Articles for Ordinary Time
Today the Sacred Scriptures speak to us about the first and greatest commandment that Jesus left us: the command to love God above all things. Like so much of the Christian life, it is better learned by doing it than asking how it is done. A story from the Hasidic masters exemplifies this. The…
Continue Reading“Our new Constitution is now established, and has an appearance that promises permanency; but in this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes” (Benjamin Franklin). Each generation, each individual, discovers death anew. A youth generally does not consider death at all. Eventually a person may attend a funeral or…
Continue ReadingIllustrations of Jesus smiling with friends around him in a meadow on a sunny day are appealing. Images of saints with serene faces clothed in light while serving others are inspiring. I am sure that such scenes actually happened. The Beatitudes, blessings spoken by Jesus, actually happened, too. But these paint a slightly different…
Continue Reading“Where your treasure is, there also will your heart be” (Matthew 6: 21). Living out the message of today’s Mass readings is impossible unless we know what and where our treasure is. And, therefore, where our heart is. Changing things that are external can be helpful to identifying our values. Such as getting adequate…
Continue ReadingIt takes either a lot of child-like trust or a lot of maturity to be a follower of Jesus. Paradoxically, time-tested maturity can lead to child-like trust. Kids see something and want it. They don’t consider whether or not it is safe, healthy, ethical or legal. Sometimes, they get the big bag of candy, devour it,…
Continue ReadingThe reading today from Ephesians makes some people cringe. It seems so outdated. Of course, St. Paul was living in a different time and in a different culture. But if the Word of God is timeless, it needs to speak to all times and all places. The timeless and universal message is choosing to…
Continue ReadingThe Catholic Church venerates all of the Apostles, and today, in a special way, Sts. Simon and Jude. St. Paul says that the household of God was built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets. Although not much is revealed in Holy Scripture about Simon and Jude, it is known that Jesus handpicked…
Continue ReadingToday’s Gospel story about the blind Bartimaeus can be read and interpreted literally. The calling of a blind man by Jesus resonates very well with the reading from Jeremiah, in which the Lord gathers the remnant of Israel (including the blind) to Himself. The restoration of sight by Jesus the High Priest also dovetails with the…
Continue ReadingHere we are, Saturday, another great day for MIZZOU football (hopefully) and another great Saturday to honor Our Lady! St. Maximilian Kolbe said simply, “Jesus is our love. Mary is our hope; you can do all things through her.” If we ask Our Lady for help, she will come to our aid, and the…
Continue ReadingIn our Alleluia verse today, we hear, “Blessed are you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth; you have revealed to little ones the mysteries of the Kingdom.” I remember being home in Kansas City and going to Mass with my family. After Mass, my nephew Bennett said to me “Br. Max, let’s go to…
Continue ReadingThe Lord wants to shake up the world in a good way. He says in our gospel today, “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…
Continue ReadingToday’s gospel may hard to hear because Jesus gets to the point. We don’t know when the final day will come. People in the world today act like it won’t even come at all. That’s why in the gospel we hear as Jesus explains to his disciples “That servant who knew his master’s will…
Continue ReadingToday is the optional memorial of Pope St. John Paul II, as we like to say in the Burkhart family, “we are JPII Catholics,” meaning my parents found their faith when John Paul II was pope. My siblings and I found our vocation under his pontificate. Most importantly, we found our devotion to Mary…
Continue ReadingIn our responsorial psalm, we hear “The Lord made us, we belong to him.” This should give us great peace. It reminds me of the lost sheep, no matter what the Lord will leave the 99 and go out and find that one lost sheep. We are all precious in the eyes of the…
Continue Reading“For the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many.” This is the last part of our gospel reading today, and it is very important! We must imitate Christ. We hear in our second reading, “For we do not have…
Continue ReadingIntegrity to Jesus “I tell you, everyone who acknowledges me before others the Son of Man will acknowledge…” (Luke 12, Gospel Reading) Oh no, not another set of martyrs to reflect on! Yes, another set of martyrs. And we should rejoice especially at these, because they worked to evangelize Native Americans in the region…
Continue ReadingThe Lord Stands By Us “Luke is the only one with me.” (2 Timothy, First Reading) A desperate, perhaps lonely St. Paul… We can sense his humanity in his writing to St. Timothy. In his letter, he reports the loss of personnel working with him in the mission field—Demas, Crescens, Titus: they “deserted” him.…
Continue ReadingThe Blood in Words “The blood of the prophets is required, from Abel to Zechariah.” (cf. Luke 11:50-51, Gospel Reading) I think of the old adage, “Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me.” This children’s rhyme was taught to encourage resiliency in the face of insult. However, in…
Continue ReadingThe Light of Life “Those who follow you, Lord, will have the light of life.” (cf. John 8:12, Responsorial Refrain) What is light? Consider the light from your lamp, or the light emanating from your device, or the sunlight pouring into your room through the window. What is light? Scientifically, visible light is both…
Continue ReadingFaith Working Through Love “For in Christ Jesus, neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything, but only faith working through love.” (Galatians 5, First Reading) How can I be sure I am following Jesus and living the Gospel? I am baptized, yes, and I have received the other Sacraments of Christian Initiation (Confirmation and…
Continue ReadingFreedom in Christ “For freedom Christ set us free.” (Galatians 4, First Reading) Our American minds think of red, white, and blue, and patriotic songs when we hear the word “freedom.” This is fine and understandable, especially as a major civic election draws near. But this is a spiritual reflection, not a political one.…
Continue ReadingSin & Forgiveness “If you, O Lord, should mark iniquities, Lord, who could stand? But with you is found forgiveness, O God of Israel.” (Ps. 130, Entrance Antiphon) With God there is forgiveness. Thank God! Between fellow human beings, not always. Oh, the humanity! When there is forgiveness between two people, it is beautiful.…
Continue Reading“Blessed are those who hear the Word of God and observe it.” Saturdays are dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary in the Liturgical Calendar when no other saint or feast is celebrated. Mary holds the place of honor in the Church as the Theotokos, Mother of God. She is so richly blessed that one…
Continue Reading“The Kingdom of God has come upon you.” Jesus drives out demons by God’s power. He can command them by divine right. He is, after all, the Son of God and an equal person in the divine communion of the Holy Trinity. Do you believe he can set you free? Do you trust him?…
Continue ReadingPersistence. We hear this word in the Gospel, and what a story it tells. A man would not open the door for his friend out of friendship. The door gets opened by persistent knocking. There is some humor in this because knocking on someone’s door late at night will get the cops called on…
Continue Reading“Lord, teach us to pray.” What a profound scene this is. Jesus’ disciples want to learn from him how to pray. Prayer is so essential to the Christian life. It is comparable to breathing for the body. Prayer is breathing for the soul. So many saints this month—Therese of Lisieux, Teresa of Avila, Faustina…
Continue ReadingWhen we feel pulled towards a person, there is a reason. Some people just have a certain magnetism. A special character that invites us towards them. We are pulled toward them without any fear or coercion. They just have a halo effect where we admire something about them and want to follow after them.…
Continue ReadingFor these reflections, I want to offer meditations that have less verbiage and invite you to search for insight within yourself. We read the story of the Good Samaritan who came upon the man who was robbed and left to die on the road. Reciprocity is the key here. When a person does something…
Continue ReadingJesus tells the Pharisees that God gave life to humanity, recalling Genesis, and he created us as male and female. He challenges the notion that a man can dismiss a woman with a bill of divorce. He says that it was because of “hardness of heart” that Moses made this prescription in the Law…
Continue ReadingEveryone likes happy endings! If this is true it provides the reason for the popularity of so many novels, films, short stories, and musical masterpieces down through the centuries. All’s well that ends well and brings a certain satisfaction and lasting joy. Our Scripture readings for today combine to bring two very different stories…
Continue ReadingWe celebrate the feast of St. Francis of Assisi today with all the Franciscans (women and men) of the world and there are many. In fact, as the old joke has it: “How many Franciscans are there?… Only God knows, and God is not sure!” We do know, that Francis of Assisi continues to…
Continue ReadingIt’s true. The Gospels, and all the various books of the Bible are full of abundant material for reflection. However, they also contain gaps concerning human interest information. We believe that the Holy Spirit inspired the biblical writers to use their own best writing skills as well as the community’s collected memory which of…
Continue Reading“Children should be seen but not heard” is a well-known proverb. Historians trace its usage to sometime in Fifteenth-century England. We can guess that some adult coined the phrase when some kids were raising a racket and were having way too much fun in the wrong place. Apart from the challenge of dealing with…
Continue ReadingThe Scripture readings for today seem to highlight the word “disappointment.” The whole book of Job seems to be an example of “disappointment” on steroids! What more could happen to an upright person who had followed all the rules and yet saw his treasures come tumbling down around him? “That ain’t fair!” might well…
Continue ReadingSt. Jerome, who lived from 347-420 was considered one of the most learned of the Latin Fathers of the Church. Some people just naturally do everything in a big way. St. Jerome took on the Herculean task of translating the Hebrew scriptures into Latin without the benefit of dictionaries and a wealth of commentaries.…
Continue ReadingThe Peanuts Comic cartoon of years ago comes to mind as I reflect on the readings for this 26th Sunday of the Year. I’m reminded of Charlie Brown making an innocent, solemn wide-eyed, heart-felt pronouncement: “I love humanity!” which is immediately followed by a fire-breathing smoke-filled “It’s people I can’t stand!” How well we…
Continue ReadingSometimes it is the responsorial psalm that brings together the two readings at mass. Such is the case today I believe. Today, Psalm 90. “In every age, O Lord, you have been our refuge. You turn man back to dust, saying, Return, O children of men. For a thousand years in your sight are…
Continue ReadingThe words of Qoheleth continue in their haunting mood. There is an appointed time for everything under the sun, a time for everything. When we are in a reflective moment, this could be an assurance that all our days are not just about business—frantic rushing from one thing to another. This passage is sometimes…
Continue ReadingVanity of Vanities. All things are vanity! What way to start? “What profit has a person from all the things labored at under the sun?” So begins the Book of Ecclesiastes. And it does not sound very encouraging either. “One generation passes to another.” This book serves as a corrective to puffed-up egos, overconfidence,…
Continue ReadingSo they set out and went on their way spreading the good news and curing diseases. That is the conclusion of all Jesus’ training of the 12 for their mission and the rather simple instructions he gave them. Recall one of the purposes of Jesus calling the twelve was first that they might be…
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