March 2, 2025
8th Sunday in Ordinary Time Talking to his disciples, Jesus said, “Can a blind person guide a blind person?” and a bit later, he asked, “Why do you notice the splinter in your brother’s eye but do not recognize the beam in your own?” Over the years, we have all heard the usual answers to […]
March 1, 2025
Lent is just around the bend. In just a few days, we will mark our foreheads with a cross of ashes… “To dust, you shall return.” This remembrance of the shortness of our lives on this earth frames our entrance into this time of change. Lent is an invitation to allow God to turn over […]
February 28, 2025
A good friend, one you can let into your inmost self, is hard to find. This is the wisdom presented in the Old Testament from Sirach. A husband or wife who becomes one body should seek to be good friends if they are not already good friends before they are married. So, a discussion about […]
February 27, 2025
The first reading in today’s mass calls for conversion. It provides us with a unique list for self-examination. It warns us against avarice, lust, and pride, tempting God, or presuming that his mercy will ignore our sinfulness. The Gospel warns us against reckless sinning and scandal. While using graphic images of plucked eyes and maimed […]
February 26, 2025
Jesus was usually very patient with the apostles, even when they came running with reports that someone else was driving out demons in Jesus’ name! Mark records Jesus’ reply as calm and wise. No one could perform good deeds in his name and at the same time badmouth him. “For whoever is not against us […]
February 25, 2025
A deep secret to a deep friend The transfiguration event ends with a command from Jesus not to tell anyone of all they had seen and heard until He had risen from the dead. The story of his passion and death was not easy for him to let out. It took him a lot of […]
February 24, 2025
As we enter the last full week in Ordinary Time before Lent, which begins next Wednesday, March 5th, the first readings for all the days between today and Ash Wednesday constitute an overview of Sirach. One commentator has suggested that the Sirach readings this week offer “practical guides for shaping a life with God at […]
February 23, 2025
7th Sunday in Ordinary Time For the past several years, we have been involved in what has been termed culture wars. These refer to conflicts between two groups within society. Each group seeks to dominate and force its beliefs, values, and practices upon the other. The word war is justified by the means used to […]
February 22, 2025
There is so much to learn from today’s readings, but one must be understood above all, or the others will have little or no meaning to the reader. When Jesus asks his disciples, “Who do you say that I am?” He doesn’t want to hear that he is a prophet, as many others have said. […]
February 21, 2025
“Whosoever shall lose his life for my sake, and the Gospel shall save it.” Being a follower of Jesus and the Gospel was often a dangerous risk, but for so many men and women from the earliest centuries of the Church right up to the present, they found torture and death preferable to denying their […]