It’s pretty easy to feel good with today’s Old Testament readings. Gone are the wars and bloody battles where God has a favored side. There’s no strife or conflict. No plagues or wandering in the desert. The readings are upbeat…
As many of you know my niece, Dominica, and her husband, Fernando, were in a catastrophic car accident in mid-July. Both were injured. Fernando suffered massive head trauma and serious brain damage, was resuscitated at the scene, and has been…
In my own life this feast of the Holy Family has always been a challenge. As a child it was the feast of the perfect family. It was the measure of a family – the perfect child with the perfect…
Today we find Jesus on the road again and Zacchaeus up a tree. Jesus has come into Jericho — intending, we’re told, to simply pass through the town and continue his journey to Jerusalem. Zacchaeus, we’re told, simply wanted to…
Luke 13: 22-30 Today’s readings are hard ones — I found them both uncomfortable and challenging. Jesus sounds distant, harsh even, hardly projecting mercy or compassion. Or projecting a welcoming and open kingdom of God. He talks about the narrow…
The tradition of the Church has always made this day of Corpus Christi a solemn and beautiful feast honoring and celebrating the gift of the Eucharist. It’s a call to memory for many. Processions with the Eucharist. Beauty, solemnity. Music.…
I like the Samaritan woman. And I like Jesus as she encountered him. I like Jesus’ interactions with the women of the Gospels. They reveal Jesus as very human, deeply compassionate, modified by others. Have you ever asked yourself what…
With the Baptism of Jesus, we end our celebration of the Christmas season. Soon the lights and the trees will be gone from our grounds and courtyard, from the hallways and common spaces. The Christmas sweaters and sweatshirts will be…
Matthew 21:33-43 Throughout both the Jewish and the Christian Scriptures grapes, wine, vineyards, vines and branches, owners, tenants and laborers are some of the most common allegories for the relationships between God and God’s people. I Googled “vineyards in the…
Today Matthew’s Gospel presents three parables. The kingdom of God is like a farmer who had planted his field with good seed, but an enemy had come in and sown weeds that were sprouting alongside the grain. The kingdom of God is…
This year Easter is likely very difficult for very many people. This year there are no Easter eggs rolling down the White House lawn. There is no crowd packed tightly into the square outside St Peter’s for the Pope’s Easter…
As I look back at the last two years of my life, I’m acutely aware that sometimes our lives are radically turned upside down. Sometimes I’m amazed at the ways that dealing with cancer has changed — and sometimes opened…