“All that the Father gives me will come to me; no one who comes to me will I ever reject.” John 6.37 Death calls for faith. It is the ultimate threshold of human life beyond which we cannot see. Jesus’ resurrection from the dead is the heart of Christian faith. The God who raised Jesus […]
Gospel Reflection for November 2, 2014, All Souls Day Read More »
All Souls Day is a time to remember and pray for our lost loved ones. As followers of Jesus, we each bring God’s love to life in our own ways. In our Church we live in communion with all who walked this earth and showed Jesus’ teaching to others through their lives. We can keep
Music and the Gospel: “See You Again,” Carrie Underwood; All Souls day Read More »
“One cannot honor another person without blessing God who created the person. One cannot adore God without loving all God’s creatures.” Catechism of the Catholic Church #2069 Loving our neighbors as ourselves is another way of expressing the golden rule — “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” The golden rule
Loving God and Neighbor Read More »
“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 »