Today’s Scripture readings show contrasting expressions of fear. In the first reading, a woman endures witnessing the deaths of her sons due to her unwavering faith. In the Gospel, we…
In today’s Gospel, Jesus challenges us to reconsider who we invite to our tables, into our homes and into our lives. He tells us to invite the poor, the crippled,…
It can be easy to miss St. Paul’s juxtaposition of fear and divine adoption in today’s first reading. While often a lot of attention is paid to the opposition of…
Wouldn’t every weatherperson love to be able to predict the weather as easily as Jesus says today? But we don’t always adhere to those obvious signs. Several years ago while…
We live in a world increasingly given over to “smart” gadgets and digital programs that finish our sentences. At the end of a message, I now have a choice of…
When we start out asking the wrong questions, we’ll inevitably end up with the wrong answers. The legal scholar in today’s Gospel begins well enough, asking Jesus what he must…
The human progress that Christ wants to promote is that of whole persons in their transcendent dimension and their historical dimension, in their spiritual dimension and their bodily dimension.Whole persons…
At first, it seemed incongruent that my mother would die on the memorial of Our Lady of Sorrows. Mom was given to easy laughter and generous hospitality, which made her…
In the time of Jesus, society did not care for sick people as it does today. Those who came to the Lord to be healed of their diseases did not…
The question of theodicy has always plagued us: Why does evil exist? How can a good God allow bad things to happen— doesn’t that mean God is either not all-good…
