“Teacher, which commandment is greatest?” Matthew 22.36 Gospel love is not an idea or an emotion but an imperative–a call to act. The two great commandments–to love God and love our neighbor as ourselves–recognize that acts of love weave us into community, just as selfish and violent acts fray the social fabric. The commandments […]
Gospel Reflection for October 26, 2014, 30th Sunday of Ordinary Time Read More »
We all have times where we don’t feel like the “cool kid,” when our peers exclude us and hurt us. Some of us experience this more intensely than others. We each have the power to share the love we receive from God with those around us. Taking time to remember the pain we felt when
Music and the Gospel: “Cool Kids,” Echosmith Read More »
“For I was hungry and you gave me food.” – Matthew 25.35 World Food Day is today. World farmers produce enough food for Earth’s more than six billion people, but nearly 870 million people struggle to survive on less than a $1.25 a day with little access to Earth’s abundance. Check out Bread for the
“Whose image is this and whose inscription?” Matthew 22.20 In Sunday’s gospel Jesus confronts a worldview about who images God–Caesar or the human person. Jesus insists we cannot keep separate our obligations to God and those to government. God blesses and calls us to integrate the spheres of our lives and image the One who
Gospel Reflection for October 19, 2014, 29th Sunday of Ordinary Time Read More »
It can be easy to distance ourselves from people who seem strange to us. We have trouble seeing our similarities when we focus on our differences. This song points to what connects us; we are all part of God’s creation. This puts us into relationship; it makes us family. Once we recognize these “strangers” as
Music and the Gospel: “Blood Brothers,” Ingrid Michaelson Read More »
“I have prepared my banquet…everything is ready. Come to the feast.” Matthew 22.4 Christians today don’t catch on readily to Matthew’s allegory. For first-century Jews, both Christian Jews and rabbinic Jews, the Jewish-Roman war that destroyed the temple was a watershed event. Until then, rabbinic Jews who studied the Torah in synagogues and Christian Jews
Gospel Reflection for October 12, 2014, 28th Sunday Ordinary Time Read More »
“The kingdom of God…will be given to people that produce its fruits.” Matthew 21.43 We humans are like all tenants of Earth and like those in Sunday’s parable. Our basest instincts are to draw everything to ourselves, the “owner” be damned. God has given us a precious vineyard/planet/home, teeming with life and extraordinary resources, but
Gospel Reflection for October 5, 2014, 27th Sunday Ordinary Time Read More »
“Tax collectors and prostitutes are entering the kingdom of God before you.” Matthew 21.31 Like all parables, Jesus’ parable of the father with two children invites hearers to judge themselves in making a judgement about the parable. The chief priests and elders see the first child as the one who does what the father (God
Gospel Reflection for September 28, 2014, 26th Sunday Ordinary Time Read More »
“These workers last hired have worked only one hour and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the day and the scorching heat.” Matthew 20.12 When the 11th-hour workers get a full day’s wage, the owner of the vineyard reorients the parable. It is no longer about the wages
Gospel Reflection for September 21, 2014, 25th Sunday of Ordinary Time Read More »
“Just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.” John 3.14 Sunday’s gospel refers to Jesus’ crucifixion as a “lifting up.” Being lifted up condenses within a single verb the whole paschal mystery—Jesus’ crucifixion and death,
Gospel Reflection for September 14, 2014, Exaltation of the Holy Cross Read More »