Pestering God?
Posted on
In today's Gospel reading from Luke 18, Jesus tells a parable about an unjust judge. A widow comes to him seeking a judgment, but he refuses. The widow, however, kept...
"Progressive"
Posted on
1 comment
Is the Bible "political"? I suppose that depends on one's definition of the word and point of view. Perhaps the definition of a particular word in today's first reading from...
Diversionary Tactics
Posted on
In today’s Gospel reading from Luke 17, the Pharisees ask Jesus when the Kingdom of God would come. What they didn’t realize was that they were standing in it. Jesus...
Zeal is Good
Posted on
Today the Church celebrates the Feast of he Dedication of the Lateran Basilica. This Basilica, constructed by the Emperor Constantine, is called the mother church of Christendom. The readings today...
How to Live in a Godless World
Posted on
In today’s first reading from Titus 2, St. Paul has advice for everyone – older men, older women, younger women and younger men. Yep! I think that covers us all!...
Avoid the Millstone
Posted on
In today’s first reading from Titus 1, St. Paul talks about the attributes of a bishop. “Blameless, not arrogant, not irritable, not a drunkard, not aggressive, not greedy for sordid...
God of the Living
Posted on
The first reading today from 2 Maccabees is an amazing story of courage in the face of terrible persecution. Read it for yourself, because it ties directly in with today’s...
Choosing Whom to Serve
Posted on
In the Gospel reading from Luke 16, Jesus talks about how it is impossible to serve two masters. “No servant can serve two masters. He will either hate one and...
A Balanced Mind
Posted on
1 comment
Today's first reading from Philippians 3 is so appropriate for Americans, given the state of our nation. St. Paul starts out by talking about people who "conduct themselves as enemies...
When We Lose Our Way
Posted on
As Christians, we know that our confidence can be found in God alone. When we have confidence in our flesh, we are in big trouble. Because the flesh will always...
Feast of All Souls
Posted on
Today we celebrate All Souls Day. On this feast (and throughout the month of November) we pray for the souls of the faithful departed. To many non-Catholic Christians, this seems...
Celebrating the Communion of Saints
Posted on
Today is the Solemnity of All Saints. It is a Holy Day of Obligation, so if you haven't attended Mass yet, plan to go celebrate! As Catholics, we profess our...
Repayment? Forget It
Posted on
In today’s Gospel reading from Luke 14, Jesus is dining at the home of a leading Pharisee and He addresses his host. He tells His host not to invite mucky-mucks...
A Story of Redemption
Posted on
The character in today’s Gospel passage from Luke 19 is a favorite of kids the world over. Every time I read this story, I can hear the little song in...
The Tension of the Christian
Posted on
As Christians, heaven is our goal. We want to spend eternity with God. And we know that heaven is going to be perfection - as in, way better than this...
Saint of Hopeless Causes
Posted on
Today is the Feast of Saints Simon and Jude, Apostles. Typically I do your :60 on the daily Scripture readings. But I want to veer from the format today. The...
Put on the Armor of God!
Posted on
1 comment
In today’s first reading from Ephesians 6, St. Paul tells us to “put on the armor of God.” He goes on to explain just what that is. More in a...
Listen Up, Dads!
Posted on
2 comments
In today’s first reading, St. Paul addresses dads. Any time I tackle this topic it is fraught with peril, mainly because so many households now are single parent households where...
Husbands and Wives and Christ
Posted on
1 comment
In today’s Gospel reading from Luke 13, Jesus tells two short parables about the Kingdom of God. The first compares the Kingdom to a mustard seed, the other to yeast....
BE Love
Posted on
1 comment
In the Gospel reading today from Luke 13, Jesus heals a woman who has been crippled for eighteen years. He does this on the sabbath. This infuriates the leader of...
The Sin of Pride
Posted on
In the Gospel reading from Luke 18, Jesus tells a parable about two people praying in the temple. A Pharisee thanks God that he is not like all the low-lifes...
Your Choice in Death
Posted on
In today’s Gospel reading from Luke 13, some people tell Jesus about some Jews who had been killed by Pilate. Jesus’ response is telling. “Do you think that because these...
Interpreting the Times
Posted on
In our first reading today from Ephesians 4, St. Paul urges his readers to “live in a manner worthy of the call you have received, with all humility and gentleness,...
Knowing Christ's Love
Posted on
Jesus is something of a paradox. While we know He is the Prince of Peace, He says in today's Gospel reading from Luke 12, "Do you think that I have...
Great Expectations
Posted on
In the Gospel reading from Luke 12, Jesus tells a parable of two servants, one faithful, the other unfaithful. Have you ever wondered what God expects of you? Dumb question,...
Feast of St. Luke, Evangelist
Posted on
Today the Church celebrates the feast of St. Luke. St. Luke is the author of two books of the New Testament, the Gospel of Luke and Acts of the Apostles....
Possessions
Posted on
In today's Gospel reading from Luke 12, Jesus gives the crowd a warning. "Take care to guard against all greed, for though one may be rich, one's life does not...
Do No Grow Weary
Posted on
In today's Gospel reading from Luke 18, "Jesus told his disciples a parable about the necessity for them to pray always without becoming weary." He then goes on to tell...
The Silent Denial
Posted on
In the first reading today from Ephesians 1:15-23, St. Paul prays that “the eyes of your hearts be enlightened, that you may know what is the hope that belongs to...
Why We're Here
Posted on
Do you know why you're here? I mean big picture - why do you exist? I believe we find the answer in today's first reading from Ephesians 1. "In Christ we were...
Chosen to be Holy
Posted on
In the first reading today, we begin reading St. Paul’s letter to the Ephesians. This will be a very rich couple of weeks as we go through the book of...
Flesh vs Spirit
Posted on
Jesus was never one to mince words. We see this again today in the Gospel reading from Luke 11, where He is pronouncing woes on the Pharisees. When a scholar...
Spirit Repair Work
Posted on
God doesn’t care about anyone’s background. You don’t have to have any kind of “pedigree” to give your life to Christ. St. Paul puts it like this in today’s first...
Freedom and Slavery
Posted on
In today’s Gospel reading from Luke 11, Jesus says, “This generation is an evil generation; it seeks a sign, but no sign will be given it, except the sign of...
One Gave Thanks
Posted on
In the Gospel reading from Luke 17, Jesus heals ten lepers. Of the ten healed, only one bothered to come back and give thanks to Jesus. To add insult to...
How to be Blessed
Posted on
We have a very short Gospel passage today, only two short verses from Luke 11. A woman cries out to Jesus, “Blessed is the womb that carried you and the...
The Spiritual Struggle
Posted on
St. Paul continues talking about faith and "works of the law" in the first reading from Galatians 3. In the Gospel reading from Luke 11, Jesus talks about the spiritual...
What are You Asking For?
Posted on
In the first reading from Galatians 3, St. Paul begins speaking about faith and "works of the law." In the Gospel from Luke 11, Jesus tells the disciples a story about...
Confronting Hypocrisy
Posted on
1 comment
In the Gospel reading today from Luke 11, Jesus’ disciples come to Him and say, “Lord, teach us to pray just as John taught his disciples.” Jesus then teaches them...
Trusting the Convert
Posted on
St. Paul was a convert to the faith, called by Christ Jesus. In today's first reading from Galatians 1, we hear an interesting part of his story. Paul spent three...
Who is My Neighbor?
Posted on
Today in the first reading we begin St. Paul's Letter to the Galatians. Our Gospel reading for today is from Luke 10, the story of the Good Samaritan. We’re all...
Unprofitable Servants
Posted on
In the Gospel reading from Luke 17, Jesus talks about servants who do what they are obliged to do. Jesus said, “When you have done all you have been commanded,...
Job's Reward
Posted on
This week we have read from the Book of Job for our first readings. Today we hear the end of the story. Throughout all his trials, which were more than...
You Ain't God
Posted on
In the Gospel reading today from Luke 10, we hear more of Jesus’ words to the seventy-two as He sends them out. “Whoever listens to you listens to me. Whoever...
Spiritual Warfare
Posted on
Today we celebrate the Feast of Saints Michael, Gabriel and Raphael – the Archangels. We have two options for the first reading. The first, from Daniel 7, contains a vision...
Never Go Back
Posted on
1 comment
In today’s Gospel reading from Luke 9:51-62, we hear what can be a rather disconcerting saying of Jesus. A guy says he will follow Jesus, but first he wants to...
Rebuked
Posted on
If Job were around today, he certainly would have been diagnosed with serious depression. In today’s first reading, he rues the very day that he was born. He knows that...
The LORD Gave, and the LORD Has Taken Away
Posted on
For our first reading today, we’re in the first chapter of the book of Job, Job 1:6-22. Job is the most faith-filled man on the earth. In fact, the Lord...
Lazarus Lessons
Posted on
In today’s Gospel reading from Luke 16, Jesus tells the Pharisees the story of Lazarus and the rich man. Lazarus is a poor beggar who waits by the rich man’s...
Forever Young
Posted on
In the Gospel reading today from Luke 9, the disciples do not understand something that Jesus says. Even though they didn’t get it, they were afraid to ask Him about...