Members of the Household
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We’re back in Ephesians 2 for our first reading today. St. Paul addresses the people as “you who once were far off,” and “you who were far off.” Notice that...
Love is What Matters
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By what are you saved? St. Paul gives us the answer in today’s first reading from Ephesians 2:1-10. “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is...
It All Belongs to God
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In the Gospel reading from Matthew 22, Jesus is asked by some Pharisees and Herodians about paying taxes. They try to trip Him up by asking, “Is it lawful to...
Denying Jesus
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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...
What You're Worth
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The old existential question persists – Why are we here? Actually, St. Paul gives the answer to that question in our first reading from Ephesians 1. “…so that we might...
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...
Bad News/Good News
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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...
Internal and External
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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...
Invited to the Feast
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In the Gospel reading from Matthew 22, Jesus tells a parable about a king who gives a wedding feast for his son. When the servants went out to summon the...
Clothed in Baptism
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In today’s first reading from Galatians 3, St. Paul says, “For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.” Did you realize that’s what happened...
Fully Armed
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In the Gospel reading from Luke 11, Jesus is accused of driving out demons by the power of Beelzebul. He then talks about how a kingdom divided against itself cannot...
Asking for the Holy Spirit
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Have you ever read How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie? It's a classic, one that I recommend to everyone. I don't recall in there about calling...
Our Lady of the Rosary
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Today is the Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary. In light of that, I'd like to reflect on the beautiful prayer that is the Rosary. For many years, I...
The Better Part
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After his conversion, St. Paul did not immediately meet with the approval of the Apostles. In fact, he did not even meet with any of them for three years. We...
Your Samaritan
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For today's first reading, we begin a trip through St. Paul's Letter to the Galatians. Today St. Paul writes, "If I were still trying to please people, I would not...
Producing Fruit for the Kingdom
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In today's Gospel reading from Matthew 21, Jesus tells a parable about a landowner. The landowner sends numerous servants to look after a vineyard that he had leased to some...
Job's End
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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...
Guardian Angels
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Today the Church celebrates the Feast of The Holy Guardian Angels. In the first reading from Exodus 23, God sends an angel to the Hebrew people "to guard you on...
Like Lambs Among Wolves
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In today's Gospel reading from Luke 10, Jesus sends out seventy-two of His disciples in pairs to the places He intended to visit. He gives them instructions before they go,...
Moving Forward
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Today is the Feast of St. Jerome, the author of the Vulgate, or Latin translation of the Scriptures. St. Jerome famously said, "Ignorance of Scripture is ignorance of Christ." A...
Spiritual Battle
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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...
Be Like Job
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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...
Changed Hearts and Minds
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A genuine encounter with Jesus changes a person. In today’s first reading from Ezekiel 18, we hear about people who have changed, and how it ends for them. In the Gospel...
The Gift of Youth
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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...
Only for a Season
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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,...
Striving for the Pointless?
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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....
Two Things I Ask
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If you could ask God for just two things, what would they be? Solomon does just that today in our first reading from Proverbs 30. And in the Gospel from...
Proverbs
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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...
Our Spiritual Health
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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...
God's Generosity
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Today's Gospel reading from Matthew 20 is the parable of the workers in the vineyard. A man hires men to work in his vineyard at different times of the day....
What You Sow
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Today's readings both talk about sowing. The Gospel reading from Luke 8 is the parable of the sower and the explanation of the parable. In the first reading, we're back...
The Most Pitiable People of All
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Women were a very important part of the Church from the very beginning. In today’s Gospel reading from Luke 8, St. Luke lists some women who accompanied Jesus and the...
Recognizing Grace
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Today's Gospel reading is the story of a sinful woman who comes to do homage to Jesus in the home of a Pharisee. Jesus says, "So I tell you, her...
True Love
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In the Gospel reading today from Luke 7, Jesus talks about how you just can’t please some people. He ends with, “But wisdom is vindicated by all her children.” Our...
Help in Your Sorrow
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Today the Church celebrates the Feast of Our Lady of Sorrows. How appropriate that we celebrate this feast the day after the Exaltation of the Holy Cross. The Church gives parishes...
Your Cross is His 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...
The Danger of Debt
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A quick story about today's reflection: I've been writing Scripture reflections for over ten years. So I've written about every reading at least five times, and each Gospel reading countless...
A Participation in the Body and Blood of Christ
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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...
Spiritual Athletes
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Love of sports is not a modern phenomenon. St. Paul gives us a great sports analogy in today’s first reading. In our Gospel reading, we’re back in Luke 6 for...
Love is a Verb
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In the first reading today from 1 Corinthians 8, St. Paul talks about knowledge and conscience. “When they eat meat sacrificed to idols, their conscience, which is weak, is defiled.”...
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...
It's 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....
A Labor Day Meditation
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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...
Error Warning
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The first reading from Ezekiel 33 and the Gospel reading today are closely intertwined. They both speak of warning others of error. In Ezekiel 33, the Lord says that we...
Be Scum
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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....
"The Old is Good"
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In today's Gospel reading from Luke 5, Jesus talks about the old and the new. He talks about cloaks and wine. Jesus said, "New wine must be poured into fresh...
The Adventure of the Deep
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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....
You are God's Co-Worker
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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 Natural and the Spiritual
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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...