Spiritual Reflections

Last Sunday and now this Sunday we have been reading from chapters 9 and 10 of Luke’s Gospel.  Jesus is aware that his days are numbered. He is heading toward Jerusalem with all that implies about meeting up with the…

Today, as we try to adjust to the ongoing presence of Covid, there are many uncertainties. One thing, however, seems to be abundantly clear: People are ready to move on — go somewhere — take a trip — in spite…

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.…

This Sunday is known as Trinity Sunday. I have a confession to make. It makes no difference to me whether God is manifested as creator, as Jesus incarnate or as the Holy Spirit. The notion of trinity isn’t a big…

Acts 2:1-11       1 Corinthians 12:3-13       John 14:15-26 This feast of Pentecost is an inflection point. We hear a lot about inflection points, especially in the news about mass shootings.  We’ve just had two more…

Robert McAfee Brown, in a talk given five years after the end of the Vietnam War, said, “Where we stand determines what we see. Who we listen to determines what we hear. What we see and hear determines our actions…

Acts 1:1-11, Eph. 1:17-23, Luke 24:46-53 The Gospel passage from Luke that we just heard begins starkly and abruptly — an instruction from Jesus for his disciples.  It is helpful, I think, to know the setting. In the sentences immediately before…

John 14:23-29 This is a very beautiful passage. Picture the apostles coming to terms with the deepest identity of their friend Jesus.   Maybe it will give us some insight into our own response to the words of Jesus in the…

Acts 14:21-27      Revelation 21:1-5      John 13:31-35 In today’s passage from John’s Gospel, Jesus is at the Passover table with his disciples.  It is his final meal with them, and he says to them, “I give you…

In last Sunday’s Gospel John told of Jesus directing the disciples to fish from the other side of the boat, which resulted in a great haul.  He instructed Peter to feed and tend his sheep — ”my sheep”— he said. …

As we come up on this third Sunday after Easter, we can see that Jesus has appeared several times after his death – first to Mary Magdalen and the women with her, to the disciples in the upper room without…

  The readings for today continue our 50-day celebration of Easter.  When I taught English in El Paso, Sister Emmanuel Tonne, who was a master teacher, taught me the ingredients of effective communication.  She told me that telling them once…