Feast of Saint Bartholomew, Apostle
Thursday of the Twentieth Week in Ordinary Time
We’ve been to a couple of weddings this summer. I like having the occasion to dress nicer than my everyday clothes, even dressier than my typical Sunday church clothes. As I tell my kids, it’s a special occasion, one that calls for being “fancier” in order to celebrate the marriage of the bride and groom. Even the less formal outdoor weddings call for making a special effort to look nicer than if you were working in the garden or going to a baseball game. But, certainly, no one is going to turn you away from the church or the reception if you aren’t “dressed up”.
Memorial of the Queenship of the Blessed Virgin Mary
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.
Memorial of Saint Pius X, Pope
Today’s first reading, from Ezekiel, contains God’s words of judgment against the prince of Tyre. Using Ezekiel as his mouthpiece, God exposes the king’s hubris in setting himself up as a god, while in fact the king is just a mortal human being like you and me. Ezekiel prophesies that the king will meet death just like any other human being. The problem is that he has not lived in a way that has pleased God. We can speculate that he has not shown justice to those he governs.
Memorial of Saint Bernard, Abbot and Doctor of the Church
This past Friday at Mass, there was a young boy who was sitting several pews behind me with his family. He seemed pretty happy to be there and looked like a kid who could probably get along with just about anybody and fit in almost anywhere. However, what grabbed my attention right away was the t-shirt that he was wearing. It was a bright orange t-shirt, which obviously stood out, with a large navy-blue Triquetra (a symbol of the Trinity) across the front. Below the large Trinitarian symbol read the words, “Be Perfect.” What an incredible statement! As we were leaving Mass, I complimented the young man on his shirt and asked him where he had gotten it. Clearly fond of his shirt, the boy smiled and replied, “I don’t know. I got it last Christmas.” Whether deliberate or unintentional, his statement was powerful: Be Perfect. The simplicity of this statement resonated with me, but my unspoken, natural follow-up question to this statement seemed to be anything but simple: “How?”
Twentieth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Last week I spoke to you about God speaking to me through the scriptures about returning to the love with which I first loved God. There were two realizations that came to me: first that I needed to return to God with all the love in my heart and allow God to lead me; and second, that God concretely and really spoke to me. God did not discard me or abandon me, but rather, God actually cared enough to be present to me and draw me back. In recent times, this has been the most real experience of God’s presence in my life. I truly know that God still loves me.
Saturday of the Nineteenth Week in Ordinary Time
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
Each time we pray the Lord’s Prayer (“Our Father…”), which is at least each Sunday at mass, perhaps more often if we pray it on our own or with our children during the week, we are asking God to “forgive us our trespasses (or debts) as we forgive those who trespass against us (our debtors).” (taken from Matthew 6:12) Today’s gospel reading (Matthew 18: 21-19:1) is about just that. The Parable of the Unforgiving Servant is a somewhat jarring parable intended to bring home Jesus’ important message of forgiveness.
Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary
Mary, the Mother of Jesus, is one of the most important and perhaps most misunderstood of all of the saints. For many, Mary is a holy vessel, who we honor as the Mother of God who birthed Jesus the Messiah into our world. For others, Mary represents the reason as to why they think Catholics are not Christians. In other words some people think Catholics worship Mary.
Memorial of Saint Maximilian Mary Kolbe, Priest and Martyr
The gospel today brings up the idea that there is something childlike about Christian faith. This raises the question of the main differences between children and adults. It occurs to me that being an adult comes with certain privileges but it also includes many responsibilities that children do not have. Adults have more autonomy and they can make more decisions for themselves, but they are also responsible for their decisions in ways that young children are not. Adults may have other people – family and friends – who depend on them for material and emotional support in ways that children do not experience. And adults perhaps have more to worry about – making ends meet, providing for their families, and planning for the future.
Monday of the Nineteenth Week in Ordinary Time
Being raised Catholic, Scripture has been a familiar part of my life since I was born. It has only been in recent years that I have begun to realize how powerful Scripture is. I have come to understand that every encounter with Scripture, whether hearing or reading or praying, is an invitation to a personal encounter God. Certainly there are common moral lessons and teachings meant for all of us, but when I am open to the possibility, God can penetrate my heart the unique way that can transform me. One thing that is certain, no matter how it happens, an encounter with God will change everything.
Nineteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
My trip home last month became an opportunity for an a-ha moment. First of all, I took the unfamiliar route to the airport, lost my way and then panicked. I got on the plane just on time. I was not looking forward to my six-hour layover at the Washington DC airport but it helped me catch my breath. The best analogy I can use to explain how I felt is that of a tired and worn out puppy. It was as if I was sitting in the airport huffing and puffing. It was not just the way to the airport. It was the last six months. It is when I sat down that I realized how tired I was. Later after dinner that evening, I decided to read the scriptures and connect with my Creator. My Bible opened to the book of Revelation chapter two. The passage read: ““I know your works, your labor, and your endurance, and that you cannot tolerate the wicked…. Moreover, you have endurance and have suffered for my name, and you have not grown weary. Yet I hold this against you: you have lost the love you had at first. Realize how far you have fallen. Repent, and do the works you did at first”(Rev 2; 2-5). I sat there in stunning self-realization.
Memorial of Saint Clare, virgin
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.
Feast of Saint Lawrence, deacon and martyr
In the 3-6 year old atrium that meets on Sunday mornings, I have a lesson I give during Lent for the older children about the grain of wheat that is the focus of today's gospel (John 12:24-26). I use it to help them think about how Jesus dies but rises again, and gives us new life. We grow wheat seeds over a period of about six weeks, and we dig them up each week to see what is happening. At the end of the six weeks, I also show them a fully grown wheat stalk, full of seeds, but also dry and yellowed, not at all like the green shoots we've been examining. We compare the seeds and we see that the seeds are like the ones we've been growing.
Thursday of the Eighteenth Week in Ordinary Time
To know something “by heart” is to know it so well that you don’t have to see it written down in order to remember it. I recall memorizing piano pieces when I was a young girl and being able to play them without the music. It wasn’t just that I had memorized the notes printed on the page, but that I knew it so well that I could play it and feel it without having to think very hard about it, as if it were part of me. In fact, sometimes “thinking” about it too much would mess me up; it was better if I just played it “by heart” and let my fingers go where they knew to go.
Memorial of Saint Dominic, priest
Hope is a word we use quite often, yet I was confounded as I tried to think of how to define it. Still it was the word that kept coming to me as I prayed with the readings today. Ironically, it is not a word that appears in the scriptures the Church has chosen for today’s Memorial of St. Dominic.
Tuesday of the Eighteenth Week in Ordinary Time
As Christians we often pay lip service to the idea that every believer can approach and grow closer to God, but how does someone approach God? I wonder whether when we say this we are really paying attention to what is involved in approaching God. The very idea of coming into God’s presence can sometimes seems so nervy and presumptuous that we hold ourselves back from growing closer to God. The readings for today respond to these worries. They speak to the awesomeness of God’s presence, but they also invite us wholeheartedly to strive to turn to meet God and to live our lives in God.
Feast of the Transfiguration of the Lord
Today we celebrate the feast of the Transfiguration of Jesus. Not only do we see Jesus’ glory revealed in the readings today, but we hear about the His relationship with the Father, and how it is from the Father that He receives His glory and blessings. The readings today also invite us to be transformed by listening to Jesus and following Him. As we become more like Him, we too can be a reflection of God’s glory.
Eighteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
For the next three weeks our gospel reading will be taken from chapter six of John’s gospel. Most of this chapter is the bread of life discourse. It began last week with the miracle of the multiplication of loaves and will end with many disciples ceasing to follow Jesus because his teachings were too hard to follow. In between these two events is sandwiched Jesus’s teaching of him as the “bread of that came down from heaven” and him being the “bread of life.” Since we have three weeks to understand every aspect of this teaching, I would like to explore every possible meaning of Jesus teaching. I would like to keep the more strictly Eucharistic themes for the coming weeks. Today, I want to reflect on the more unconventional interpretations Jesus teaching on the bread of life.