Monday of the Thirtieth Week in Ordinary Time
“When he said this, all his adversaries were humiliated” is not a phrase we often anticipate encountering in the Gospels, but we find it today in Luke’s account (Lk 13:17). I found myself immediately captivated by this line.
Saturday of the Twenty-ninth Week in Ordinary Time
In this world today it is so hard to know what is true. Whether you are reading a news article, watching TV, or checking out your social media sites, everything that we encounter has an element of bias, and the “facts” presented may be completely false. So where do we find truth? As a Christian disciple we look to Jesus as our source of truth. We are then called to live out that truth in love, so others may come to know that truth as well.
Friday of the Twenty-ninth Week in Ordinary Time
Tensions are high. With our country’s election day less than two weeks away (and voting having already begun) in the midst of so much political division, there seems to be fear and anger and suspicion not only around us, but within us, our families and our churches. This is the 21st century, and yet today’s reading from Paul’s letter to the Ephesians (4:1-6) from the 1st century speaks to us in this present time. Are we willing to listen?
Thursday of the Twenty-ninth Week in Ordinary Time
In today’s gospel Jesus says, “I have come to set the earth on fire, and how I wish it were already blazing! There is a baptism with which I must be baptized, and how great is my anguish until it is accomplished! (Luke 12: 49-50). Earlier in Luke’s gospel, John the Baptist said, “I am baptizing you with water, but one mightier than I is coming…he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire” (3:16). The Greek word for baptize is immerse. Indeed, Jesus came to immerse us into the fire of the Holy Spirit. When we think of the image of a fire it can be tempting to focus on its destructive power. Fire can consume all that is touches, but not without giving back warmth and light. Jesus’s passion and death brought with it a fire that would cleanse us of our sins and give victory over death.
Wednesday of the Twenty-ninth Week in Ordinary Time
Today I invite us to focus on our responsorial psalm, which comes from Isaiah 12. This hopeful passage affords us an opportunity to declare God’s promises over our lives and over our loved ones and others around us. My youngest son was a joyful child; he exuded sunshine wherever he went. Those rays of joy originated deep within him from the well of his soul. He absolutely made my day each morning when he awoke and came downstairs from his bedroom with his face beaming. His joy was definitely contagious and attractive.
Tuesday of the Twenty-ninth Week in Ordinary Time
Most people are able to recall a time when they excluded others. Most people can also recall a time when they were excluded. These can be among the most poignant and painful memories, especially for kids and young adults. This happens in religion as well. We might remember that after Jesus commanded the crowd to “love you neighbor,” their first response was, ‘who is my neighbor?’ People want to know who they can exclude. This reality is the starting point for our first reading.
Memorial of Saints John de Brébeuf and Isaac Jogues, Priests, and Companions, Martyrs
We've had a lot of new things this past year. The two biggest additions to our life are little Eli (two weeks old) and our new home. We have come to love our new home and have put a lot of time, energy, and money into it. Yet, like all homes it comes with a never ending list of things we could do to improve it or things we need to do to maintain it. While we've been able to relish our new home and have done so with greater appreciation after brining Eli home to it, we are served well by taking Jesus' parable to heart.
Memorial of Saint Ignatius of Antioch, Bishop and Martyr
When I first wake up in the morning, I lie in bed and think, “OK Lord, what do you want me to do today?” Today’s readings remind me that I am not on my own, when I get up to face the day. The Holy Spirit provides me the wisdom, hope, courage and grace that I need to follow God’s leads. The challenge is to believe and trust in the Spirit particularly when I do not know what lies ahead.
Friday of the Twenty-eighth Week in Ordinary Time
I love to play games of all kinds. Some of my favorite games as a child were team games--football, dodgeball, kickball. I have distinct memories of grade school out on the playground or in gym class. We would identify two individuals to be captains and they would, one-by-one, select members for their team until everyone was chosen. There was this hopeful desire to be chosen first--it is very exciting to be wanted for a team. Yet, there was also a fear of being chosen last. However, as I reflect on it today, the truly powerful piece of the process is that everyone was chosen. We all wanted to play; we were all chosen to participate.
Memorial of Saint Teresa of Jesus, virgin and doctor of the Church
Over the last week or so, my husband Bill (who has been writing on Protestant fundamentalism for more than forty years), has been engaged in an email exchange with Mark, who is a self-identified fundamentalist.
The exchange started when Mark contacted Bill in response to an article that Bill and I wrote on the Creation Museum that was published in The Conversation, which is an outlet for scholarly work written for a popular audience. The piece got picked up by other media venues, which is how Mark came across it. Here’s a link to the article, in case you want to read it.
Wednesday of the Twenty-eighth Week in Ordinary Time
When my boys were young, I bought some assorted plastic fruit and wrote an attribute of the fruit of the Spirit on each piece of fruit. We kept the fruit basket on the dining room table and while we ate dinner together as a family, one of the boys would choose a fruit and we would talk altogether about what it means to live that particular virtue. Interestingly, the fruit of the Spirit is singular – St Paul describes fruit, not fruits, so we had fun trying to picture a multi-faceted fruit that contained all of these various virtues. It’s like a fruit that has the qualities of a grape, an apple, a mango, a banana, a kiwi, and an orange all wrapped up in one!
Tuesday of the Twenty-eighth Week in Ordinary Time
Flowcharts, processes, and procedures, these are all things that I have an appreciation for. I prefer the recipe following and precision measurements of baking over the intuition and eyeballing of cooking. When I’m thinking about buying a new game, I’ll often search online to read a copy of the rule book to help me decide about purchasing it. Today’s readings challenge me.
Monday of the Twenty-eighth Week in Ordinary Time
My children teach me new things everyday. Sometimes they are little factoids they have picked up from some educational show or book. At other times they remind me where my deepest weaknesses are or just how sweet and loving they can be. The latter has been particularly prominent as we have just brought home our fourth child and the other three are the most amazing caregivers for their little brother. Their actions and my time on paternity leave has really drawn me to today’s Psalm.
Saturday of the Twenty-seventh Week in Ordinary Time
Scripture Readings
Although there are so many struggles that we face today, one of the things that brings me the greatest sorrow is the amount of division in our world and even our church. This polarization and at times malice accosts you at every turn. As Christians, Jesus calls us to become one in Him. If we could see one another as equals- fellow children of God- we could work together to address the many problems plaguing our world.
Friday of the Twenty-seventh Week in Ordinary Time
Although Pope Francis released an encyclical this past Sunday, today’s readings have led me to his previous writing: an apostolic exhortation from 2018, Gaudete et Exsultate (Rejoice and Be Glad). It may seem odd that I am drawing on a document entitled Rejoice and Be Glad to help us reflect on a gospel passage (Luke 11:15-26) that deals with demons and unclean spirits. But Francis specifically refers to the end of today’s gospel in a chapter entitled “Spiritual Combat, Vigilance and Discernment,” noting that the Christian life is “a constant battle.” I invite you to continue with me here to learn more about what he (and Jesus) has to say.
Thursday of the Twenty-seventh Week in Ordinary Time
As I spent time in prayer with today’s gospel, I was immediately drawn to St. Augustine’s famous words from his Confessions, “You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our hearts are restless until they find their rest in you.” This restlessness has always been present in me, and usually I spend a lot of my time trying to find a way to get control of it. Yet, through the help of God’s grace, I aim to let go of this control so that I can experience glimpses of the rest that St. Augustine describes.
Memorial of Our Lady of the Rosary
Today’s Gospel offers us St Luke’s shortened version of the Our Father prayer (compare with Matt. 6:9-13). The brevity of this prayer gives me pause to reflect on the nature of prayer. In his first general audience of 2019, Pope Francis reflected on the Our Father. He said, “He does not need anything, our God: in prayer he asks only that we keep open a channel of communication with him to always discover ourselves [to be] his beloved children and [that] he loves us so much.” Pope Francis saw Jesus as distancing himself from hypocrites, who want to draw attention to themselves by their pious prayers, but then distort the Christian witness by their less than holy behavior; and from those who babble lengthy prayers in an attempt to please God or to be heard by God. He went on to say, “Christian prayer, on the other hand, has no other credible testimony than its own conscience . . . where a continuous dialogue with the Father intertwines intensely . . .” Today, can we enter into that kind of space with God, a continuous dialogue intertwined intensely?
Tuesday of the Twenty-seventh Week in Ordinary Time
How would it feel to be able to say this about your life-story and good works? What a blessing to know that one’s time here on Earth is well-spent, bringing people closer to their God and more at peace with themselves and their neighbors. Could there be something the Spirit is calling you to be or do that would inspire others to glorify God?
Monday of the Twenty-seventh Week in Ordinary Time
My mother-in-law loves connections. She lights up when she retells a story of how some stranger’s grandmother was actually the next door neighbor of someone we all know and there is some long lost connection. As an in-law (or out-law) I can’t always keep up with her series of connections but they are still fun to listen to. Today I felt a little of that excitement when I saw a new connection between our reading in Galatians and the Gospel’s telling of the Parable of the Good Samaritan.
Saturday of the Twenty-sixth Week in Ordinary Time
I have the privilege of caring for my grandchildren on a regular basis. They know that whether they come to me with a drawing or run to me with a skinned knee, I will offer them love and support. We are called to turn and trust in God with the same childlike trust. As children of God, God provides us the grace to become a source of healing and goodness for the world.