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Thursday of the First Week of Lent
Today’s readings During this first week of Lent, our Liturgies of the Word are teaching us about the Lenten disciplines: fasting, almsgiving and prayer. On Tuesday, we heard the Lord’s prayer, and today we hear the prayer of Esther and Jesus’ injunction to persistence in prayer. I love the story of Esther, and as I…
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Tuesday of the First Week of Lent
Today’s readings The prophet Isaiah and Jesus speak today about the great power of words. Isaiah speaks specifically of the power of God’s word, a word that will not return empty but will go out and accomplish the purpose for which God sent it. We see the word that the prophet speaks of here, of…
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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 recoil at the mere suggestion of being called to personal holiness. Oftentimes, this is wrapped up in what is really a misplaced and false humility, that kind of humility that says that since I’m good for nothing, and so there is…
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The First Sunday of Lent: Remembering Who We Are
Today’s readings Perhaps the greatest sin of modern times, maybe of all time, is that we sometimes forget who we are. Politicians forget that they are elected officials, given the trust of the people they serve, and so they become embroiled in scandal or sell themselves to special interest groups. Church leaders forget that they…
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Friday after Ash Wednesday
Today’s readings Sometimes people say they aren’t giving up something for Lent, they’re just going to try to do something positive. I think that can be a little permissively vague, to be honest. I usually tell people it doesn’t just have to be one or the other. In fact, the Church teaches that it shouldn’t…
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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…
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Ash Wednesday
Today’s readings Rend your hearts, not your garments, and return to the LORD, your God. 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…
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Monday of the Seventh Week of Ordinary Time – Presidents’ Day
Today’s readings So the disciples are waiting for Jesus to come down the mountain after the Transfiguration. They have attempted to cure a man’s son from the hold of a demon, but they were apparently unable to do so. This seems to have led to an argument between them and the scribes. You can almost…
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The Sixth Sunday of Ordinary Time: Complete Reversal!
Today’s readings So what’s wrong with being rich, full and not hungry, laughing, and having people speak well of you? After all, God told us to go forth and fill the earth and subdue it, so attaining riches is really just the realization of that, right? And constantly being hungry is unpleasant, and even unhealthy. …
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Tuesday of the Fifth Week of Ordinary Time: Right Worship
Today’s readings Today’s readings are a call to right worship, to righteousness, or right relationship with God and others. Worship of God, properly understood and properly performed, does not allow singing and praying and invoking God’s name in church and then cursing at someone in the parking lot, or even sending a tersely-written email the…
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