Second Sunday in Lent: Genesis 22:1-2, 9a, 10-13, 15-18; Romans 8:31b-34, Mark 9:2-10. Today’s readings demand that we stretch ourselves beyond our comfort zone. Parts of our faith are easy to accept — the Beatitudes, for example — they mirror moral truths we find in other religions and civic systems. …
Saturday in the First Week of Lent: Deuteronomy 26:16-19, Matthew 5:43-48. Today’s readings spell out our compact with God in a nutshell. He will make us sacred and all He asks in return is that we love unconditionally. We will ponder today how difficult it is to love those who …
Friday in the First Week of Lent: Ezekiel 18:21-28, Matthew 5:20-26. Most of us understand when something is evil because that word conjures the sense of serious moral wrong. Murder, for instance, is clearly evil, and hopefully we feel the same about stealing, cheating, and adultery. When we get to …
Thursday in the First Week of Lent: Esther C: 12, 14-16, 23-25, Matthew 7:7-12. Today, we hear Jesus tell us “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.” Christians have reflected on these words since the …
Tuesday in the First Week of Lent: Isaiah 55:10-11, Matthew 6:7-15. I’m really not a great gardener, but my time working at a community gardening nonprofit planted in me (pun noted) a deep appreciation of the entire agricultural cycle. The word “fertile” immediately conjures the smell of loamy earth in …
Feast of the Chair of St. Peter: 1 Peter 5:1-4, Matthew 16:13-19. Today the Church celebrates the moment when Christ entrusted His Church to a particular, flawed man. It is called the Feast of the Chair of St. Peter, and while there is an actual chair at St. Peter’s Cathedral …
First Sunday of Lent: Genesis 9:8-15, 1 Peter 3:18-22, Mark 1:12-15. While on our personal Lenten journeys with Christ, we sometimes forget that it is also the season for the elect to formally pledge themselves to the Church, finish their preparation, and present themselves for Baptism, Confirmation, and First Holy …
Saturday after Ash Wednesday: Isaiah 58:9b-14, Luke 5:27-32. God shows us in todays’ readings His great desire to redeem us. Consider how different our God is from the gods in classical Greek culture or the nature-oriented gods of other pagan cultures. These deities have either complex personal, selfish desires that …
Friday after Ash Wednesday: Isaiah 58:1-9a, Matthew 9:14-15. Today’s readings cast some doubt on fasting, and it’s worth digging into them to understand the teaching God delivers to us. The verses from Isaiah are some of the longest in the Old Testament dealing with fasting. This chapter in Isaiah tackles …
Thursday after Ash Wednesday: Deuteronomy 30:15-20, Luke 9:22-25. In today’s gospel reading, Jesus tells us plainly that to follow him has a personal cost, that a person must “deny himself and take up his cross daily.” This saying is familiar to most Christians, although most believers I know are more …
