Twenty-Third Sunday in Ordinary Time

Jesus gives the model of fraternal correction, one that protects the reputation of the people involved. We have a moral obligation to call others to conversion - as we hear God telling Ezekiel in this first reading. That is a tremendous task, and requires that we ourselves are on the path to conversion, that we are living right. These readings remind us that it is not enough to have right belief orthodoxy, but we must also have right action orthopraxy.

Twenty-Second Sunday in Ordinary Time

"Take up your cross…" "Do not conform yourselves to this present age. By about the transformation of your minds." These are ways of living our vocations out. We pay attention to what we are saying "Yes", and to what we are saying "No". Christ embraces His cross, not as a meaningless gesture or means of self-annihilation, but as THE means of fulfilling His mission of salvation. So, too, should we. But this requires us to see life through the eyes of eternity, not of the present age. The present age tells us what is now is all that matters, and to avoid pain and suffering (which it sees as meaningless), and to seek pleasure by any means. But we seek the transformation of the mind - the way of living that metamorphosizes how we live and interact with the world around us.

Twenty-First Sunday in Ordinary Time

"Who do you say that I am?" THe question demands an answer, and how we answer requires us to respond by living it out!

Twentieth Sunday in Ordinary Time

A gentile woman asks the Lord to heal her daughter, but the Lord initially says, "No". The woman did not go away, but asks again in faith, and the Lord blesses her. She simply would not give up, but asked in faith until she got an answer. We might take a lesson from this woman. We need to know who we are and where we stand with Jesus, and to ask Him in faith for His grace.

Nineteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Just as the Lord called St. Peter out of the boat, so to does He call us. We are invited to leave behind the place of comfort and walk with Christ. With our eyes fixed intently on Him, we can walk safe and secure through all the storms of life… but when we take our eyes of of Him, focusing on the stuff that is coming at us, we will surely be overwhelmed. So, let us keep our eye on Jesus Christ.

Eighteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Whatever we have (and all that we have) is enough for the Lord. He can take our offering, as minuscule as it may seem, and by His grace make it enough. But we have to give it…

Take Lord, and receive all my liberty, my memory, my understanding, and my entire will, all that I have and possess. Thou hast given all to me. To Thee, O lord, I return it. All is Thine, dispose of it wholly according to Thy will. Give me Thy love and thy grace, for this is sufficient for me.

Ignatius Loyola

Seventeenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

A man finds a hidden treasure… a merchant finds a pearl of great value… Solomon asks not for riches, but wisdom. What's the connection - they all are willing to give everything else up to have what they desire. Christ asks us the same question that the Father asks Solomon. What are we truly looking for? Would we know it when we see it? That is why our prayer and discernment is so important. It purifies our desires, assuring that what we desire is truly good and beautiful, worthy of our given all to 'have' it. Unlike the rich man who ceases to follow Christ because of his wealth, can we give all to follow God?