Spiritual Reflections

Exodus, 2 Timothy, Luke 18 Pray always, we hear today. Be patient and constant, don’t get weary, keep at it, don’t give up, don’t lose heart. These commands or urgings are threads throughout the three readings. None of these expressions…

A few years ago, I had the privilege and fun of distributing some family inheritance funds to my five nieces and nephews. It was a very substantial sum. Two of them responded immediately. I waited patiently to hear from the…

We are unprofitable servants, and we live in ordinary times. Indeed, today is the 27th Sunday in ordinary time. I want to offer words of comfort today, and I apologize for starting off bleakly. But there is plenty that is…

I will admit to not knowing much about the prophet Amos, but I was intrigued by the sentences that talk of the people who were living very well while Joseph was collapsing. Amos was an uneducated shepherd from a village…

We all suffer. We suffer the loss of parents, dear friends and family. We suffer injury in accidents. We suffer as witnesses to loss. We suffer the loss of our own good health and energy. And at some time or…

Luke 14: 25-33 “Anyone of you who does not renounce all possessions cannot be my disciple.” Today’s Gospel is not the one for Ascension Thursday but it reminded me of Sister Helen Jean’s words to us one morning in June…

I start by admitting that I have a mixed relationship with the virtue of humility, which is the main point of the reading for today. When I was a kid, I was often in trouble for being loud and argumentative.…

I read these readings several weeks ago to begin reflecting on them. And then I went to the LCWR meetings and heard messages of hope, inclusion and new forms of life in the Church that are needed to continue the…

Well, we have Jeremiah down at the bottom of a well, Paul exhorting us that we haven’t shed any blood yet in our effort to do God’s will, and Jesus telling us He brings not peace but division. Yes, this…

“Faith is the realization of what is hoped for and evidence of things not seen.”   A large group of family members had gathered in Gaza for a meal and to visit with one another. Suddenly there was a missile attack,…

Ecclesiastes 1:2, 2:21-23       Psalm 90 (91)       Colossians 3:1-11        Luke 12:13-21 In today’s first reading, from the beginning of the book of Ecclesiastes, Qoheleth, the wisdom teacher, muses over the emptiness of…

When I read the first reading about Sodom and Gomorrah, I know that I am always consoled by the fact that God would not destroy the innocent along with the guilty. There are far too many human instances where the…