Daily Reflections

  Sin causes division, and it also causes pain. King David’s infidelity with Bathsheba resulted in a rejection of God and His commandments (adultery and murder). David repented, and God forgave him. But David had to live with the consequences. The sacrament of confession in the Catholic Church is an opportunity for confessing sins and…

  Last Tuesday at Mass, the first reading told of King David bringing the Ark of the Lord into Jerusalem and praising God with great rejoicing and worship. Tomorrow we will hear that David kept a fast and pleaded with God to save his dying child. People often turn to God in times of joy…

  “Then King David went in and sat in the Lord’s presence and said, ‘Who am I, Lord God, and what is my house, that you should have brought me so far? And yet even this is too little in your sight, Lord God!” (2nd Samuel 7:18-19). This is the act, and these are the…

  King David wanted to glorify and honor God by building Him a house. God was more interested in building an eternal House. God’s promise to establish David’s house and kingdom was not based on his descendants being perfect, but rather on God’s steadfast love and faithfulness. The first reading at Mass from 2nd Samuel…

  My maternal Grandfather was one of ten children. He and Grandma also had ten children. My Mom was one of 58 first cousins on her Dad’s side of the family alone. Mom, who will soon be 93 years old, knows the birth order of each of these cousins and can nearly provide all of their…

  Today’s passage from the Gospel of St. Mark was the basis for Abraham Lincoln’s famous “House Divided” speech. Differences are not necessarily a bad thing; the Spirit bestows a variety of gifts to all of us. However, these gifts are for the common good and for the building up of the one body of…

  When John the Baptist preached, his message was, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” This repentance of sin was not simply to wipe the slate clean. Sin is not so much a stain as it is a division. Adam and Eve were one with God in the Garden of Eden until…

  “When his relatives heard of this, they set out to seize him, for they said, “He is out of his mind.” There is a text in the Gospel of John, Chapter 10, which I suggest throws some light on this action of the relatives which may seem strange to us: Jn 10: This is why…

  “Jesus went up the mountain and summoned those whom he wanted.” “Summoned those whom he wanted” may sound like a sort of whim. But in St. Luke’s account in chapter 6, we read: “In those days he departed to the mountain to pray, and he spent the night in prayer to God. When day came,…

  “Those who had diseases were pressing upon him to touch him.” On this day in our nation when Mother Church wants her children to pray for human life to be held sacred, these words from the Gospel assigned for today can serve to encourage us to press upon Jesus the need our nation has…

  “The battle is the LORD’s and he shall deliver you into our hands.” This cry of young David, facing the giant, the experienced fighter, Goliath, can be for us an image of the enemies of our interior life – thoughts of all kinds that plague us. Whether these thoughts be judgmental, sexual, jealous, fearful,…

  When Samuel comes to Bethlehem, the elders greet him as “Seer.” “’Is your visit peaceful, O seer?’” It is ironic that Samuel is called “seer” because he does not see as God sees! The Lord tells Samuel, “Not as man sees does God see” – a line echoed in any number of places in…

  “… new wine is poured into fresh wineskins.” The newness which the Gospel of Christ Jesus brings us is a continually new invitation to allow ourselves to be changed. This is conversion, the metanoia. The Holy Spirit calls us to it. It is a call into new levels of intimacy with the one who…

  “The Lord said to me: you are my servant, Israel, through whom I show my glory.” The revelation made to ancient Israel and fulfilled in Jesus, is not about destiny but glory! God’s People were taught that we are not guided by empty dreams, or the stars or other impersonal forces. But each of…

  We often find ourselves asking why. Sometimes the question is innocent and leads us to discover: Why do the seasons change? At other times, the question comes from pain: Why do bad things happen to me? And sometimes the question is a statement of judgment: Why would you do something like that? The Scribes…

  Before the Israelite people had kings, they were led by judges, individuals that the Lord empowered for leadership. They came from different tribes and backgrounds. For instance, Samson’s parents were childless in their old age until the Lord answered their prayers, Jephthah was rejected by his own family as illegitimate, and Samuel was consecrated…

  Leprosy was not only a painful illness in the ancient world but also a communal affliction because its victims were excluded from normal society. It was so dangerous and so contagious that those who had it were forced to keep their distance from others in case they should infect someone by accident. It is…

  Our lives are fragile. We have bodies that can be harmed, that grow old, and that will eventually fail. All the same, our bodies are gifts. We experience the many wonderful things God has made in this world through our bodies, and even the pains that undergo reveal to us the greater truths of…

  Jesus wastes no time once he begins his public ministry. The time has come for him to reveal himself to the people in word and deed, which is made evident when he preaches with authority and drives out demons. The great scholars of the time would always refer to the teachings of their predecessors,…

  Now that the Christmas season has concluded, we return to the “ordinary” life of Jesus, the public ministry he performed as an adult before his sacrifice on the cross. In the Gospel today, Jesus calls his first disciples to come and follow him. It is an invitation to know him more deeply and, eventually,…