Exploring the Word

28 Mar 2010

Palm Sunday of the Passion of the Lord, Cycle C

Benevolence rules

Jesus requires from his disciples terms that are unusually demanding: Give all that you have to the poor and come follow me! Yet Jesus both models and teaches a way that’s gentle and merciful.

21 Mar 2010

Fifth Sunday of Lent, Cycle C

Who's not worthy?

Lord, I am not worthy.” We all say that at every Mass—but we don’t always believe it. Because sometimes it just feels as if we are pretty worthy.

14 Mar 2010

Fourth Sunday of Lent, Cycle C

A love story

Two children, a father, and an inheritance: How many stories begin this way, and how bitterly many of them end!

7 Mar 2010

Third Sunday of Lent, Cycle C

Behold a great mystery

What we hold true—about God, the church, scripture, revelation, the sacraments, and eternity—are encapsulated in the Creed.

28 Feb 2010

Second Sunday of Lent, Cycle C

The road out

Abram was 75 and still living with his father when God first came calling with a new plan for his future. No wonder he was so willing to get up and go! For their part, most teenagers would agree that getting out is the first step to getting a life.

21 Feb 2010

First Sunday of Lent, Cycle C

Hunger

Mark recorded the story of Jesus in the desert first. He tells us Jesus spent 40 days there and was tempted by the devil. Matthew and Luke add that Jesus actually fasted all that time, at which point he was mighty hungry.

14 Feb 2010

Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle C

Barren bush, fruitful tree

We’re hit with a double celebration today: Valentine’s Day and World Marriage Day. The first observance honors romantic love and the second the even more romantic idea of lifelong fidelity.

7 Feb 2010

Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle C

Disappointment and discipleship

I think we know how Peter feels. After a long and fruitless night he's tired and disappointed. He and his men have worked hard until dawn to catch fish, only to come home empty-handed. We've all invested time, energy, and resources into things that just didn't pan out: a special project at work perhaps, or something as dear and vital as a relationship.

31 Jan 2010

Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle C

Teach your children well

The wisdom of folk songs is that they gently remind us of things we already know. Graham Nash’s 1970 classic, “Teach Your Children,” recalls that children can’t possibly appreciate the hell their parents lived through and how hard-won are the values they now hold.

24 Jan 2010

Third Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle C

God bless this day

God is the Lord of Today, the God of Present Tense. "I AM" is the name God uses in the ancient stories of Israel. The Eternal One exists in an everlasting state of Now, which is why God expects things of us today more than any other day. As for most of us, trapped in the limited perspective of linear moments, we often get stuck in the past.