The Inner Word

24 Nov 2013

Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe, Cycle C

What’s in your heart?

Back in the day when most people thought the universe wasn’t all that big and that earth and the sun sat pretty much in the middle, it’s wasn’t too hard to imagine how God could have created it all.

17 Nov 2013

Thirty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle C

What’s in your heart?

The great Canadian Jesuit theologian Bernard Lonergan used to say: “Be attentive, be intelligent, be reasonable, and be responsible.” To what are you attentive?

10 Nov 2013

Thirty-second Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle C

What’s in your heart?

One of the messages we’re hearing from scripture this month as Ordinary Time wears down is that God is the creator and sustainer of everything.

3 Nov 2013

Thirty-first Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle C

What’s in your heart?

Zacchaeus is a figure of contrasts. Though a person “short in stature,” he rises above others. An Israelite and “a chief tax collector,” he is an outsider among his people. Though pursuing an “unclean” profession, he is nonetheless the “clean one” (the meaning of Zacchaeus).

27 Oct 2013

Thirtieth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle C

What’s in your heart?

The Pharisee in the gospel story thought that if he said his prayers, gave his regular donation, and followed the fasting laws, he would be right with God. Pray, pay, and obey, as some in the church once put it.

20 Oct 2013

Twenty-ninth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle C

What’s in your heart?

When you hear that the purpose of Jesus telling the parable about the widow and the judge was “to pray always without becoming weary,” you might think he’s talking about praying all the time.

13 Oct 2013

Twenty-eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle C

What’s in your heart?

When Elisha refused Naaman’s gift with the words, “As the Lord lives whom I serve, I will not take it,” he was not only being polite. He was also showing humility by not taking credit for something God did, not him. One sure path to deepening your faith is to see everything as gift—good as well as bad.

6 Oct 2013

Twenty-seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle C

What’s in your heart?

The apostles’ words to Jesus, “Increase our faith,” seem the most natural in the world. Everyone who believes wants greater faith, right? In another way, however, their request might make you think, “Increase? What more did you need?

29 Sep 2013

Twenty-sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle C

What’s in your heart?

In both the first reading and the gospel we hear of rich men, but in both cases their sin is not their wealth but their lack of awareness. In the Amos reading the “complacent . . . . are not made ill by the collapse of Joseph,” that is, they don’t care about the rest of Israel, their people.

22 Sep 2013

Twenty-fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle C

What’s in your heart?

This week we hear of two examples of dishonesty, one about some businessmen who not only cheat their customers but are also hypocrites about it: They impatiently but piously wait for after the “new moon,” when commerce was prohibited, so they can get back to shafting people with their crooked scales.