Spiritual Reflections

Today’s readings offer comfort, even joy. 0ur savior, our teacher, has come to us, not just riding on a donkey but riding on the foal of a donkey. He is not what we expect, but he has come for us,…

The name Elisha means “God is salvation,” and Elisha, the prophet in the first reading, is recognized in Jewish, Christian and Islamic texts as a prophet of God. Elisha’s ministry spanned approximately 60 years, during which he advised kings, corrected…

Matthew 10:26-33 “Fear no one,” we just heard read at the beginning of today’s Gospel. Jesus said to the Twelve, “Fear no one.” To back up this command, to give the Twelve a reason to behave this way, to have…

Exodus 19:2-6         Romans 5:6-11         Matt 9:36-10:8 This year the Gospel of Matthew had been leading us through the mysteries of life and faith.  The year opened last Advent with Matthew’s first chapters,…

I suspect that a goodly number of Catholics will go to church today just because it is their obligation. Maybe they will pray a little or mutter a few responses. Or maybe they will use the time to prepare their…

The Trinity: Father, Son and Spirit, one God, three persons. Nobody understands what that really means. We proclaim it as a truth, but there is no way to capture all of God.  Many have had this experience: Most evenings my…

Acts 2:1-11 1Cor 12:3b-7,12-13 John 20:19-23 Good morning and welcome to Pentecost! I am going to ask that we use our imaginations this morning to imagine us as Jesus’ disciples gathered behind locked doors, like we might be late at…

This Gospel reading from John is the longest prayer in all the Bible. Somewhere around the 17th century it came to be called “the Priestly Prayer.” I personally find this prayer very dense and would call it  “the why use…

“I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy catholic Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body and life everlasting. Amen.” When I said I would write this homily for the Feast of the…

I can remember clearly several experiences of my grandmother’s amazement at new technologies. She was born in 1909, and she learned how to drive late in life after my grandfather had a heart attack and it became necessary for her…

John 14:1-12 These Easter days are so full of energy and life. The disciples are off and running to tell the various communities about Jesus and about “the Way.” The reading from Acts shows the Twelve getting organized so that…

Acts 4:8-12 1 John 3:1-2 John 10:11-18 “Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said, ‘It was in the name of Jesus Christ … that this man … is healed.  There is no salvation through anyone else.  There is no other…