Memorial of Saint Irenaeus, Bishop and Martyr
I remember being in grade school, most likely as part of my preparation for confirmation in eighth grade, and learning about how to establish a prayer space within my home. We were encouraged to envision constructing an altar and what might be necessary for such a space to create a prayerful atmosphere – pictures, candles, a Bible, some altar cloth… you get the point. These memories came back to me as I reflected upon today’s scripture readings but on a bit of a broader scale.
Wednesday of the Twelfth Week in Ordinary Time
Although my mom was Jewish for much of my life I was raised Catholic. My parents did the best they could. We went to Church every week and attended CCD faithfully all the way through twelfth grade. Some of this time my heart was really on fire for my faith. I was an altar server all through high school and I considered priesthood during this time. But for a while after high school I withdrew from my faith in part because I surrounded myself with people who did not take the faith seriously. In the summer between second and third years of college I spent a great deal of time with a group of missionaries who taught me the profound importance of having a relationship with Christ. Although they were not Catholic and did not believe Catholics were Christians, they helped me reclaim my Catholic faith.
Tuesday of the Twelfth Week in Ordinary Time
Today, I want to begin by paying attention to how the text before us from the Book of Matthew appears in the Lectionary from the US Conference of Catholic Bishops. It opens with a single verse wherein Jesus addresses his disciples. Below that verse is a blank line followed by verse 12. Below that is another blank line followed by verses 13 and 14. Thus, visually speaking, we have three distinct words from Jesus. Three instructions. Let’s take each in turn.
Monday of the Twelfth Week in Ordinary Time
I think a large part of our human condition includes our inability to see our own faults and a quick readiness to judge and condemn others. Jesus calls us to not judge others, and I believe that the best way for us to achieve this approach of compassion is to realize first of all that we are also in need of healing and mercy. When we accept our sinfulness, then we acknowledge we are connected to all people. Being connected by our brokenness allows us to see that we are all in need of God’s mercy. When we understand our need for mercy and not being judged, this softens our hearts so we look at others with less judgment and greater love.
Solemnity of the Nativity of Saint John the Baptist
It is not always that the feast of the Nativity of John the Baptist falls on a Sunday. This year it so happens that it does. Generally, Sunday readings always take precedence over most feast day readings. However, John the Baptist is such an important figure in the Bible that the church sets aside the reading of the 12th Sunday of Ordinary time to focus on him. Since the Church intentionally gives John the Baptist this place of honor, let us reflect on his life and message.
Saturday of the Eleventh Week in Ordinary Time
Today’s first reading is an eventful episode in Hebrew history and the Gospel is the rich center of the Sermon on the Mount. Both of these were tempting, albeit overwhelming. In the end, it was the Psalm that caught my eye.
Friday of the Eleventh Week in Ordinary Time
One of the things I like to show students in my ethics courses is optical illusions: the picture of the bunny (or is it a duck?); the old woman (or is she young?). There are many others. Part of the reason I show my students these optical illusions is to press home the point that seeing - whether with biological eyes, or when looking at the moral problems they are presented with on a daily basis - isn't a simple matter. HOW you see is crucial to your sense of right and wrong and to the decisions you decide to make.
Memorial of Saint Aloysius Gonzaga, Religious
Can you imagine a greater hero from ancient literature than Elijah? The ancient Greek stories had powerful human-like gods, but they had such insidious character flaws; they were heroes without holiness. Elijah was a true hero; a person who not only expressed the power of the one true God, but who also acted with justice and holiness on behalf of the weak and dispossessed. In a time without action movies, TV, or internet, this passage has the same effect as the summer blockbuster hero movie. Elijah is the one who did so many wonderful signs as he tamed evil kings and brought the people back into right relationship with their God.
Wednesday of the Eleventh Week in Ordinary Time
Have you ever called someone or been labeled a hypocrite? In our current political landscape this accusation is being thrown around a great deal. Most reflective people realize we are all hypocrites at times. Consider Jesus’ words “let those without sin cast the first stone.” While this take on the golden rule is for all of us, there are times when we or others cannot help ourselves. Once I was reading Matthew 25 and thinking about the incredible value of feeding the hungry. Shortly after I was asked to bring food vouchers to a visitor and found myself displeased at what a few moments before I named a virtue. The Lord hit me squarely and clearly between the eyes.
Tuesday of the Eleventh Week in Ordinary Time
In a clever and poignant skit that aired on the Daily Show recently, the actors staged Facebook as an actual space—a local bar, to be exact. As the skit opens, a woman sitting at the bar announces that she has procrastinated long enough in the place and says it’s time to leave and get some work done. The owner/bartender does not want her to leave because he’d really like to sell her more drinks. He sees an “I’M FOR HER” button on her backpack and makes a crucial intervention. As she is packing up her backpack, he points out that a guy at the bar thinks Bernie would have won the election had he been the party nominee. Incensed, the woman returns to the bar, starts arguing with the Bernie supporter, and orders another drink. Immediately appreciating the brilliance of his intervention, the bartender encourages other patrons to get into arguments with each other. In short order, the bar is full of people arguing with each other, insulting each other, even breaking beer bottles on one another’s heads . . . and buying more drinks. The cash is rolling in. Oh, and now and again, someone shares a photo of their kid with another patron.
Monday of the Eleventh Week in Ordinary Time
The Gospel is nothing if not an account of who God is and how the Kingdom of God works. At times, however, it can be bewildering. When attempting to apply it to our personal lives, it is hard to hear certain things in the Gospel. At times, we may regard what we read as allegorical that we might excuse or justify certain behaviors. Today's Gospel may well be one of those times.
Eleventh Sunday in Ordinary Time
When I celebrate mass with our school kids, I sometimes ask them where heaven is. It is not uncommon for them to point toward the sky and say, “There.” One of the concepts that is very close to the word heaven is, kingdom of God. And because most of us imagine heaven to be up there, we also think that the kingdom of God lies beyond us in the far distant future. Even though we often pray “Thy Kingdom come on earth as it is heaven,” we really do not believe that heaven and kingdom of God have anything to do with us in the here and now.
Saturday of the Tenth Week in Ordinary Time
Today’s gospel reading continues the Sermon on the Mount from Matthew that we have been hearing over the past couple of days.
Friday of the Tenth Week in Ordinary Time
“I long to see your face, O Lord” cries the author of today’s Psalm response (27:8b). We too have times in our lives where we cry out to God. We look around our world and struggle to see God, we like the Psalmist beg to recognize God’s presence among us. We seek to live on Earth as it is in heaven because our Earth is not yet like the Kingdom. Sin, sorrow, and pain, linger here. So we cry out, “Where are you, Lord? Please, show me that you are close?”
Thursday of the Tenth Week in Ordinary Time
Today’s gospel passage continues the Sermon on the Mount from Matthew’s gospel. Here Jesus challenges the people to move beyond the simple rules of the Ten Commandments into a fuller biblical justice. The subject of today’s passage concerns the commandment against killing. This is familiar to us as it would have been to the people whom Jesus addressed at the time. And most of the people listening to Jesus, like most of us hearing his words today, would say that we are not guilty of breaking this commandment.
Memorial of Saint Anthony of Padua, Priest and Doctor of the Church
Scripture Readings
Anyone involved in scouting or who has a fireplace has probably at one point knows how to make a fire. You need three thing fuel, oxygen, and heat. Elijah was prepared the fuel and the sacrifice and trusted that the Lord would provide the heat. Except he was tired of the people persisting in their unbelief, asking them how long might they straddle issue? Unmoved by the question Elijah pushes them further.
Tuesday of the Tenth Week in Ordinary Time
We mere mortals are called by Jesus in the text from Matthew today to be not only the salt of the earth but the light of the world and a city on a hill. That is such a tall order. How are we to do that? Perhaps the poor widow in the Old Testament text can help.
Memorial of Saint Barnabas, Apostle
After we experience major life events such as getting married, having a child, a new job, a death of a loved one, a move to a new place-life is significantly changed. All that has happened before this experience does not disappear or become void, but things are not the same- this is what I would call the “new normal”. As Christians, we are called to live a “new normal”- a life that is changed in great ways following Jesus and His call to discipleship.
Memorial of the Immaculate Heart of the Blessed Virgin Mary
As Catholics, we profess that Mary was Immaculate and today we celebrate the Memorial of the Immaculate Heart of Mary. There are many misconceptions surrounding this belief. One such belief is that Mary was perfect. That is not the case in the truest sense of the word. Only God is perfect, for only God has no need of another to exist. Mary is professed to be sinless, but she was still utterly dependent on God. So what does Immaculate mean?
Solemnity of Most Sacred Heart of Jesus
I grew up a Protestant, and was always a little bit freaked about by the pictures I saw in some Catholic material that showed Jesus holding his large heart, with what seemed like bolts of lightning emanating from the heart. And, when I first became Catholic, this was not a feast day toward which I immediately gravitated. Like the rosary, the Sacred Heart was one of those Catholic oddities that overwhelmed my Protestant sensibilities, because it didn’t seem quite scriptural – and well, maybe a little bit because the idea of Jesus holding his heart seemed a bit too Indiana Jones (the second movie). As I have grown in my Catholic faith, though, I have come more and more to appreciate the Sacred Heart, even reading about the lives of Saint Margaret Mary and Sr. Josefa Menendez. This is a feast day that focuses so much on Jesus’ love and mercy for the world – important things for our world that has so many hurting people who want something more for their lives.