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Who is up to learning a few words in Swahili? Actually, you already know these words if you ever watched the movie or saw the musical The Lion King. The main character is Simba. Simba is the Swahili word for “lion.” Another character in The Lion King is a wisecracking meerkat named Timon. The meerkat is the image that is staying with me this Advent. Timon sings a song called Hakuna Matata which is Swahili for “no worries” or “no ...

Once again, there is a connection between the first reading (Proverbs) about the “capable wife” and the gospel about the slaves left in charge of their master’s money. For me, the invitation in both passages is to be a risk taker. I find that challenging, because my nature is not to be a risk taker. For the most part, being cautious has served me well. I always look before I leap. But other times, being overly cautious has meant that ...

As our liturgical year is drawing to an end, and we are on the cusp of beginning a new liturgical year in just a few weeks with Advent, our Scripture stories are more and more about the end times, or if you prefer the fancy, theological term “eschatology.” One thing I sense in these readings is that we are not to become obsessed with the questions of: “When will the Lord will return in glory?” nor with the question: “What ...

While God, through Moses, gave us the 10 Commandments, God, through Jesus, gave us the Beatitudes—a new way of living our relationship with God. You may have noticed there are eight Beatitudes with the eighth one sort of spinning into a ninth one about rejoicing in the face of persecution.

I like to look at the first four Beatitudes one way and the last four, differently. The first four–Blessed are the poor, blessed are those who mourn, blessed are the meek, ...