Satan, or whatever you consider the demonic to be, gets significant air time in today’s first reading and in the gospel. Satan, or the devil, is known by many evil traits, but the two most prominent are “liar” and “accuser.” Contrast that with the Holy Spirit who is the Spirit of truth (not lies) and who is your Advocate, your defense lawyer (not your accuser). To the degree we have allowed ourselves to be loved by the Truth, then we ...
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How Do We View Dying
“Even though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. (2 Corinthians 4: 16)
I feel very confident in saying that almost everyone who reads this has journeyed with someone, or has known someone, who has had or has a debilitating disease that just eats away at them until they are a shell of who they used to be physically. When journeying with someone who is going through this, or ...
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I realize, that by the time we get to proclaiming the Gospel, it’s already the fourth piece of Scripture we’ve heard, and we don’t always remember what we heard in the first reading, the second reading, or the psalm. So, let me refresh your minds by taking you back to that first reading from the Book of Exodus.
The Book of Exodus gets its name from that great departure, that great “exodus” of the Hebrew people from the land of slavery ...
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Today is the feast of the Holy Trinity, the feast that marks one of the most unique beliefs of Christian faith, separating Christianity from other world religions. We believe in one God in three persons. We believe in a God who is defined by relationship. 1 John states that “God is love.” God is Father, Son and Holy Spirit and the perfect love that unites them in such a way that nothing is done by one person of the Trinity ...
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The Church’s prayer for 2, 000 years has been, “Come, Holy Spirit.” The Spirit’s answer in all that time has never changed, “I am here. I have always been here.” This story comes from an autobiographical novel by Bryce Courtenay called The Power of One. It reminds me of Pentecost.
It takes place in South Africa in the late 1930s. It starts off with an emphasis on a little boy who is 6 years old, and he is an English boy. ...
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Twenty-one years ago, when I was young and foolish, I hopped in the car and drove 3,600 km to go to a retreat center in Tucson, Arizona. It was in the middle of the Sonoran Desert, surrounded by giant cactus plants, some with arms stretching 25 feet into the air. In each of the retreatants’ rooms was the standard bed, desk, chair and a lamp. I had been on retreats before. So, I knew there would be a piece of ...
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Living in Hope
And just like that, it is Mother’s Day again. As always at this time of year, my mother is much on my mind. She had an abundance of wisdom sayings – some were her own pearls, and some the words of others which resonated with her. A favourite was “Live in hope or die in despair.” That sprang to mind today as I was reflecting on St. Paul’s letters to the Ephesians. At the time of writing this, ...
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This gospel reading is a continuation of the gospel reading from last Sunday. Last Sunday, Jesus told us to abide in him, to remain in him, so that our lives would bear fruit. In today’s reading, Jesus is putting a little different spin on things. He’s telling us to abide in his love so that his joy may be in us and that our new-found joy will be complete. Complete joy is not a joy that is fleeting. Rather, complete ...
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Faithful Servants
After studying the readings for today I wondered how I could possibly say anything about love that has not already been said more eloquently by greater theological minds. I could have used many personal examples such as family and friends, or one of the many folks I encounter who consistently radiate joy, kindness and love. Lately though, my two dogs have been demanding a great deal of my energy, time and resources, so I am going to tell you ...
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When we experience the best things in life, we don’t have words to describe those things. We stand there with our mouths open, and we are at a loss for words; it’s just that good. Equally true, when we experience the worst things in life, we go numb. We lose words. All we can do is weep. Tears replace words.
When it comes to our faith, especially in our feeble attempts to describe what God is like, we just know our ...
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