Another parable and another conundrum. Jesus’ technique seems to be that he tells a parable, walks away without explaining it, and leaves people scratching their head for the explanation. Only those interested in growing in their faith bother to chase after him with the request, “Tell us more. We hunger to be fed with the food that’s nourishing you. We noticed you praying; teach us how to pray.” Others fall away thinking, “If he isn’t going to do a …
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Here is a story to get us started. It is about this Jewish woman raised in the liberal leftist tradition who was part of a socialist movement in her youth. She wasn’t a practicing Jew; in fact, she was more an atheist. Well, one day she takes her grandson to the beach. He is her favorite. She buys him a little yellow sun hat, a swimsuit, a sand pail, and shovel. As he plays in the sand, she falls …
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That gospel passage always rubs me the wrong way. Even as I try to be open-minded about the conclusion, there’s still a part of me that wants to join the voices of the laborers, who worked all day under the scorching sun, and say, “Unfair!” Isaiah, in that first reading, kind of pre-warned us that something was coming down the pike that would rub us the wrong way when he said, “My thoughts are not God’s thoughts, nor are …
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As with so many of our Sunday readings, there is again a connection between the first reading from Sirach, in this case, and the gospel passage from Matthew. Both readings are about forgiveness and also about vengeance, which lingers an inch below the surface in even the most forgiving person. Of course, it’s always easier to speak about forgiveness than to live it. To the degree that we know we need forgiveness and to the degree we actively receive …
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Here is a quote, and I would like to see if you can identify where it comes from, who the author is.
“I can’t stand your religious meetings. I’m fed up with your conferences and conventions. I want nothing to do with your religious projects, your pretentious slogans and goals. I’m sick of your fund-raising schemes, your public relations and image making. I’ve had all I can take of your noisy ego-music. When was the …
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If you’re my age or older, you might remember some of the detective shows that were popular on T.V. back in the 1970s. They included Barnaby Jones, Mannix, The Rockford Files, Hawaii Five-O, Cannon, and the list goes on. I particularly got a kick out of Cannon, because he was too fat to chase down criminals on foot, so he would run them over with his big 8-cylinder Lincoln Continental. Every crook Cannon brought to the police station had …
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As you may know, the little slice of the Scriptures on any given Sunday is only that, a slice. The mistake we often make in reading these Bible stories, or just in life in general, is to think we have the whole pie when we only have a slice of the pie. Even Jesus makes the mistake with this Canaanite women. She has to remind him that initially he only has a piece of the puzzle and not the …
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As you know, there are many forms of prayer; one is not any better than another. Public, communal prayer is called liturgy, while private prayer is called devotional prayer. We need both. Different forms of prayer spontaneously emerge in us depending on the circumstance we find ourselves in. When you stand before something absolutely wonderful, and you know you didn’t create it, a “prayer of praise” is never too far from your lips. Looking into a baby’s eyes always …
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The story of Jesus’ transfiguration is a wonderful gospel story. It has just so much depth to it, so much symbolism. It speaks to me differently at different stages of my life. All Scripture stories are supposed to work that way, and this one certainly does.
I had the privilege of being on this mountain a few years ago. Peter, as you heard from the story, wanted to make three dwellings, to pitch three tents, in …
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There are, as always, a number of ways of approaching the readings we hear during liturgy. One helpful idea as we try to tease out some meaning from today’s readings is to make the distinction between the Kingdom of God, on the one hand, and the Kingdom of Heaven on the other. Usually we mash them together thinking one means exactly the same as the other. Not so. In its simplest form, the Kingdom of God is the present; …
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