Why We're Here
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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?
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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
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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
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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?
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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...
This, Too, Shall Pass
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Today’s first reading is from Ecclesiastes 3:1-11. “There is an appointed time for everything, and a time for every thing under the heavens.” If you’re a baby boomer like me,...
A Higher Calling
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In the first reading today, we begin the book of Ecclesiastes. The book is something of a study in the futility of life here on earth. More in a moment....
Hearing Jesus' Call
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Today we celebrate the feast of St. Matthew. His Jewish name was Levi. (We find that in the Gospels of Mark and Luke.) Matthew was a tax collector. Therefore, observant...
Proverbs Roulette
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Today's first reading is from Proverbs 21. The Gospel reading is from Luke 8, where Jesus describes who His mother and brothers are. "My mother and my brothers are those...
Secrets
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In today's Gospel reading from Luke 8, Jesus said, "For there is nothing hidden that will not become visible, and nothing secret that will not be known and come to...
Trustworthy
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In the Gospel reading from Luke 16, Jesus talks about being trustworthy in matters great and small. Jesus said, “The person who is trustworthy in very small matters is also...
A Soil Check
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We hear more about the resurrection of the body today from 1 Corinthians 15 in our first reading. The Gospel reading today is the parable of the sower and the...
Jesus' Women Followers
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1 Corinthians 15 is St. Paul’s treatise on the resurrection of the body. We read some of this today in our first reading. “If there is no resurrection of the...
Our Lady of Sorrows
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Today is the Feast of Our Lady of Sorrows. Isn’t it appropriate that the Church celebrates this feast on the day after the Exaltation of the Holy Cross? The Church...
The Paradox of the Cross
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Today is the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross. In the first reading today from Numbers 21, we see a bit of typology. God told Moses to make...
Reaching Out to the Forgotten
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An old song says, “Christ has no body now but yours.” In today’s first reading from 1 Corinthians 12, St. Paul talks about the Body of Christ; not in the...
The Real Presence
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In today’s Gospel reading from Luke 7, a centurion hears about Jesus and asks some elders to bring Jesus to his home to heal his sick servant. Before Jesus reaches...
Lost and Found
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The Gospel reading today from Luke 15 contains three of Jesus' stories, all of which are hopefully familiar. All three are about something, or someone, that gets lost and then...
A Participation in...
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In today’s Gospel reading from Luke 6, Jesus says, “Every tree is known by its fruit.” He then talks about building our house on a firm foundation. When Christ is...
In It to Win It
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For many, sports is their religion. Interestingly, St. Paul used sports analogies when talking about religion. More in a moment. In today’s Gospel reading from Luke 6, Jesus talks about...
Celebrating Mom's Birthday
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Today the Church celebrates the Feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary…Mary’s birthday! Now, we don’t really know the exact day, date or year that Mary was born....
Time is Running Out
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The Gospel reading today is from Luke 6, the Sermon on the Plain. Jesus speaks the Beatitudes. There is a difference between Luke's version and Matthew's version in that in...
Leave the Past Behind
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In the Gospel reading today from Luke 6, we see that Jesus spent the night in prayer. The next day, He called His disciples and told them that He had...
On Labor
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Happy Labor Day! I hope you are taking a day of R&R today. Instead of reflection on today's Scriptures, I'd like to offer a brief Labor Day meditation. In these difficult...
The Act of Renouncing
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In the Gospel reading from Luke 14, we hear Jesus tell us that we must “hate” our father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters… What an awful thought!...
The World's Rubbish
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In today’s Gospel reading from Luke 6, Jesus is called on the carpet by some Pharisees for picking grain on the sabbath. It was unlawful to “work” on the sabbath....
Be Careful About Judgment
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In today's first reading from 1 Corinthians 4, St. Paul talks about judgment. In the Gospel reading from Luke 5, Jesus talks about putting away the old and embracing the...
Learning to Swim (or Fish)
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In the Gospel reading today from Luke 5, Jesus sees Simon Peter and his fishing buddies cleaning their nets after a hard night of fishing. Not catching, mind you. Fishing....
God Causes the Growth
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Jesus was a very busy guy. We see this in today’s Gospel reading from Luke 4. He heals Simon’s mother-in-law, He heals all the sick in the town and casts...
The Mind of Christ
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In the first reading today from 1 Corinthians 2, St. Paul talks about two spirits - "the spirit of the world" and "the Spirit who is from God." He goes...
Watering Down the Truth
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Today the Church celebrates the Passion of St. John the Baptist. In the past it has been called the beheading of and the martyrdom of St. John the Baptist. The Gospel...
Quid Pro Quo?
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There's a thread that runs through today's readings: humility. In the first reading from Sirach 3, we read, "Conduct your affairs with humility...Humble yourself the more, the greater you are..." In today’s...
Sins of Omission
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In today's Gospel reading from Matthew 25, Jesus tells the parable of the talents. In the parable, the master rewards the two servants who invested their talents and got a return....
Foolishness and Wisdom
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In the Gospel reading today from Matthew 25, Jesus tells a parable about ten virgins. Five of them are foolish and five of them are wise. They were all waiting...