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Thursday of the Third Week of Lent
Today’s Scriptures address another one of the ways that we fallen human beings tend to avoid the truth. Sometimes, when we are confronted with the truth, we attack its source. If we cast doubt on the one bringing us the truth, then we don’t have to follow his or her words, right? The prophet Jeremiah…
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Monday of the Third Week of Lent
Today’s readings Why is the human heart so much opposed to hearing the truth and acting on it? I remember as a child I used to hate it when my parents would tell me something and turn out to be right. If the truth be told, I probably still struggle with that a little today.…
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The Third Sunday of Lent
Today’s readings Our memories of the tragic shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut are not old ones. We still may remember where we were when we heard of the tragedy, we may even recall with great clarity the knot in our stomach, the rage in our head, the overwhelming sadness. Tragedy is…
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Pastoral Care of the Sick: Anointing of the Sick During Mass
Today’s readings: Isaiah 61:1-3a, Psalm 147, Romans 8:18-27, Matthew 8:5-17 I’ve talked to a lot of sick people, and I’m amazed at how many of those who are really ill, who have come through something very difficult, have told me that they attributed their healing, or at least the ability to get through the tough…
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Friday of the Second Week of Lent
Today’s readings So in today’s first reading, Joseph is sold into slavery by his brothers. What a foreshadowing this is, isn’t it? It certainly foreshadows Israel’s slavery in Egypt that led to the Exodus, but it also foreshadows the selling of Jesus into the hands of his executioners by one of his own brothers, Judas…
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Thursday of the Second Week of Lent: Mass for the Pope
Today’s readings The great sin of the rich man may not have been the sin of neglecting poor Lazarus, although that was certainly bad. His greatest sin, though, was that he trusted in himself and not in God. He had everything he needed in life, because he was able to trust in himself to get…
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Monday of the Second Week of Lent
Today’s readings Today’s Gospel reading is one that gives me pause, to say the least. The whole notion of the measure that we use will be the measure that God uses to measure is more than a little a little scary. Think about it: how often do we fail to give people a break? How…
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The Second Sunday of Lent [C]
Today’s readings One of the best Lenten reminders that I can think of comes in today’s second reading. Here, Saint Paul tells the Philippians that “our citizenship is in heaven.” We know how true this is. We may have made homes here, and experienced our lives thus far here on earth, but the truth is…
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Thursday of the First Week of Lent
Today’s readings Have you noticed that the readings for these early days of Lent have been teaching us how to accomplish the various disciplines of Lent, which really are the various disciplines of the spiritual life? Today’s discipline then, I think, would be persistence in prayer. In the first reading, we have Queen Esther, who…
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Monday of the First Week of Lent
Today’s readings Be holy, for I, the LORD, your God, am holy. People often balk at the mere suggestion of being called to personal holiness. Oftentimes, this is wrapped up in a misplaced and false humility, that kind of humility that says that since I’m good for nothing, and so there is no way I…
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