Daily Reflections

  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.…

  I continue to focus on the meaning of the Cross and reconciliation. It’s important to focus on another simple yet necessary theme in Christianity. Poverty, or being poor in spirit. “Blessed are the poor in spirit; the Kingdom of Heaven is theirs.” This theme always runs against the grain. There never has been a…

  We live in the midst of a phenomenon called “Cancel Culture.” It often goes like this: A certain person, a celebrity, politician, or historical figure is criticized for something they did wrong. It can be a word they said or a thing they did, sometimes even decades or years ago. The wrong is made…

  Sorrow. We don’t like to focus on the negative. I find myself turning to what is “light and bright.” On the other hand, some people never see the bright side. They only see things as “dark and stark.” Mary understood the importance of following Jesus in faith. She, in her model discipleship, looked for…

  I’ve been reflecting recently on the importance of reconciliation in life. The whole world watched the recent events that unfolded in Afghanistan. Conflicts are occurring at home in the United States as politics continues to be polarized. We Christians have an important role to play in all this. Christians are called to live lives…

  In American society, we value freedom and achievement. Jesus values humility, love, and service. The greatest freedom is to love others. Humility is also a true ingredient for authentic freedom. And truly, you can have no greater achievement than to serve Christ by serving others from a pure heart. St. John Chrysostom understood this.…

  Today’s readings offer different messages that converge in the Gospel. In the Book of Isaiah, the prophet declares that he will not turn back. He “gave his back” to those who beat him and his face to “buffets and spitting.” He knew the Lord would help him. “Who,” he says “will prove me wrong?”…

  Today’s Gospel is from the conclusion of Jesus’ Sermon on the Plain. If we look back over the whole sermon (see Lk 6:20-49), which we heard this week, what might we gain from such a spiritual treatise? There is no other teaching quite like it. The Kingdom of God upholds the opposite of what…

  Gratitude is the attitude of everyone. As Christians, gratitude is our attitude, because of what God has done for us in Christ Jesus our Lord. In today’s reading from 1 Timothy, St. Paul is an example of this. St. Paul had a rough start. He admits he was arrogant, prideful, and a persecutor and…

  Today the Church commemorates a Spanish missionary who is known for his untiring ministry to Africans as they arrived in slave ships on the shores of 17th century Colombia. For nearly 40 years, Pedro Claver, “the slave of the slaves,” cared for their bodily and spiritual needs. It is estimated that he baptized 300,000…

  Today the Church celebrates the birthday of Mary, the wife of Joseph and the mother of Jesus. Her birth is not recounted in the Sacred Scriptures, but the circumstances of her marriage to Joseph and of the birth of her son are (see Mt 1-2 and Lk 1-2). From these sacred stories and also…

  In the passage from Colossians today, St. Paul paints a unique picture of Christ and how we participate in his life, death, and resurrection. In Christ dwells the fullness of the divine, and we have a share in it. How so? Read on. In Christ, we are circumcised, not according to the old law…

  On a certain sabbath, Jesus went into the synagogue and taught. (Lk 6:6a) Let us go in with him. Let us hear what he has to say. Yet, today it is not so much what he says but what he does that is the lesson. Who is there in the synagogue? There was a…

  God is good. I can say that wholeheartedly because I have experienced it. I have reflected on my life, and all the disparate strands of decisions I’ve made—yet I see the hand of God in it, guiding me all along. God is good, even clever! “Praise the Lord, my soul!” (Ps 146:1b) I have…

  I suggest that there is a strong, yet hidden, Eucharistic theme in our first reading today: You once were alienated and hostile in mind because of evil deeds; God has now reconciled you in the fleshly Body of Christ through His death, to present you holy, without blemish. That we are reconciled, in the…

  “I confer a kingdom on you, just as my Father has conferred one on me, that you may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom; and you will sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel.” There’s an interesting truth about human beings that emerges out of two themes at work…

  “Put out into the deep water…” At the close of the jubilee year, 2000, our Holy Father, St. John Paul II, used these words in some of the first lines of his Apostolic letter, Novo Millenio ieunte. And how often, in other writings and talks, he told us, “Do not be afraid!” And what…

  Our love in the Spirit There is a very helpful lesson about charity in our readings today. Jesus healed Simon’s mother-in-law so that “she got up immediately and waited on them.” Jesus heals her with the result that she comes into the circle of charity that he has come to bring to us in…

  “With authority and power he commands the unclean spirits, and they come out.” The desire for power is a very forceful stream that runs hidden in the psychic atmosphere of today’s culture. I do not say it is the only stream. There is, for example, a deep desire for security and peace, and harmony.…

  “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring glad tidings to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to captives and recovery of sight to the blind.” “Glad tidings,” “liberty,” “sight to the blind,” – these are God’s gifts not only to the people of…

  Humbly welcome the word that has been planted in you and is able to save your souls. Be doers of the word and not hearers only, deluding yourselves. [from 2nd reading] Has God’s Word taken root in me? Is my life rooted in this God who wants to speak to me, who wants to…

  What do you do with the talents given to you? In today’s gospel, we hear the parable of talents, the master is leaving for a journey and gives monies to three servants to use at their disposal. Two servants made good use of the monies and made more money. The third servant was too…

  Today’s gospel shares with us the parable of the virgins with their lamps awaiting the arrival of the bridegroom. This is a theme continued from yesterday’s gospel. Except, today, the theme of vigilance is being delivered through the image of a lamp. A lamp continuously burning means that it is always giving light, there…

  “Be vigilant.” The monks’ prayer day begins with Vigils. This prayer is one we do early in the morning when it is still dark. This is for two purposes. The first is to always be in a state of prayer, always giving praise to God day AND night. The second is to be ready…

  I remember typing essays in middle school and being very frustrated because it took me forever to type it up. Many of my classmates could type their essays and papers very fast, not like the turtle. I knew that if I wanted to be fast like them, I had to learn the keyboard and…

  “Can anything good come from Nazareth?” This is Nathaniel’s response to Philip when Philip had told him he had found “The One,” that is the Son of God. Nathaniel is in disbelief. He sees Nazareth one way, and that’s it. And that way is negative. Nathaniel puts a label on something and keeps it…

  We hear in our gospel today, “woe to you Scribes…woe to you Pharisees…” and so on. Jesus is calling out those in power who teach one thing, and they themselves live a different way. His message is clear, live the way you teach. This is important for all of us adults, not just teachers…

  When we look to achieve something, one usually asks themselves, “Am I up for this?” This is a question asked to self to see if one’s body, if one’s mind, is up for the chore. We weigh things to see if they are doable. I think that’s the first reaction we all have. Wouldn’t…

  It was heart-breaking to hear a college student say, “I never feel like I am good enough, and I always feel insufficient.” Her disappointment with herself was a wound at the level of her personal identity. For years she had placed her understanding of self in the opinions of others, and now she was…