60 Second Reflections » 60 Reflections
Love and Hate
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Love and hate are two things we hear about in today’s readings. In the first reading from Romans 13, St. Paul says, “Owe nothing to anyone, except to love one another; for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law.” In the Gospel reading from Luke 14, Jesus tells a large crowd, “If anyone […]
Come to the Feast!
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Today’s first reading from Romans 12 is amazingly rich. In the first part of the reading, St. Paul talks about different jobs within the Body of Christ. The second part of the reading is what I like to call the gospel in a nutshell. Spend a few minutes today really reflecting on how you are […]
A Call From God
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It’s great to do nice things for people who will reciprocate. But Jesus gives us a different vision in the Gospel reading from Luke 14. In the first reading today, there is a passage from Romans 11 that has always had a great deal of meaning to me. St. Paul writes, “For the gifts and […]
Call No One Father
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In today’s Gospel reading from Matthew 23, we find a verse that many use to try to discredit the Catholic faith. Jesus said, “Call no one on earth your father; you have but one Father in heaven.” Some people will point to this verse and say, “See, you Catholics call your priests ‘Father!’ Jesus said […]
The Lowest Place
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In the first reading from Romans 11 today, we see more of St. Paul’s thoughts about the chosen people, his people, Israel. He reminds them again that the Messiah has come from their midst. In the Gospel reading today from Luke 14, Jesus is eating at the home of a leading Pharisee. He tells a […]
Heart for Others
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St. Paul had a radical conversion to Christianity. Remember, he was a persecutor of Christians before; a devout Jew. He never lost his love for his people. More on that in a moment. In our Gospel reading today, Jesus performs another healing on the sabbath, this time on a man with dropsy. He then asks […]
All Souls’ Day
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Today we celebrate the Feast of All Souls. It is the day we remember all the souls in Purgatory. Purgatory can be a controversial topic, and hard to explain. So, I would like to help you with that. Following is one of the chapters of A Minute in the Church on Purgatory. I hope this […]
The Communion of Saints
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Today is the Solemnity of All Saints, one of my favorite days of the year. Today is a Holy Day of Obligation, and rightfully so. We celebrate all the holy men and women who have achieved our goal: sainthood. We celebrate the Communion of Saints. As Catholics, we view the Body of Christ as being […]
Hope
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In today’s first reading from Romans 8, St. Paul talks about hope. More on that in a moment. In the Gospel reading from Luke 13, Jesus compares the Kingdom of God to a mustard seed and to yeast. The mustard seed is the smallest of seeds that grows into something great, and yeast is an […]
Daddy!
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What an awesome reading today from Romans 8. St. Paul talks about us being sons and daughters of God. More on that in a sec. In the Gospel reading from Luke 13, Jesus has the audacity to cure a woman on the sabbath, in the synagogue, no less! The leader of the synagogue takes Jesus […]
Loving God and Neighbor
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In the Gospel reading from Matthew 22, Jesus is asked, “Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?” His answer may have surprised some. When Jesus is asked about the greatest commandment (singular), he gives a plural answer. “You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and […]
Turning to St. Jude
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Today is the Feast of Saints Simon and Jude, Apostles. Typically I do your :60 on the daily Scripture readings. But I want to veer from the format today. The readings are the same as the feast days of other Apostles; Ephesians 2:19-22, which I recently wrote about, and Luke 6:12-16, which is the listing […]
Our Struggle with Evil
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Could Jesus have been talking about Purgatory in today’s Gospel reading? He talks about being thrown into prison and how “you will not be released until you have paid the last penny.” In its deeper spiritual meaning, this could well be a reference to Purgatory. Like me, St. Paul struggled with sin. He was trying […]
Holy Bodies
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In the first reading today from Romans 6, St. Paul talks about presenting our bodies for sanctification. We’ll talk more on that in a moment. In the Gospel passage from Luke 12, Jesus says, “I have come to set the earth on fire, and how I wish it were already blazing!” He then goes on […]
Much is Required
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Perhaps St. Paul’s words in today’s first reading from Romans 6 are ones we should read every day, or even commit to memory. “For sin is not to have any power over you, since you are not under the law but under grace.” We are under grace!! In the Gospel reading from Luke 12, Jesus […]
Grace Overflows
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In today’s first reading from Romans 5, St. Paul talks about sin and grace. More on that in a moment. In the Gospel reading from Luke 12, Jesus tells his disciples to be “ready to open immediately when he comes and knocks.” The word that strikes me the most in this is “immediately.” Are we […]
You Can’t Take It With You
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In today’s first reading from Romans 4, we read St. Paul’s thoughts on the importance of faith. He talks about Abraham, and how his faith was “credited to him as righteousness.” This is important stuff, and part of the basis of the Protestant doctrine of sola fide, or that we are justified by faith alone. We certainly […]
On Caesar
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In today’s Gospel reading from Matthew 22, we hear a famous saying of Jesus. He is asked whether it is lawful to pay the census tax to Caesar. His reply: “Then repay to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God what belongs to God.” We live in very divisive times, and lots of people […]
The Spirit Speaks
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We’re back in Romans 4 for the first reading today. Paul continues to talk about faith and again uses the model of faith as an example, Abraham. In the Gospel reading from Luke 12, Jesus speaks of the importance of standing up for him. “I tell you, everyone who acknowledges me before others the Son […]
What You’re Worth
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In today’s first reading from Romans 4, St. Paul talks about the importance of faith. He points to Abraham as the example of faith. “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.” Yes, faith is of the utmost importance. Without it, we have nothing. In the Gospel reading today from Luke 12, […]
Justification
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In the Gospel reading today from Luke 11, Jesus continues to pronounce woes on the scholars of the law. These are some pretty scathing remarks. “Woe to you, scholars of the law! You have taken away the key of knowledge. You yourselves did not enter and you stopped those trying to enter.” Today’s first reading […]
Feast of St. Luke
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Today the Church celebrates the feast of St. Luke the Evangelist. St. Luke is the author of two books of the New Testament, the Gospel of Luke and Acts of the Apostles. In fact, Acts may be considered a “sequel” to Luke’s Gospel, as that story picks up right where Luke ends. St. Luke is […]
Not Ashamed of the Gospel
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One of the things that I admire most about St. Paul (there are many) is his boldness. And the first line of today’s first reading really sums things up. “I am not ashamed of the Gospel.” More on that in a moment. In the Gospel reading from Luke 11, Jesus derides the Pharisees for being […]
The Signs are Everywhere
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In the first reading today we begin a journey through St. Paul’s Letter to the Romans. St. Paul greets the believers in Rome with this – “Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.” My sentiments exactly. In the Gospel reading from Luke 11, Jesus says to the crowd, […]
The Wedding Garment
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In the Gospel reading from Matthew 22, Jesus tells a parable about a king who gives a wedding feast for his son. When the servants went out to summon the invited guests, they refused to come. Some even beat and killed the servants. So the king has servants go out and invite people off the […]
Blessed
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God will take care of His people. That is His promise, His covenant. It is one that will last forever. In today’s first reading from Joel 4, we hear this from the Lord. “But Judah shall abide forever, and Jerusalem for all generations.” No matter how bad things had gotten for His children, in the […]
Satan’s Persistence
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Jesus spoke often about Satan and demons. He spent no small amount of His time driving out demons. In today’s Gospel reading from Luke 11, Jesus drives out a demon and is accused of driving out demons by the power of Beelzebul. After debunking that theory, Jesus goes on to talk about how after an […]
Asking for the Spirit
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Sometimes it seems that the wicked prosper. This has been going on for time immemorial. It comes up in today’s first reading from Malachi 3. Though it may seem that way now, in the end it will not be so. Read about what God has to say. In the Gospel reading from Luke 11, Jesus […]
Angry with God
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In our Gospel reading today from Luke 11, Jesus’ disciples ask Him to teach them how to pray. Jesus does. He teaches them the perfect prayer. We know it as the Our Father. In the first reading from Jonah 4, we read, “Jonah was greatly displeased and became angry that God did not carry out […]
Active and Contemplative
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We see a great story of repentance today in our first reading from Jonah 3. The whole great city of Nineveh repents of their evildoing at the preaching of Jonah. Today’s Gospel reading from Luke 10 is the story of Martha and Mary, her sister. Jesus is dining at their home and Martha is doing […]
Good Samaritan Lessons
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In today’s first reading, we begin a quick trip through the book of Jonah. Most people are familiar with the story. We heard it when we were little kids. It’s about a guy who gets swallowed up by a whale and gets spat out after three days. But do you know the before and after […]
Think About These Things
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Henry Ford once said, “You are not what you think you are; but what you think, you are.” What he meant was that the things that we put into our mind, the things that we think about, the things that we dwell on, will shape what we are becoming. He’s so right. St. Paul obviously […]
Our Lady of the Rosary
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Today we celebrate the Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary. The readings today are for Saturday of the Twenty-sixth Week in Ordinary Time. I’ve only recently become a rosary guy. For the longest time, I saw the rosary as a chore; it was pure drudgery for me. I don’t feel bad about that. I […]
Coming Clean
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In the Gospel reading today from Luke 10, Jesus pronounces “woes” on the towns of Chorazin and Bethsaida. He also has not nice things to tell Capernaum, his adopted home town. Why? Because they had seen many mighty deeds done in their midst, yet refused to repent. In the first reading today from Baruch 1, […]
A Shaky Time
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What does reading Scripture do for you? We see the reaction of the people in today’s first reading from Nehemiah 8 when Ezra reads from the book of the law. In the Gospel reading today from Luke 10, Jesus sends out seventy-two disciples and instructs them as He sends them out. At the end, He […]
St. Francis’ Prayer
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Today we celebrate the Feast of St. Francis of Assisi. So, rather than comment on the Scriptures, I’m going to go a bit out of format for today. Hope you don’t mind! If you’re not familiar with the Prayer of St. Francis, then today would be a good day to familiarize yourself with it. And […]
Calling Down Fire from Heaven
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In today’s first reading from Zechariah 8, the Lord speaks of a time when other peoples would come to the Jews, saying, “Let us go with you, for we have heard that God is with you.” A reminder for us that our Lord Jesus came from and to Israel. In the Gospel today from Luke […]
A Guardian Angel Prayer
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Today we celebrate the Feast of the Guardian Angels. In the optional first reading for the feast day from Exodus, we see God telling the people that he is sending an angel before them to lead and guide them. He says that He has given this angel His authority; they must listen to him. In […]
Saying and Doing
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In the Gospel reading from Matthew 21, Jesus tells a story of two sons, each of whom was told by the father to go out and work in the vineyard. The first son says, “I will not,” but then changes his mind and goes out to work. The second son says, “Yes, sir,” but then […]
Dwelling With Us
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Our first reading today is from the Prophet Zechariah. Zechariah has an encounter with an angel. More in a moment. Our Gospel reading today from Luke 9 is short. Jesus tells the disciples that “The Son of Man is to be handed over to men.” But they did not understand, and were afraid to ask […]
Heavenly Heroes
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Today the Church celebrates the Feast of Saints Michael, Gabriel and Raphael, the Archangels. Saint Michael is God’s great warrior angel, the Prince of the heavenly hosts. We see Michael doing battle with the dragon in today’s first reading from Revelation 12. Manly stuff, that! Gabriel is God’s messenger. In Luke 1, we see Gabriel […]
Consider Your Ways!
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Our first reading today is from the Prophet Haggai. The Lord had opened the doors for the rebuilding of his temple in Jerusalem. The exiles had returned. God opened the heart of King Darius. You would think that the people would jump at this chance. Uh…not so much. More in a sec. In the Gospel […]
Dependent on God…and His People
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In the Gospel reading from Luke 9, Jesus sends out the Twelve and gives them their marching orders. “Take nothing for the journey.” Why would Jesus send out the Apostles empty-handed? After all, they would need to eat. They would need a place to stay. Couldn’t they just rent a room at the nearby Marriott […]
All in the Family
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In the first reading today from Ezra 6, we see an interesting relationship between “government” and “religion.” The kings of that time, Darius, Cyrus and Artaxerxes all allowed and encouraged the exiled Israelites to rebuild the temple in Jerusalem. Darius even ordered that they be compensated for their trouble! Can you imagine? In the Gospel […]
A Response to Faith
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King Cyrus of Persia was a magnanimous guy. He did something very special for the children of Israel, even though he was not one and had no duty to do so. What did he do? Read about it in today’s first reading from Ezra 1. The last line of today’s Gospel reading from Luke 8 […]
Never Too Late
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God is always calling us to himself. How will we respond? This is a theme in today’s readings. IN the first reading from Isaiah 55, we read, “Seek the LORD while he may be found.” In the Gospel reading today from Matthew 20, Jesus tells a parable about a landowner who goes into town to […]
Sow and Pray
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In the Gospel reading today from Matthew 13, Jesus tells the parable of the sower of the seeds. After telling his parable, the disciples didn’t understand. Jesus seems a bit perturbed. But He explains the parable to them. He starts out, “The sower sows the word.” Then He goes on to explain about the different […]
MoneyMoneyMoneyMoney
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St. Paul gives some very sound advice to Timothy in today’s first reading from 1 Timothy 6. More on that in a moment. Our Gospel reading today is short, but important. Luke tells us that Jesus was accompanied by the Twelve, and a number of women. Why would he mention this? Because Luke wanted all […]
Wait…What? Who?
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Today we celebrate the Feast of St. Matthew. His Jewish name was Levi. He is the author of the first Gospel. In his own Gospel account, he refers to himself as Matthew. In the first reading today from Ephesians 4, St. Paul talks about the different “jobs” that some are called to in the Church. […]
Not Trivial Trivia
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In our first reading today from 1 Timothy 3, St. Paul mentions “the pillar and foundation of truth.” Care to take a guess at what St. Paul said that was? We’ll talk about it in a moment. Our Gospel reading is from Luke 7. Here Jesus talks about how mixed up that generation was. They […]