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
This past January I was diagnosed with breast cancer. It is amazing how quickly and dramatically life changes with this type of news—especially for someone who has never really experienced significant health problems. Like everything else in life, this has had its challenges as well as its unexpected blessings. My parish community has showered me with cards, flowers, food, gifts, emails, phone calls, and text messages. The unexpected part of this blessing was the realization of just how important the gift of encouragement is. Each and every communication lifts me up and carries me forward. Each and every one reminds me that even though this is my battle, I am not fighting it alone but with many people at my side. I have come to see how I have underrated the gift of encouragement and begun to realize just how powerful even the smallest act of encouragement can be.
The Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ (Corpus Christi)
There is nothing like being home for the feast of Corpus Christi. By this I do not mean the festivities at our local parish. Rather, I mean that I am with my parents. It is only so many days in a year that my parents and I get to be present to each other in flesh and blood. We hug and kiss each other. We hold hands, we talk, we laugh and cry together. During the rest of the year we speak on the phone. But being present in a real way twice a year is radically different. Just yesterday, my parents thanked me for coming home every six months. It gives them something to look forward to. It is the same with me. Real presence matters.
Saturday of the Ninth Week in Ordinary Time
Brothers and sisters, today’s reflection is going to be a little different. I felt convicted that to write too many of my own thoughts today would be detracting from what is already in the readings, so instead I offer you a letter of sorts that I have compiled from today’s readings.
Thursday of the Ninth Week in Ordinary Time
I love this first reading. This was the reading that my brother and sister-in-law chose as the first reading at their wedding. Whenever I hear it I am brought back to that day – sitting in the church, filled with excitement to see this couple who God had clearly brought together and who God had very definite plans for. And to know that their marriage was beginning with these words at their core was beautiful.
Saint Charles Lwanga and Companions, Martyrs
Life is difficult. Most of us have realized this truth a reality at some point in our lives. I often hear people remark, “that if I think I have it bad, look around, there are plenty of people who have it worse.” This is also true. Yet sometimes I wonder if it would be helpful to say, “yes life is difficult, but these difficulties are not meant to be the end.” Difficulties lead me to think of them as reminders that God is in control and we are not. I believe perhaps incorrectly that our trials can ultimately allow God to help us lift our hearts in offering to God.
Tuesday of the Ninth Week in Ordinary Time
Today’s Gospel reading is a familiar one. The Pharisees and Herodians are trying to trap Jesus by asking him a difficult question: is it right or wrong to pay taxes? In our minds, paying taxes doesn’t seem like such a controversial thing at its core. But for Jesus’ time, paying taxes actually meant giving money to the Roman state, who understood their leader to be divine. The trap, then, is to get Jesus to either encourage sedition (don’t pay taxes) or get him to sanction idolatry (pay taxes).
Memorial of Saint Justin, Martyr
Recently we have started to put out seed for the birds. We have enjoyed watching the variety of birds at the feeder; however we have been challenged by a nocturnal “critter” that has relentlessly come every night to feed. We tried making the hanging hook more difficult to undue, as well as even changing the kind of feeder that could be refilled without removal. And yet every morning we awakened to an almost empty feeder. We finally placed a tall metal rod with a hook only to find that the animal had jumped up pulled the feeder down, broke the stabilizing pole, and bent the rod. This is persistence!!! This real life story came to mind when I read today’s gospel about God’s persistent love for us. God cares for us so much that He pursues us even to the point of sending His Son. The question for us is whether we welcome His offering of love and respond in turn with love and faith, or do we turn away and refuse to recognize His care and protection?
The Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity
I spent twelve years in the seminary before I was ordained. Through the first eight years, my only goal was to get to the theology classes because I wanted to get into the depths of the knowledge about God. I plunged into theology with the excitement of a two-year-old about to jump into a puddle. But a puddle is only so deep, right? That is how I felt with theology as well. The best of my efforts to understand God led me only thus far. The best of my theology professors often ended the class with the line, “It is a mystery.” If I heard that statement one more time I could scream. Twenty-one later, today, when people ask me questions about God, I tell them what I was told when I was young, "It is a mystery.”
Saturday of the Eighth Week in Ordinary Time
I recently read the Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification that was put together by a body of Catholic and Lutheran scholars. It was an enlightening little read about where Catholics and Lutherans can find common ground. This document doesn’t downplay or dismiss real differences, but these theologians found a way to have true dialogue, and that bears fruit.
Friday of the Eighth Week in Ordinary Time
I'd hate to be the fig tree in today's gospel (Mark 11:11-26). Through no fault of its own, entirely because it is the wrong season, it has no figs to offer when a hungry Jesus walks by. And for that crime, it is cursed and withers away in one day. You could say it went through a pretty extraordinary dry spell, in fact.
Thursday of the Eighth Week in Ordinary Time
It seems to me that there are several things about prayer we can learn from the blind man, Bartimaeus, in today’s gospel passage (Mark 10:46-52). First of all, Bartimaeus calls out to Jesus repeatedly, even after being rebuked by people in the crowd trying to quiet him. His cry, “Jesus, Son of David, have pity on me” reminds me of a well-known prayer from the Eastern Churches that dates back to at least the 5th century monastic Desert Fathers: the Jesus Prayer. This simple prayer, “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner” sometimes shortened to “Jesus, Son of God, have mercy on me” or even simply, “Jesus,” is prayed in repetition, similar to the way the rosary is prayed as a contemplative prayer. The Jesus Prayer is meant to bring about the Prayer of the Heart, which is the “praying without ceasing” that St. Paul advocates.
Wednesday of the Eighth Week in Ordinary Time
Greatness is standing at the rim of the Grand Canyon at sunset and realizing the scene comes from God’s paintbrush. Greatness comes when looking up at the thousands of stars seen on a clear night from the middle of country field. Many of us could think of times when we have experienced God’s greatness. These moments of wonder and awe can help us feel we are encountering our God.
Memorial of Saint Philip Neri, Priest
As an Engineer, it’s easy for me to look at today’s readings as a literal, numerical economy, as if my gifts to God with be given back with a 7 to 100 fold rate of return. What a deal! But there’s more to today’s readings than investment advice. God is offering us a way to peace that will free us both tomorrow and today.
Monday of the Eighth Week in Ordinary Time
Today’s Gospel passage relates the story of the Rich Young Man. This particular story always reminds me of one of the basic challenges of being human. I suspect every one of us have something in our lives that we have long wanted to change—be it a habit, a particular behavior, or maybe the handling of our finances. We make resolutions to change ourselves and quickly find we are unable to do so. But in the Gospel, Jesus says it is not about us changing ourselves. Jesus tells us that what is not possible for us can only be accomplished by God. It is more about letting go of that ‘one thing’ than resolving to change by our own power.
Pentecost Sunday
This Saturday, May 23rd, a day before Pentecost, the Salvadoran Archbishop Oscar Romero was beatified. Romero was the Archbishop of San Salvador at a time when there was widespread economic oppression and gross human right violations. Romero threw his weight behind those who were suffering. He was one of the foremost figures in the revolution. He wrote in his book, The Violence of Love: “For the church, the many abuses of human life, liberty, and dignity are a heartfelt suffering. As holy defender of God’s rights and of his images, the church must cry out.” And he did exactly that. As a result, Archbishop Romero was assassinated at the altar as he raised the chalice at consecration. Once, Romero was a peaceful and non-violent revolutionary. Today he is a saint!
Saturday of the Seventh Week of Easter
There is a priest in Erie, Pennsylvania named Fr. Larry Richards that describes himself as “loud, aggressive, and arrogant.” It’s a flattering way to start a resume, I’m sure. I’ve heard several of his talks and he can certainly be loud, but I also think he is good. But why am I starting with this lakeside priest? Because, in a conversation with some High School retreatants he captures the same thing that John presents us today in his gospel, and that Catechism of the Catholic Church offers us in paragraph 108. They all capture this idea, Jesus Christ is both transcendent and immanent. He is so near and yet bigger than we can ever handle.
Friday of the Seventh Week of Easter
I think sometimes people treat church like it is mainly a social outlet - a place to see friends and "be seen." Church is seen as just that thing most people do for an hour on Sunday rather than as a whole way of life meant to affect everything we do. Today's scriptures remind us of the reason for church and for this Christian way of life.
Thursday of the Seventh Week of Easter
Have you ever played the “guess how much I love you” game with a child? I remember the loving competition when my children were young, each of us trying to outdo the other in declaring our love. “I love you more than I can say”, “well, I love you more than the whole world,” “ I love you bigger than the sky!” As I seem to recall, they were usually stumped when I would finally say, “I loved you before you were even born.”
Wednesday of the Seventh Week of Easter
“The Screwtape Letters”, published in 1942, gathered together a collection of letters that were originally published in a weekly Anglican periodical. These letters were from a higher ranking demon, Screwtape, to a tempter in training, Wormwood, who happened to be this demon’s nephew. At the heart of the letters was advice as to the best methods for destroying the soul. While this book is satire, the truth with which it speaks can be convicting at times. The temptations Wormwood tries to inflict are calculating and very cunning in their approach.