, not new. In Paul’s time, people were making up some crazy ideas about the end times, and trying to pass these ideas off as truth. It continues today; the medium has changed, but the goal is the same. Considering the truth that the Church teaches, it can be difficult for people to discern between what is actually true, and what a wack-job with a facebook or twitter account spouts off without any authority or credential whatsoever. Thankfully, this situation and those like it have been a part of our history for thousands of years, along with the remedy.
Feast of Saint Bartholomew, Apostle
Today is the feast of St. Bartholomew, one of the Chosen Apostles who followed the Lord. I read this passage with fresh eyes today as Bess and I recently watched the show "The Chosen." That YouTube series focused on Jesus through the eyes of those he chose. While Bartholomew (Nathaniel) has played a fairly small role thus far, I was able to read this as Jesus may have been imagined in the show.
Memorial of the Queenship of the Blessed Virgin Mary
“The glory of the Lord shall dwell in our land.” These words, from our responsorial psalm, is both a hope and a promise. Right now, in our land, there are so many feelings, emotions, ideologies and different voices vying for our attention it is hard to feel like the Lord dwells anywhere near our land. There are messages of hate. There is massive division among families, friends and neighbors. We have become a polarized society, constantly assessing and labeling others as “us” or “them” - on any number of issues. And it is exhausting.
Memorial of Saint Pius X, Pope
I keep hearing how we are living in unprecedented times. Sometimes I think, “hasn’t that always been the case?” No one else has lived on these days, so they are always unprecedented, right? But now, everything we have come to expect has been thrown out the window. There is no such thing as a “typical” day and no way to truly make plans for a future date. These are unprecedented times. Times when the future depends on our collective response. One individual alone cannot change the outcome of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States. One individual alone cannot bring an end to systemic racism and injustice. One individual alone cannot live his or her life without being affected by the decisions of other people. We are in this together, whether we like it or not, and the only way to make progress is to care for one another. “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” This commandment is critically important in these unprecedented times.
Memorial of Saint Bernard, Abbot and Doctor of the Church
The passage before us from Matthew makes explicit what we Catholics know very well: when we encounter a story about a banquet, we are encountering a story about the Kingdom of God. Jesus is explicit in this parable—that in this parable he is talking about the Kingdom of God.
Wednesday of the Twentieth Week in Ordinary Time
Convicting. That’s how I would describe today’s readings. As I prayed the passage from Ezekiel in preparation for writing this reflection, I could literally feel God’s word burning in my heart. I felt the heaviness of that text in my body; I felt deeply grieved over God’s message to the shepherds of God’s people; I felt, I felt . . . convicted. Similarly, with the Gospel, I experienced a visceral discomfort. I cannot avoid confronting the sinful tendency we all share to be selfish and uncharitable, to take offense when we feel slighted, to question God’s dealings with others. The Gospel acclamation from Hebrews reads, The word of God is living and effective, able to discern the reflections and thoughts of the heart. I sense the Holy Spirit leading us to allow that living and effective word of God to convict us today according to God’s intimate knowledge of each of us. Might we accept this gracious invitation?
Tuesday of the Twentieth Week in Ordinary Time
Today’s readings have been a source of astonishment for many generations of Christians. In today's first reading from Ezekiel, the wise and prudent ruler of the great city of Tyre is proud. When he reflects on his many successes, he can only conclude that he has divine power. How else could he be so good at everything? But Ezekiel’s message to him is simple: ‘Prince, you are a mortal man, you and will die soon at the hands of murderers.’
Monday of the Twentieth Week in Ordinary Time
I've taken on more house projects in the past few months than I did in the entire year that we were renting. In doing so I have noticed that once I begin a project I can be overwhelmed with my desire to "do it right." I want the perfect tools and I want to make everything just right, even if no one else would notice. In some instances I think I am taking healthy pride in my work, at other times I'm going too far, which Bess sometimes challenges me on by reminding me that at some point the goal is just to get the project done!
Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary
Scripture Readings (Mass During the Day)
Today we celebrate the feast of the Assumption of Mary. The readings refer to Mary’s role in salvation history through her “yes” to God. One sentence in particular caught my attention while reflecting on today’s readings. “The woman herself fled into the desert where she had a place prepared by God.” Why would God provide a place in the desert for this “woman” who had just given birth to a son who “was destined to rule all the nations”? Is there something about a desert that reveals God’s presence in our lives? In this time of tribulation and turbulence, could God be leading us into the desert to draw us into a deeper relationship of love and trust?
Memorial of Saint Maximilian Kolbe, Priest and Martyr
Divorce is never easy or pleasant. I don’t know of anyone who honestly and sincerely enters into marriage with the intention for it to end in divorce. And yet, it is a reality of our humanity since at least the time of Moses. Today’s readings are not easy or pleasant either, but as I reflected on them I became aware of God’s faithfulness to us, no matter what.
Thursday of the Nineteenth Week in Ordinary Time
In today’s gospel, Peter asks Jesus how many times one should forgive. Peter thought seven times seemed like quite a lot, yet he is surprised by Jesus’ response that one should forgive seventy-seven times. Of course, Jesus is not indicating that we should calculate carefully the times and cut off the forgiving at 77! In the ancient world, seven was a perfect number, and so Jesus is kind of taking Peter’s number to infinity, as is even clearer in some translations which render Jesus’ words as “seventy times seven times.” To drive home his point, Jesus offers a parable about the two servants in debt. The one who had a huge debt to the king was forgiven. However, he then refused to forgive the relatively small debt of a fellow servant. When the king found about this, he handed the unforgiving servant over to torturers until he could pay back the whole of his original debt.