Lenten Resources

  In our first reading today, we hear some confusing words, “and those he predestined he also called; and those called—justified; those justified he also glorified.” What does this phrase, ‘he predestined’ mean? Are we stuck with what God has decided for us? Are we not free to act and choose as we wish? Are…

  “It is like a mustard seed that a man took and planted in the garden.” We hear this phrase a few places in the scriptures, especially with regards to the size of the seed, “it’s the smallest.” Often, as an act of false humility, we will say to ourselves, “oh, I’m nobody. I just…

  “For those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you received a spirit of adoption, through which we cry, “Abba, Father!” Do we believe these words? Do we genuinely believe that we are beloved…

  Part of the Christian experience is the tension between need, prayer, and waiting. We struggle in life, and amid that struggle, call out to God for help. This calling out in prayer might last quite a long time, years maybe. In that waiting, we are tempted to fall away because God doesn’t seem to…

  Foreword: During Ordinary Time, the entrance and communion antiphons of the Sunday liturgy are repeated throughout the week. In this way, the themes developed at the Sunday Mass are enriched and expanded as they interact with the different readings found on each day of the following week in much the same way that a…

  Foreword: During Ordinary Time, the entrance and communion antiphons of the Sunday liturgy are repeated throughout the week. In this way, the themes developed at the Sunday Mass are enriched and expanded as they interact with the different readings found on each day of the following week in much the same way that a…

  Foreword: During Ordinary Time, the entrance and communion antiphons of the Sunday liturgy are repeated throughout the week. In this way, the themes developed at the Sunday Mass are enriched and expanded as they interact with the different readings found on each day of the following week in much the same way that a…

  Foreword: During Ordinary Time, the entrance and communion antiphons of the Sunday liturgy are repeated throughout the week. In this way, the themes developed at the Sunday Mass are enriched and expanded as they interact with the different readings found on each day of the following week in much the same way that a…

  We celebrate today the memorial of eight Jesuit missionaries who came to North America from France to preach the gospel among the native peoples of Canada. The entrance antiphon—“May we never boast, except in the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ…” (Cf. Gal 6:14; 1 Cor 1:18)—speaks directly to our first reading today from…

  The liturgy for the Feast of St. Luke opens with the familiar quotation from Isaiah the prophet about the messenger who brings good news: “How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings glad tidings of peace, bearing good news, announcing salvation!” (Is 52:7). In the first reading from 2nd Timothy,…

  The liturgy of this Sunday opens with the words of the antiphon: “To you I call, for you will surely heed me, O God; turn your ear to me; hear my words. Guard me as the apple of your eye; in the shadow of your wings protect me” (Ps 17(16):6,8). In the context of…

  Here we are, Saturday, another great day for MIZZOU football (hopefully) and another great Saturday to honor Our Lady! Jesus tells his disciples today, “When they take you before synagogues and before rulers and authorities, do not worry about how or what your defense will be or about what you are to say. For…

  Today is the feast day of the great St. Teresa of Ávila! She once said, “Have courage for whatever comes in life – everything lies in that.” Jesus says in today’s Gospel, “I tell you, my friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body…Even the hairs of your head have all…

  Today’s Gospel says, “When Jesus left, the scribes and Pharisees began to act with hostility toward him and to interrogate him about many things, for they were plotting to catch him at something he might say.” On Tuesday, I asked you if you are a follower of Jesus or a Pharisee, so I pose…

  “The Lord said to the Pharisees, ‘Oh you Pharisees! Although you cleanse the outside of the cup and the dish, inside you are filled with plunder and evil. You fools! Did not the maker of the outside also make the inside? But as to what is within, give alms, and behold, everything will be…

  In the Alleluia verse today, we hear “If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts.” When we hear the word of God, we should never harden our hearts. Yes, there are times when we want to grumble and complain to the Lord, and you know what, that’s ok! Today is the optional…

  There has been a lot going on in my life lately, which can make me nervous and full of anxiety, so much so that I become paralyzed and don’t know what to do. Our first reading from Wisdom has a great antidote for that! “I prayed, and prudence was given me; I pleaded, and…

  Blessed are those who hear the word of God and observe it. This is one of the shortest passages selected for the liturgy. And its words are simple yet potent. A woman in the crowd was clearly moved, inspired, and swept up by the words she heard from Jesus. Possibly thinking this really is…

  Questioning. Questioning motives? Questioning who is this? How does he/she do this or that? By what authority? Or in the case of the Gospel, false claims – He drives out demons by the power of the devil himself. We are familiar with such questionings and dubious claims. Sometimes these even arise in response to…

  Jesus’ instructions to his disciples on prayer continue in today’s Gospel passage. In yesterday’s Gospel, he instructed them in the form that prayer should take and gave them a model. Today’s passage extends that further and says something about how to use that form and the attitude that guides prayer. The key idea seems…

  Today’s Gospel begins with a simple request of the Lord: teach us to pray. Jesus’ answer is very familiar and very simple. the words we know so well. The words of this prayer, the Lord’s own prayer, tell us much about prayer and serve as a model for our prayer. We know it well.…

  Jesus visits the house of Martha and Mary, his friends, possibly to get away from the crowds. Martha was a woman of lots of energy, and Mary had the heart of a disciple. Mary and Martha speak to us. We all know have our anxious moments when we’re concerned about many things, worried when…

  Today is the feast of St. Francis of Assisi, one of the most beloved of all the saints by people everywhere. What appeals so much to so many? His simplicity of life, his honesty, zeal for the poor, love of nature and all of creation? All of this points to a man of great…

  Today Jesus is asked one of those tough questions about divorce. Jesus appealed to the harmony of creation in its initial perfection. Throughout the creation account, we hear: God saw all that he had made, and he found it very good. All creation existed because of God’s goodness. All life was holy, sacred. In…

  I am responsible for my own life and the decisions I make. It is also true that I am not solely responsible for sustaining my life. Our belief in guardian angels is that God wishes to protect us and provide all that we need for a life of flourishing. Part of flourishing is giving…

  Jesus excoriates the Jewish towns that were impressed by his teaching and healing miracles but now have gone back to their lives as if nothing happened. How quickly they forgot! The Prophet Baruch records their ancestors expressing their regret when they were in exile: they followed God half-heartedly, “each one of us went off…

  It is so hard for us to relate to this story in the Book of Nehemiah. The Judahites return from their Babylonian Captivity to Jerusalem. The Governor Nehemiah and the priest-scribe Ezra are tasked with repopulating the land and, most importantly, rebuilding the Temple. We come upon them without a temple yet, but from…

  Do we really need angels? Are we not mature Christians now so that we can put aside childish notions of God’s fairies? Isn’t Christ powerful enough? If we look at our Scriptural texts for today’s feast we see just how badly we need angels. Why? Because there is a war out there! The devil…

  The prophet Zechariah said just yesterday that God was jealous for His people Judah, stranded in Babylonian exile. Yet today the Lord predicts all peoples – even those from those strong, conquering nations – will seek out the Jewish people to worship in Jerusalem. In the gospel today as Jesus sets out for His…

Jealousy gets a bad rap. Seriously! I know, I know, every wedding you have ever been to has droned on with 1 Corinthians instructing you that “love is not jealous” (13:4). Yet, our word jealous and another word zealous have a single word origin. And I think that you could describe the love and duty…

  Just prior to the start of Jesus’ public ministry, he was tempted by Satan in the desert. The devil presented Him with the three primary temptations that plague mankind: power, pleasure, and prestige. Now we are coming to the culmination of the Lord’s public ministry in the Passion. In each Passion prediction, Christ attempts…

  the Old and New Testaments can describe the ways of human behavior with pinpoint accuracy. Open almost any page of Scripture, and you can find someone making a decision about what to do. The story of Adam and Eve provides our earliest human record of fear, pride, dominance, greed, and confusion. We can always…

  Some years ago, there was a popular radio and later TV news commentator who always concluded a surprising tidbit at the end of the program with the words: “And now you know the rest of the story!” First of all, imagine Jesus posing this direct question to his disciples: “Who do you say that…

  Some might imagine Jesus gathering a squad of soldiers about to go out on patrol. But the image of a group equipped with weapons, protective body armor, and ready for anything doesn’t fit this Gospel scene. We need to remember that the Gospel accounts were collected some 80-90 years after the Resurrection. It was…

  The Feast of St. Matthew, Apostle, and Evangelist, makes me think about that old song “On the Road Again.” After all, the word “apostle” is about movement and travel because it means an “emissary being sent out.” This may not seem to touch us until we realize that our baptism was the beginning of…

  Have you ever noticed that if you wait long enough, even waiting through painful periods of “same-ole, same-ole,” suddenly a surprise happens? Notice the surprise in today’s reading from the Book of Ezra. Somehow the Prophet Jeremiah prevailed upon Cyrus the King of Persia to suddenly allow the Hebrew people to go back to…

  Many years ago, I heard a little story that has stayed with me. A little girl came up to her daddy and asked: “Daddy, are you getting older every day?” Her father said, “Well, yes, I’m getting older every day.” Then the little girl said, “Oh, that’s too bad, I’m getting newer every day!”…

  We are not in charge. It’s that simple. We want to be. We think we have to be, yet it’s not all about us. Each one of us makes individual decisions, and we all bear individual responsibility for them. Still, we have to come to grips with how much we don’t control. That’s hard.…