Today’s readings “Those who are healthy do not need a physician, but the sick do.” That’s advice I wish I’d taken sometimes when I’ve been coming down with something and think, “oh, it’ll pass.” The sick need a physician! Anyone who has battled an addiction will tell you how true this is. You cannot make… Continue reading Saturday after Ash Wednesday
Month: February 2020
Thursday after Ash Wednesday
Today’s readings When it comes right down to it, we have a choice. We can choose life or death, blessing or curse, the way of the Cross or the way of the world. The choice that we make has huge consequences, eternal consequences. The stakes are big ones, and we must choose wisely. The command… Continue reading Thursday after Ash Wednesday
Ash Wednesday
Today’s readings Today we begin something really important. And I don’t mean just the smudging of our foreheads with the ashes of burnt palms. That’s just an outward sign. What I mean is the inward activity those ashes represent, what our collect prayer today calls “this campaign of Christian service.” This time of Lent is so important to us… Continue reading Ash Wednesday
Tuesday of the Seventh Week of Ordinary Time
Today’s readings In today’s Gospel, we have the disciples arguing among themselves because they find they don’t understand Jesus’ message. And then that degenerates into a further argument about which one of them was the greatest. They’re doing an awful lot of arguing, and not nearly enough listening. All of this arguing betrays a real lack… Continue reading Tuesday of the Seventh Week of Ordinary Time
The Seventh Sunday of Ordinary Time
Today’s readings Our readings today pick up the sermon that Jesus was giving in last week’s gospel. Last week, he used the formula: “You have heard that it was said… But I say to you…” to raise the bar on living the fifth, sixth and eighth commandments. Merely refraining from actual murder no longer means that we have… Continue reading The Seventh Sunday of Ordinary Time
Monday of the Sixth Week of Ordinary Time
Today’s readings Saint James today encourages us to consider it all joy when we experience trial. I don’t know about you, but that’s not the emotion I usually find in frustrating or fearful circumstances. And considering that the people to whom James was writing were probably being persecuted, they probably weren’t overjoyed at their trials… Continue reading Monday of the Sixth Week of Ordinary Time
The Fifth Sunday of Ordinary Time
Today’s readings One of the most basic spiritual principles is that the Christian life looks like something. The Christian looks like something. Perhaps we ought to change that to “looks like someone,” that someone of course being Jesus Christ. In the Liturgy of the Hours, which clergy and others pray each day, today there is a reading… Continue reading The Fifth Sunday of Ordinary Time
Tuesday of the Fourth Week of Ordinary Time
Today’s readings There is a lot of anguish in the readings today, isn’t there? Most markedly is the anguish of King David, mourning the death of his son Absalom. His anguish was most surprising to his army, because they had been fighting Absalom’s thugs who were helping him to overthrow the government of David. But… Continue reading Tuesday of the Fourth Week of Ordinary Time
The Presentation of the Lord
Today’s readings Who is this king of glory?The Lord of hosts; he is the king of glory. Today we celebrate the traditional end of the Christmas season with this feast of the Presentation of the Lord. The current liturgical end of the Christmas season was back on January 12th, the feast of the Baptism of the Lord. But the… Continue reading The Presentation of the Lord