Friday of the Twenty-fourth Week in Ordinary Time [I]
1 Timothy 6:2-12  +  Luke 8:1-3

Jesus journeyed from one town and village to another….

Today’s Gospel passage doesn’t seem much like a passage!  There’s no narrative to speak of, but mostly a description of Jesus’ entourage as He journeys while preaching.  How is such a “cast of characters” meant to tell us something as it’s preached from the pulpit on this weekday in Ordinary Time? Continue reading →

St. Matthew, Apostle and Evangelist
Ephesians 4:1-7,11-13  +  Matthew 9:9-13
September 21, 2017

“I did not come to call the righteous but sinners.”

Among the four evangelists, only Matthew and John were members of the Twelve apostles.  Mark and Luke did not, as far as we know, ever meet Jesus during His earthly life.  Nonetheless, Mark and Luke were disciples of Peter and Paul, respectively, and from those two Mark and Luke received the apostolic witness to the Good News. Continue reading →

Sts. Andrew Kim Tae-gŏn, Priest, & Paul Chŏng Ha-sang, et soc., Martyrs
1 Timothy 3:14-16  +  Luke 7:31-35
September 20, 2017

“But wisdom is vindicated by all her children.”

Our society today is knowledge-rich but wisdom-poor.  Contrast knowledge and wisdom.  Knowledge today, as it’s commonly considered, is thought to be facts and figures.  A recently enshrined paragon of knowledge is an IBM computer called “Watson”, which can spit forth names and dates faster than human game show champions.  While we might dispute whether facts and figures are the essence of knowledge or merely some of its components, we often educate our children according to knowledge-based systems. Continue reading →

Tuesday of the Twenty-fourth Week in Ordinary Time [I]
1 Timothy 3:1-13  +  Luke 7:11-17

…a bishop must be irreproachable, married only once, temperate, self-controlled, decent, hospitable, able to teach….

Today’s First Reading, from St. Paul’s first epistle to St. Timothy, speaks to the lived reality of Holy Orders in the apostolic church.  There are three “orders” (sometimes called “grades” or “degrees”) of the Sacrament of Holy Orders.  St. Paul speaks today of the first and the last. Continue reading →

Monday of the Twenty-fourth Week in Ordinary Time [I]
1 Timothy 2:1-8  +  Luke 7:1-10

“I tell you, not even in Israel have I found such faith.”

With few exceptions, the translation of the Mass introduced in 2011 has been hailed by bishops, scholars and folk in the pews for its advances over the hurried translation made soon after Vatican II.  One of the key improvements in the translation is its greater fidelity to Sacred Scripture.  Today’s Gospel passage offers an example. Continue reading →

The Twenty-fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time [A]
Sir 27:30—28:7  +  Rom 14:7-9  +  Mt 18:21-35
September 17, 2017

Wrath and anger are hateful things, yet the sinner hugs them tight.

The great British convert and apologist G. K. Chesterton once said, “Forgiving means to pardon the unpardonable, or it is no virtue at all.”  By contrast, you and I often are willing only to forgive if we deem someone’s sins not too serious or offensive.  Today Jesus challenges us to go further in being instruments of His mercy.

One way to realize to what extent we ought to extend mercy to others is to turn the table.  We ought each day to consider how much God Himself has blessed us in showing us His mercy.  We ought to reflect on how each day we act sinfully, in a way that calls for God’s mercy.

All of us long to find a place where we are at home, where we are trusted.  But even more importantly, we long to find a place where we can be forgiven, for we know that there are times when we fail to live up to the trust that people place in us.  We might ask ourselves, “Which is more important to me:  trust or forgiveness?” Continue reading →

Sts. Cornelius, Pope, and Cyprian, Bishop, Martyrs
1 Timothy 1:15-17  +  Luke 6:43-49
September 16, 2017

“For every tree is known by its own fruit.”

The first of Jesus’ brief parables today might seem-evident.  He instructs us that a
“good tree does not bear rotten fruit, nor does a rotten tree bear good fruit.”  Yet some reflection suggests an argument against this lesson. Continue reading →

Our Lady of Sorrows
1 Timothy 1:1-2,12-14  +  John 19:25-27
September 15, 2017

“Woman, behold, your son.”

All our joys, all our sorrows, all our glory is only found in Christ:  that is to say, because we are members of Christ’s Body.  It is not true that you have your cross, and I have mine.  We all bear together—as individual members of Christ’s Body—the Cross of Jesus.  We all share in carrying His Cross. Continue reading →

The Exaltation of the Holy Cross
Num 21:4-9  +  Phil 2:6-11  +  Jn 3:13-17
September 14, 2017

…He humbled Himself, becoming obedient to death, even death on a cross.

We know that silence can be deafening.  Sometimes silence is very embarrassing, as when a teacher asks a question about something you’ve been studying for weeks, and no one knows the answer.

On the other hand, silence can be a very good thing.  It is in silence that the highest kind of prayer happens.  St. John of the Cross is supposed to have said that silence is God’s native language.  Regardless, there are many different ways to pray:  one of the first ways that we learn to pray is made up of prayers that others teach us, like the “Our Father”, the “Hail Mary” or the “Glory Be”.  Prayers like these let us pray together as a group, so that we’re praying the same thing at the same time.

Other times, though, we pray on our own, and so we make up our own words in prayer.  In this kind of prayer—which is like a conversation with God—we can say anything we want.  We don’t have to remember the right words to pray:  we just pray from our heart, and offer to God whatever is most on our mind. Continue reading →