Thursday of the Twenty-first Week in Ordinary Time
Most of us would say that we have good intentions when it comes to living. We want to be honest and friendly people. But despite our goals and intentions for self-improvement, it is easy to slip into bad habits or even sinful behavior. We don’t always attend to the needs of those around us or pay attention to our health or regulate well our time on the Internet or watching television. We give into distraction not because we are bad people, but simply because it is easy to do. It is hard to “stay awake” to our larger goals and to maintain our focus on God and our end in heaven.
Wednesday of the Twenty-first Week in Ordinary Time
As Christians how many of us have said one thing only to turn around and do the opposite. The word for that is hypocrite. There are few among us who have better radar for hypocrites than teenagers. They have an intuition for the genuine. Their idealism and passion for justice makes their age group often misunderstand parents and public alike. At the heart of it is their desire to work to change the world. To an outsider who is attune to their energy, their drive is a model from which we all can learn.
Feast of Saint Bartholomew, Apostle
I’ve been thinking recently about our earthly life and how far it seems to be from the eternal life that Jesus promises to his disciples in scripture. The Bible teaches that Jesus has conquered sin and death; yet, it does not so often look like this is the case. The world is full of disease, violence, war, famine, economic collapse, injustice, and natural disasters. Each of us from time to time experiences hardship; at times life does not seem to be very fair. An inspection of the world around us belies the truth of the Hollywood happy ending where everything is neatly tied up and the ‘good guys’ win. The vision of the heavenly kingdom in the book of Revelation provides a glimpse of what this heavenly life is like and it provides assurance that it is possible for us to attain it.
Monday of the Twenty-first Week in Ordinary Time
Faith is not something easy to define, nor is it something that we can say we simply understand. In today’s first reading, we begin the second letter to the Thessalonians, and we hear the greeting extended to them by Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy. The word “faith” emerges several times in this short text. Though the writers praise the faith of the Thessalonian church, they also say that they pray that God “bring to fulfillment every good purpose and every effort of faith” (2 Thes 1:11). This seems to imply that faith is not just something that someone possesses; you don’t just have faith and that’s it. Rather, God’s grace works with faith, bringing to fulfillment the efforts of faith. There is a necessary interplay here. We can’t simply do faith on our own.
Twenty-first Sunday in Ordinary Time - If You Could Design Heaven...
(Starting this Sunday, the Sunday reflection and homily will be the same.)
There are controversies simmering in our country on multiple fronts. Immigration, legal and illegal, is one of them; An Islamic centre at the new World Trade Centre in New York is another one; should babies born in the US be automatically given citizenship status is yet another one; and the age old controversy regarding race has come to the forefront in a brazen way the last couple of years. I am not going to try to answer these questions in this homily but I am sure that each one of has an opinion on each of these issues. But I guess, each person's opinion is a reflection on who they want included or excluded from membership in this country. Let us me say this at the very outsiet - 0ur opinion in these matters is not merely a political, social, or economic stand we take; our opinion in this matter is also a moral stand.
Memorial of Pius X, pope
Our sensibilities from reading and hearing the gospel stories are conditioned to think of the Pharisees only as hypocrites and show offs. This conception, however, misses some of the force of Jesus’ critique of these folk. They were not such easy targets. On the whole, they were considered the most pious Jews of their day, admired for their adherence to the law and their dedication to God. Nevertheless, their conflicts with Jesus centered around their overly legalistic adherence to the law. These were different interpretations of the Jewish tradition.
Memorial of Saint Bernard, abbot and doctor of the Church
I find myself slightly fascinated by the fact that vampires are a "craze" these days, especially for teens and young adults. I don't find much of anything interesting about vampires, "the living dead," myself but I am very interested in why vampires provide such a cultural hold on others, in books, movies and video games. Strangely enough, I wonder if part of the answer might come from today's scriptures.
Thursday of the Twentieth Week in Ordinary Time
In today’s readings, we see a theme of sin and redemption with God’s love shining throughout. The passage from the prophet Ezekiel is a well-known one: here God reveals his dedication to the people of Israel who have turned away from him. The Lord speaks of bringing the people back, cleansing them from their false worship, and giving them a “new heart” and a “new spirit” (Ez. 36:26). Even though the people have deserted God and worshiped other gods, the Lord remains faithful, and in this fidelity to his sinful people, God is willing to do the cleansing, to give the people another chance.
Wednesday of the Twentieth Week in Ordinary Time
In my household, there are three children. We thank God everyday for their presence in our lives and most of the time, they are a joy. We love to have fun with them yet as parents, we wear a variety of hats. One of the tougher roles is helping them stay balanced. We work hard to be aware of their habits and help them see the patterns they are creating for themselves when they focus only on their own desires. Sometimes when things are out of balance with one or all of them, we have to intervene in order to help them hit the reset button. This may mean going to bed sooner, digging in more on their homework or maybe even skipping desert so as to help them gain perspective on their choices.
Tuesday of the Twentieth Week in Ordinary Time
(Many thanks to Jeff Morrow who wrote many reflection over the years. Please welcome Joel Schickel who will be writing reflections every Tuesday).
The last few years have brought the question of the meaning of life home to me in a poignant way. Over this time I have grieved for a number of people close to me who have passed away. Meanwhile it has been a joy to see my daughter, who is now almost three years old, grow into a vivacious toddler. And my wife and I are now expecting a second child, due in December. Perhaps as a result of these experiences of death and new life, I’ve found my thoughts turning recently to the question of what it is that gives meaning to life, a question that is addressed in the scripture readings for today.
Monday of the Twentieth Week in Ordinary Time
In the first reading from the prophet Ezekiel, Ezekiel describes the calamities that will befall the house of Israel. As is common in Ezekiel, the message is acted out dramatically in Ezekiel’s own life, with the death of his wife. This profound loss is like that which the people of Israel suffer in the destruction of their temple and the death of their children. And yet, Ezekiel’s instructions is for them not to mourn, rather, “you shall rot away because of your sins and groan to one another” (Ez. 24:23). This is certainly a strong statement. We might wonder if this is really how God plans to act towards his chosen people. Ezekiel’s role as a prophet, however, is to bring the people to reality, even if by dramatic means. Here he emphasizes the degree to which the people have forgotten God and gone against God’s will.
Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary
Today we celebrate the Feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary. If you read all of the readings for the Vigil as well as for today’s celebration, you’ll notice a few passages that deal with the Ark of the Covenant. In the first reading for the Vigil, we find a passage dealing with King David returning the Ark to the people of Israel, bringing it to Jerusalem. In today’s first reading from the Book of Revelation, we again find the Ark, this time in heaven. Now the Ark was often used in battle, and so it’s interesting that the Ark appears in Revelation right before a depiction of spiritual warfare, battle with Satan who is depicted as a large dragon. When we turn to the Gospel reading from today, the account of the Visitation from St. Luke’s Gospel, we find another parallel with the Ark of the Covenant. St. Luke depicts the visitation in language that is reminiscent of David’s recapturing of the Ark.
Memorial of Saint Maximilian Mary Kolbe, priest and martyr
Much ink has been spilled over what exactly Jesus means in today’s gospel reading. What is it precisely that Jesus is highlighting about the children that gives us insight into the Kingdom, which he says belongs to those “such as these”? (Mt 19:14). I think that there are several insights that can help us live as better disciples in today’s world.
Friday of the Nineteenth Week in Ordinary Time
When I teach my undergraduate Christian Marriage course, I always have students asking why the Catholic Church prohibits divorce - and what's up with annulment anyway? Isn't it just a Catholic form of divorce? Today's scriptures point toward some of the whys and the complexities of Catholic teaching about marriage and divorce.
Thursday of the Nineteenth Week in Ordinary Time
Today’s readings contain two contradictory messages. On the one hand the prophet Ezekiel condemns and denounces the people of Judah for their rebellious life and predicts their exile into Babylon. On the other hand, the gospel reading communicates the necessity of forgiveness – not just seven times but seventy-seven times (to be read seventy times seven). How shall we reconcile these two seemingly contradictory readings? The answer lies in the fact that these two passages describe two different relationships. Ezekiel was referring to the relationship between God and Judah and Jesus was referring to our relationship with one another. The first relationship is a relationship between unequals – God and human beings. Jesus was talking about two equals – the relationship between one human being and another person. God is all holy and human beings are totally vulnerable to sin. Even from a superficial level we can understand that to forgive or not, condemn or not, save or not is God’s prerogative. God has a choice in the matter. God does not have to forgive us. Fortunately, God does so but only in God’s infinite goodness and love. God does not even have to save us. God does so in God’s mercy and compassion.
Wednesday of the Nineteenth Week in Ordinary Time
Wouldn’t it be nice if we could all just get along? The answer of course is yes. The deeper question is why can’t we? We are all different and each of us is created for unique purposes. The rub arises when we think that we as individuals are more important than the parts we play within the larger body. We are but ; we need to recognize and accept our role within this body. The readings today are an exercise in contrast in dealing with people inside the body who are malevolent to the body existence.
Feast of Saint Lawrence, deacon and martyr
It is no secret that we are currently undergoing hard economic times. All the more reason for us to consider giving more to the poor than we already do. When we think about the poor, we often think about people far away whom we will likely never meet, or perhaps a beggar on the street whom we have in fact met. But there are many who are poor in a variety of ways among us at all times. Moreover, there are many ways we can give to the poor.
Monday of the Nineteenth Week in Ordinary Time
“Heaven and earth are filled with your glory” is the refrain for today’s responsorial psalm. This draws attention to two realms of Christian belief: both heaven and earth. And indeed, there is a certain “otherworldly” quality to the worldliness of Christians; we are meant to be occupied both with heaven and with earth.
Nineteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
he second reading for today comes from the Letter to the Hebrews and is a portion of chapter 11, often known as the “Hall of Faith.” In it the author recounts the obedient faith of our forerunners. We hear about the faith of Abraham, the father of faith. Abraham believed God and left his country even in his old age. He trusted that God would provide him an heir, even though he and his wife were beyond childbearing years. God miraculously provided an heir for Abraham, and then asked Abraham to sacrifice his only beloved son. The early rabbis saw in the faith of Abraham during the binding of Isaac for sacrifice, an image of hope in the resurrection. This is because Isaac was given back to Abraham. God did not allow Abraham to complete the sacrifice and kill his son. Rather, God spared Isaac, and thus his life was in a sense restored.
Saturday of the Eighteenth Week in Ordinary Time
In today’s first reading we have a passage from the prophet Habakkuk. This is one of the shortest books in the entire Bible, composed of only three chapters. Habakkuk wrote during a tumultuous time for Judah—Babylon was breathing down its neck, winning decisive victories all around its borders. It wouldn’t be long before the destruction of Jerusalem and the Babylonian captivity in 597 BC.