-
Monday of the Seventeenth Week of Ordinary Time
Today’s readings We’ve had these parables about the Kingdom of Heaven a bunch lately. At Sunday Mass over the past few weeks, and we’re now working through them at daily Mass. One thing we can say about them is that they are head-scratchers for sure! I am sure we can all understand how the people…
-
The Seventeenth Sunday of Ordinary Time
Today’s readings Think about it. God comes to you in a dream and says that you can have anything you want—just one thing, though. It’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. What would you ask for? What is that one thing you’d give anything to have? God already knew what Solomon was going to ask for; he already knew that what Solomon wanted was…
-
Saint James, Apostle
Today’s readings “Can you drink the chalice of which I am going to drink?” What does that even mean for us? We know what Jesus’ chalice was like: it led him through sorrow, and abandonment, and ultimately to the cross. If we have ever been in a situation in which we have felt intense grief, or felt…
-
Friday of the Sixteenth Week of Ordinary Time
Today’s readings This morning’s Gospel passage is the explanation of the parable of the seed and the sower, which we heard on Wednesday morning (and, for that matter, two Sundays ago). What we quickly find out is that the parable is all about us. Clearly the ideal is the good soil which produces much fruit, and just…
-
The Sixteenth Sunday of Ordinary Time
Today’s readings Today I want to talk about the way we worship. And I’m not talking about wearing a mask, or social distancing, or even the rudimentary parts of worship like genuflecting or singing or observing silence, as important as those things are. In fact, I’m not talking about worship in the sense of what…
-
The Fifteenth Sunday of Ordinary Time
Todays’ readings I’m not very good at it, and I don’t do it much any more, but I used to help plant a family garden. I don’t have much of a green thumb, and I’m short on patience for that kind of thing, so for me it just doesn’t work out very well. But I’m grateful for…
-
Saint Benedict, Abbot, Founder of Western Monasticism
Today’s readingsRule of Saint Benedict It is with great fondness that I observe this feast of St. Benedict the abbot, and father of western monasticism. My own Benedictine roots stem from my college days at Benedictine University in Lisle (which was then called Illinois Benedictine College), and I have a deep fondness for the monks of…
-
Friday of the Fourteenth Week of Ordinary Time
Today’s readings Our God never promises that the life of faith and discipleship will be an easy one; only that it will be blessed. One thing is certain: that life will certainly entail hardship, even suffering. That’s pretty evident in today’s Gospel reading. Faithful disciples have to worry about being betrayed by even their closest…
-
The Fourteenth Sunday of Ordinary Time
Today’s readings In my study of Scripture, the Liturgy, and the Lectionary, I’ve always been encouraged by the fact the Liturgy of the Word for these summer Ordinary Time Sundays is designed to offer us a kind of toolbox for living our Christian discipleship. And that’s important because discipleship isn’t an easy thing to live,…
-
Independence Day
Today’s readings: Ezekiel 3:17-21; Psalm 8; Colossians 3:9b-17; Matthew 25:31-46 Today, as we gather on this Independence Day, we celebrate our birth as a nation, two hundred and forty-four years ago. This is a day that causes us to rejoice over the end of oppression, the freedom to be governed in a way that protects…
You must be logged in to post a comment.