Twenty-Third Sunday in Ordinary Time 09/06/2020 Ez 33:7-9, Rm 13:8-10, Mt 18:15-20 Dear sisters and brothers, One of the most difficult things in life is correcting another person. Yes, there are people who seem always to be correcting others—but that type of person rarely has any lasting success. What the Lord God [...]
Twenty-Second Sunday in Ordinary Time 08/30/2020 Jr 22:19-23, Rm 12:1-2, Mt 16:13-20 A Fire In My Bones Recently a friend sent me an extremely moving YouTube video. Arrayed like a gallery of individuals in a Zoom meeting (I trust everyone knows about Zoom by now!) were thirty or forty young musicians. They were obviously [...]
Twenty-First Sunday in Ordinary Time Is 22:19-23, Rm 11:33-36, Mt 16:13-20 Who Do You Say You Are? The question Jesus poses in today’s gospel is not a pop quiz for the disciples. Since it comes half-way through Matthew’s Gospel, at a critical turning point, we might be tempted to think Jesus is giving [...]
Twentieth Sunday in Ordinary Time Is 56:1, 6-7, Rm 11:13-15, 29-32, Mt 15:21-28 My sisters and brothers in Christ, Today the readings give us teaching about non-Jewish people being redeemed. For most of us, that is something that we have always believed. But we need to remember that this was a new idea for [...]
Nineteenth Sunday in Ordinary time 08/09/2020 1 Kings 19:9a, 11-13a, Romans 9:1-5, Matthew 14:22-33 Dear sisters and brothers, Meghan is a wife, mom, and nurse. She is a devout catholic who shares in the ministry of her parish community as a lector. When she tested positive for the novel coronavirus, she was visibly [...]
Isaiah 55:1-3, Romans 8:35, 37-39, Matthew 14:13-21 GENEROSITY, ABUNDANCE, EXTRAVAGANCE Not Counting Women and Children, the words in the last line of today’s Gospel, is the title of a book by theologian and storyteller Megan McKenna. What this line might mean, McKenna, proposes, is that the number Jesus fed in that deserted place on [...]
1 Kings 3-5, 7-12, Rm 8:28-30, Mt 13:44-52, or 44-46 Dear sisters and brothers, Pandemics have a way of forcing us to examine our priorities. They compel us to take a long look at the choices that are set before us. Should I send my child back to school in the fall, or [...]
Wis 12:13, 16-19, Rm 8:26-27, Mt 13:24-43 Dear sisters and brothers, The Letter to the Romans tells us in the second reading today: “we do not know how to pray as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes with inexpressible groanings.” That is pretty strong! Because our world is so messed up, we are often [...]
Isaiah 55:10-11, Romans 8:18-23, Matthew 13:1-23 Dear brothers and sisters, A family was on vacation, and as they rode down the highway there was a big sign that read: Road Closed. They maneuvered around the sign and continued on. Suddenly the road ended and there was an even larger sign: “What part of ‘Road [...]
Zec 9: 9-10, Rom 8: 9, 11-13, Mat 11: 25-30 Dear brothers and sisters, Apart from its context, Jesus’ prayer in today’s Gospel is rather puzzling. He praises God for hiding “these things” from “the wise and the learned” and making them known to “the little ones.” The attentive listener may be forgiven [...]