Feast of Saints Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael, archangels
Today's Scripture
Perhaps no part of our Christian faith today is so extracted from its original Christian context as angels. Angels! We see them as statues, on stationery, and in books. Those who do very little to practice Christianity are often drawn to the cute little cherubs. Those who do practice Christianity often take very little notice of angels, other than accepting this sentimentalized and sanitized version of winged figures flitting about doing good.
Monday of the Twenty-sixth Week in Ordinary Time
Today's Scripture
For many of us, the name “Jerusalem” simply brings thoughts of international conflict – religious conflict – and a major political debate. So maybe it shouldn’t surprise us to know that conflict over Jerusalem is nothing new. For the prophet Zechariah’s audience, Jerusalem was more than just a city. It was a symbol of what they had lost. In this 26th week of counting the time that we have committed ourselves to Jesus, we hear Zechariah’s words of comfort. For Jerusalem was also a symbol of hope. Over the past weeks we have heard first, the warnings of Ezekiel and Jeremiah, and after that the words of the prophet Haggai, who wrote during the same time as Zechariah. That time period was a time of exile.
Twenty-sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Today's Scripture
Today’s readings are about exclusion and inclusion. In the first reading, God gives the gift of prophecy to Eldad and Medad – two people not among the seventy that were set apart as prophets. Some complained about this, others got upset and Joshua tried to put pressure of Moses to stop them from prophesying. Moses confronts the exclusivism of these men and opens their mind to the wideness of God’s immense gifts. We see a similar instance in the gospel reading.
Saturday of the Twenty-fifth Week in Ordinary Time
Today's Mass Readings
How common it is for us to idolize youth! Think of the extent to which many of us go to hide indicators of aging – we color our hair, we wear contact lenses, we use anti-aging cream on our skin. Think of the ways that we try to make youth last longer and longer – we delay marriage and having children, we create and use drugs like Viagra.
Friday of the Twenty-fifth Week in Ordinary Time
Today's Scripture
Maybe it’s because of the economic situation now, or the wars, or the fact that I have a two year old and that means I worry more, but lately I’ve often felt like the world is a pretty scary place. And so I’ve been remembering hymns that have to do with God and fear. One we often sang in my grandmother’s Methodist Church went like this: “Fear not, I am with thee, O be not afraid, for I am thy God and will still give thee aid.” Another is a song I learned when I became Catholic: “Be not afraid – I go before you always. Come follow me, and I will give you rest.”
Thursday of the Twenty-fifth Week in Ordinary Time
Today's Scripture
Today’s responsorial psalm has an interesting refrain: “The Lord takes delight in his people” (Ps 149:4a). The root of this word “delight” is love, as is echoed in the line which says “For the LORD loves his people” (Ps 149:4). It is one of the great tenants of Christianity that God loves us, but yet we do not often think of the Lord delighting in us. We might notice that in this psalm, the people are described as also rejoicing in the Lord, praising God and exalting him. One insight we could take from this is that the Lord delights in human beings recognizing him as God. Of course he loves us regardless, but God really delights in us returning his love. Why might this be?
Wednesday of the Twenty-fifth Week in Ordinary Time - St. Padre Pio da Pietrelcina
Today's Mass Readings
Today we remember Padre Pio. His life was a witness to the power of suffering. At Pio’s canonization celebration John Paul the second remarked that suffering, if accepted with love, can lead to a “privileged path of sanctity.” St. Pio had been blessed with the wounds of Christ on the Cross. The “stigmata” humbled Pio, who became even more a servant of the people after that gift from God. He often heard confessions for 10 hours a day.
Tuesday of the Twenty-fifth Week in Ordinary Time
Today's Mass Readings
Today’s Gospel reading invites us to examine our relationship with Christ. Specifically, we are asked to examine that relationship through Christ’s perspective, which is identified in the response he provides upon learning that his mother and brothers had come to him, but were unable to join him because of the crowd. Upon hearing this news, Jesus responds that “My mother and my brothers are those who hear the word of God and act on it.” (Lk 8:21). Jesus’ perspective and expectations are set forth in this description of his followers as his mother and his brothers.
Feast of Saint Matthew, Apostle and evangelist
Today's Mass Readings
Today, as we continue our daily walk with the Lord through this season of Ordinary Time, we pause to celebrate the feast of St. Matthew, the Apostle and Evangelist who is known as the author of the gospel of Matthew. So who was this Matthew? Was he a great man, a renowned scholar, a righteous and holy person when he encountered Jesus?
Twenty-fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Today's Mass Readings
In last week’s gospel, Jesus had asked his disciples who they thought he was. After Peter’s revealing confession, in today’s gospel reading Jesus begins to talk about his impending suffering and death at the hands of people with vested interests. Shockingly though, the disciples are busy with a totally unrelated issue – “Who is the greatest?” In similar vein, today’s first reading narrates the instance of a few powerful and privileged people planning the destruction of the poor, innocent and underprivileged of Israelite society. So, here is my question. What is it about human beings that we have this inner urge to dominate others, to have more than others, to control others, to be better than others, and all this many times at the cost of others? What made the disciples so insensitive to the impending suffering of another human being? And what makes us fashion a world that thrives on inequality. And yes, who is the greatest?
Saturday of the Twenty-fourth Week in Ordinary Time
Today's Mass Readings
Today’s First Reading (1 Timothy 6:13-16) opens with an assignment: We are charged, before the Father and the Son, to follow the commandments and to wait for the Second Coming of our Lord. We are reminded that God “gives life to all things,” that Christ “gave testimony” to his executioner, and that the fullness of God’s glory will someday be “made manifest.”
Friday of the Twenty-fourth Week in Ordinary Time
Today's Mass Readings
I think a lot of people focus on the "love of money is the root of all evil" part of today's first scripture reading (1 Timothy 6:2c-12). To be sure, there are all kinds of ways that we can and should meditate on that in our own lives - where am I loving money in my own life? Maybe it is in my desire to have the newest latest technology; maybe it is in working too many hours in order to make more and more money, to the detriment of my relationships with family and friends, etc.
Thursday of the Twenty-fourth Week in Ordinary Time
Today's Mass Readings
As we continue walking with the Lord in this 24th week of time, we encounter two excellent readings today. The first is from the first letter of St. Paul to Timothy, which we have been reading now for almost a week (with a few interruptions). 1 Timothy is a practical letter, and today’s excerpt contains some practical advice that is still relevant for us today. Paul instructs the readers to “set an example.” Actions are often more powerful than words, and sometimes the best persuasion of the goodness of Christianity is the example of Christian believers.
Memorial of Saint Cornelius, pope and martyr, and Saint Cyprian, bishop and martyr
Our feast for today calls us to remember two men who lived in the same era, dealt with similar issues and died for their support of authentic Catholic beliefs. Cornelius, who was the pope, sided with Cyprian the African Bishop of Carthage on the issue of how to deal with lapsed Catholics. Both believed that upon completion of a proper penance, (which would have been rigorous), those who had fallen away from the church during a time of heavy persecution could be restored to the faith. Although the teaching was upheld by a synod of Western bishops, the emperor, at the time, sent Cornelius into exile. Cyprian was eventually martyred for standing with Cornelius.
Memorial of Our Lady of Sorrows
Today's Mass Readings
When I read articles in the media about people who have gained some measure of success, I find that I am surprised when they mention their faith. This surprise does not come from the fact that faith is important to them, instead, it is based on the fact that people tend to shy away from any public discussion about the role that their religion plays in their life. It was brought to my attention that a notable exception to this general reluctance to discuss one’s faith can be found in, of all places, in the Rolling Stone magazine.
Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross
Today's Mass Readings
As Christians, we often take the symbol of the cross for granted. We wear it
around our necks, we have it hanging on our home walls and church walls,
and, in short, we see it so much that it becomes something familiar to us.
While this is not a bad thing, it can prevent us from realizing how shocking
the cross is or how controversial it might have been in years past. Today
we celebrate the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross. We celebrate it
as a symbol of victory.
Twenty-fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Today's Mass Readings
Today's gospel raised some basic yet signinficant questions. Who is this Jesus? What makes Jesus the kind pan-hisatorical figure that he is? What made a small group of terrified cowards (his disciples), and a few women (who had minimal role in Jewish society), to be so emboldened to spread the news of his resurrection (there is no historical evidence of the resurrection) to the whole world? “Who then was Jesus?” That is the question Jesus himself asks his disciples in today’s gospel reading, “Who do people that say I am?” Jesus did not fare will at that first ever opinion poll. Some thought he was Jeremiah and others thought he was Elijah. But then he asks the most crucial question to his close followers, “But who do you say that I am?”
Saturday of the Twenty-third week in Ordinary Time
Today’s readings challenge us to reflect on the nature of our lives as disciples that by their very nature must pair devotion to God in the sacraments with Christian loving action. In today’s gospel, Jesus emphasizes what could easily be called one of the themes of the gospels: true faith in God gives rise to loving action. Jesus repeatedly chastises the Pharisees for being overly concerned with how they appear to the detriment of true piety. He challenges numerous people who want to follow Him to understand the implications of such following. He heals numerous people based their profound faith and some turn away from Him because of their lack of faith.
Friday of the Twenty-third Week in Ordinary Time
Today's Mass Readings
Paul (First Timothy 1:1-2, 12-14) reminds me of one of my own teachers in faith. Alex often talked about the way he “used to be.” He used to fight with everyone tooth and nail, always wanting to be the winner in a fight, always belittling opponents, making people purposefully mad, going exactly for the spots he knew were the weakest. He had admirers, but many more people who were afraid of him. He himself admired a few people, but most didn’t quite make the cut. In his pre-apostle days, I imagine Paul was much like that: out to get any Christians he could lay hands on, angry at these Christians for messing up “his” faith, persecuting people as much as he possibly could.
Thursday of the Twenty-third Week in Ordinary Time
Today's Mass Readings
Today’s first reading and gospel passage point to the all-important theme of love. Ah, love. Just the word evokes tender feelings and thoughts of peace. Or does it?