On Fire for Jesus
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Our first reading today from Ephesians 3 is, in essence, a prayer. St. Paul prays that the Father “may grant you…to be strengthened with power through his Spirit…and that Christ may dwell in your hearts…that you…may know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge.” Be sure to read St. Paul’s beautiful prayer for you! I […]
Pro-Lifer Runs Graphic TV Spots
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Here is the other TV spot that Missy Smith is running in her race for Congress. WARNING: THIS SPOT CONTAINS GRAPHIC IMAGES Â
Entrusted with Much
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In today’s first reading from Ephesians 3, St. Paul talks about the gifts that God has given him, and his responsibility to use them properly. This is a theme that will come up in the Gospel reading today. St. Paul also tells us about a couple of gifts that God has given to us…”we have […]
Vigilant
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There is a word used in the first reading today from Ephesians 2 four times. That word is peace. “For he (Christ Jesus) is our peace.” “…Thus establishing peace…” “He came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near…” You think St. Paul is trying to get […]
St. Luke
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Today the Church celebrates the feast of St. Luke. 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 the only […]
Spiritual Telemarketers
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In the Gospel reading from Luke 18, Jesus tells the story of a widow who wants to get a ruling from a corrupt judge. She continues to pester him to give her a fair ruling. Because of her persistence, he finally does so. We need to pray like telemarketers. What do I mean by that? […]
Open to the Spirit
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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 of Man will acknowledge before the angels of God.” Something else Jesus says reminds me of something that I have really been working on in my life […]
A Good Cry
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When’s the last time you had a good cry? For me, it was towards the end of my silent retreat. I’ve shared before that I tend to be a pretty emotional guy. I like to say that I’m such a softie that I cry at toilet paper commercials on TV. While that may be a […]
God Notices You
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Why are we here? I mean, why do we exist? Is it to accumulate stuff? To, as Spock would say, live long and prosper? Perhaps it is only to serve our fellow man. Even though that is a noble thing, it is not the right answer. What is? St. Paul tells us in today’s first […]
Chosen
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In the first reading today, we begin reading St. Paul’s letter to the Ephesians. This will be a very rich couple of weeks as we go through the book of Ephesians. In the Gospel reading today, we hear more woes coming from Jesus to the Pharisees and scholars of the law. He ticks them off […]
The Fruit of the Spirit
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Jesus was never one to mince words. We see this again today in the Gospel reading from Luke 11, where He is pronouncing woes on the Pharisees. When a scholar of the law hears this, he tells Jesus that they (the scholars of the law) feel insulted, too. So, just to even things up, Jesus […]
The Two Reeds
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Isn’t it interesting how so often God can give us messages through simple things that we may never even notice if our eyes aren’t open? I had a neat experience that would fall into this category on my recent silent retreat that I would like to share. I spent a lot of time during my […]
Outside vs. Inside
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God doesn’t care about anyone’s background. You don’t have to have any kind of “pedigree” to give your life to Christ. St. Paul puts it like this in today’s first reading: “For in Christ Jesus, neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything, but only faith working through love.” In today’s Gospel reading from Luke 11, […]
Reflections From a Retreat
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I recently went on a four day silent retreat at the Holy Name Monastery in Saint Leo, FL. I thought I would share a few of my experiences with you while I was there. First, here is a shot of the monastery’s sign through one of their garden areas at sunset. I started my retreat […]
Christ Set Us Free
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In today’s Gospel reading from Luke 11, Jesus says, “This generation is an evil generation; it seeks a sign, but no sign will be given it, except the sign of Jonah.” Hmm…seems the more things change the more they stay the same. So many today are seeking a sign. They won’t believe until they see […]
Attitude of Gratitude
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In the Gospel reading from Luke 17, Jesus heals ten lepers. Yet only one comes back to thank him, and he was a Samaritan at that. One out of ten. Not good odds. I think if we look at our lives, there are probably an awful lot of things that we take for granted. Our […]
Blessings for All
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We hear more about justification and faith in today’s first reading from Galatians 3. “For through faith you are all children of God in Christ Jesus.” Good news, no? Lord, strengthen our faith this day. We have a very short Gospel passage today, only two short verses from Luke 11. A woman cries out to […]
Works of the Law
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Today in Galatians 3, St. Paul has strong things to say about faith and “works of the law.” More on that in a moment. In our Gospel reading from Luke 11, we see Jesus being accused of casting out demons “by the power of Beelzebul.” Jesus responds by asking how that could be. If that […]
Asking, Seeking, Knocking
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Today the Church celebrates the feast of Our Lady of the Rosary. To find out more about the Rosary, click here. I wonder how well received was the part of St. Paul’s letter to the Galatians that we read today. It starts out with, “O stupid Galatians!” And again, “Are you so stupid?” Paul obviously […]
Hypocrisy Happens
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In the Gospel reading today from Luke 11, Jesus’ disciples come to Him and say, “Lord, teach us to pray just as John taught his disciples.” Jesus then teaches them the Lord’s Prayer, aka the Our Father. Of course, we know this prayer so well that we often recite it from memory without even thinking […]
The Gifts of Martha
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In our first reading today from Galatians 1, we read a bit about what happened to St. Paul after his conversion. He didn’t jump right into ministry after being called by Christ. He probably knew that, since he had been one of the greatest persecutors of the Church, that he would not be trusted or […]
St. Francis of Assisi
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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. If you’re not familiar with the Prayer of St. Francis, then today would be a good day to familiarize yourself with it. And if you already know […]
Increase Our Faith
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In the Gospel reading today from Luke 17, the Apostles say to Jesus, “Increase our faith.” Interesting, isn’t it? I mean, here is a group of guys who have given up everything, family businesses, jobs, everything, to follow Jesus. And yet they still feel that they need an increase in faith. Jesus tells them, “If […]
Our Guardian Angels
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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 […]
You Ain't God
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In the Gospel reading today from Luke 10, we hear more of Jesus’ words to the seventy-two as He sends them out. “Whoever listens to you listens to me. Whoever rejects you rejects me. And whoever rejects me rejects the one who sent me.” We must always remember that Jesus’ authority lies in the Church […]
Shaking the Dust
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In the first reading today, we see more of Job’s great faith. While he was a miserable soul (and rightly so), he always knew that there was a purpose to his suffering, and that it would not end in vain. “I know that my Vindicator lives…Whom I myself shall see…And from my flesh I shall […]
Be an Angel
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Today we celebrate the Feast of Saints Michael, Gabriel and Raphael – the Archangels. We truly celebrate all of the Holy Angels. Our readings reflect that. We have two options for the first reading. The first, from Daniel 7, contains a vision of heaven. Here we see “myriads upon myriads” attending to the Ancient One. […]
Calling Down Fire
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If Job were around today, he certainly would have been diagnosed with serious depression. In today’s first reading, he rues the very day that he was born. He knows that anything would be better than all the stuff he was suffering through. Yet through it all, he never curses God for his plight. In the […]
Job
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In today’s Gospel reading from Luke 9, the disciples are arguing amongst themselves about which of them is the greatest. Actually, this seems like pretty typical guy stuff. But Jesus takes a child to help straighten the men out. Jesus then gets a report about someone casting out demons in Jesus’ name. Trouble was, the […]
Eternal Riches
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In today’s Gospel reading from Luke 16, Jesus tells the Pharisees a story about a beggar named Lazarus and a rich man. Both of them die and wind up in opposite places. Some theologians say the rich man was in hell. Hell is the word used in many translations, Hades in others and netherworld in […]
Youth
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In the Gospel reading today from Luke 9, the disciples do not understand something that Jesus says. Even though they didn’t get it, they were afraid to ask Him about it. What was it that Jesus said that confounded them so? Read it for yourself! Have you ever heard the old saying, “Youth is wasted […]
Everything Has Its Time
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Today’s first reading is from Ecclesiastes 3:1-11. “There is an appointed time for everything, and a time for every thing under the heavens.” If you’re a baby boomer like me, you can’t read that Scripture without hearing “Turn, Turn, Turn” by the Byrds in your head. Not a bad ear worm to have! In the […]
Vanity
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In the first reading today, we begin the book of Ecclesiastes. The book is something of a study in the futility of life here on earth. More in a moment. In the Gospel from Luke 9, we see Herod wondering about this Jesus character. He had heard much about him and was obviously very curious. […]
God Provides
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If you could ask God for just two things, what would they be? Solomon does just that today in our first reading from Proverbs 30. And in the Gospel from Luke 9, Jesus sends out the Twelve, telling them to take just the bare necessities to get by. The two readings really go hand in […]
Matthew
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Today we celebrate the feast of St. Matthew. His Jewish name was Levi. (We find that in the Gospels of Mark and Luke.) Matthew was a tax collector. Therefore, observant Jews would have nothing to do with him. He was considered a traitor. He is one of the four Gospel writers. In the first reading […]
No Secrets
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The Book of Proverbs is filled with so much timeless wisdom. Our first reading today from Proverbs 3 is no exception. “Envy not the lawless man and choose none of his ways.” Be sure to read it and soak up the wisdom of the ages! In the Gospel reading from Luke 8, Jesus says, “For […]
Serving Two Masters
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In the Gospel reading today from Luke 16, Jesus talks about how it is impossible to serve two masters. “No servant can serve two masters. He will either hate one and love the other, or be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.” We all have conflict in our […]
The Mysteries of the Kingdom
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We continue in 1 Corinthians 15 for our first reading today, where St. Paul continues his treatment on the resurrection of the body. “It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body.” The Gospel reading is Luke’s telling of the parable of sower. After telling the parable, but before explaining it, Jesus […]
The Women
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1 Corinthians 15 is St. Paul’s treatise on the resurrection of the body. We read some of this today in our first reading. “If there is no resurrection of the dead, then neither has Christ been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, then empty too is our preaching; empty, too, your faith.” In […]
Much Forgiven = Much Love
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Popeye used to say, “I yam what I yam.” I wonder if he got that from St. Paul. He could have. In our first reading today from 1 Corinthians 15, St. Paul says, “But by the grace of God I am what I am…” Who knew that Popeye quoted the Scriptures? In the Gospel reading […]
Sorrowful Mother
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Today the Church celebrates the feast of Our Lady of Sorrows. Our first reading, though, is for Monday of the 24th week in Ordinary Time. You have probably heard it at weddings. It is 1 Corinthians 13, often called The Love Chapter. Even if you’re familiar with it, read it again! It is always fresh! The Church […]
Exaltation of the Holy Cross
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Today is the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross. In the first reading today from Numbers 21, we see a bit of typology. God told Moses to make a bronze serpent and mount it on a pole. Whenever someone looked at it, they would be healed of their bite from a serpent. This […]
Eucharist
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In today’s Gospel reading from Luke 7, a centurion hears about Jesus and asks some elders to bring Jesus to his home to heal his sick servant. Before Jesus reaches the home, the centurion sends messengers out to deliver this message: “Lord, I am not worthy to have you enter under my roof…but say the […]
The Story of the Prodigal Son
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Our Gospel reading today is from Luke 15. It includes the story of the prodigal son. You know the story…a son wants his inheritance right away. So the father gives it to him and he promptly goes off and squanders everything in short order. He returns home in shame, only to be welcomed back by his […]
The Bread and The Cup
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In today’s Gospel reading from Luke 6, Jesus says, “Every tree is known by its fruit.” He then talks about building our house on a firm foundation. When Christ is not our foundation, our “house” is destined to fall. In the first reading from 1 Corinthians 10, St. Paul speaks about the Real Presence of […]
Spiritual Athletes
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Love of sports is not a modern phenomenon. St. Paul gives us a great sports analogy in today’s first reading. In our Gospel reading, we’re back in Luke 6 for more of the Sermon on the Plain. Jesus talks about taking the wooden beam out of our own eye before attempting to remove the splinter […]
Love Them?
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In the first reading today from 1 Corinthians 8, St. Paul talks about knowledge and conscience. “When they eat meat sacrificed to idols, their conscience, which is weak, is defiled.” This is a great reminder to me that we must have a well-formed conscience. In the Gospel reading from Luke 6, Jesus says, “Love your […]
Mary's Birthday
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Today the Church celebrates the Feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary…Mary’s birthday! Now, we don’t really know the exact day, date or year that Mary was born. We really don’t even know where she was born. In fact, we have no certainty at all about the details of Mary’s life before the […]
What You Used to Be
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In the Gospel reading today from Luke 6, we see that Jesus spent the night in prayer. The next day, He called His disciples and told them that He had chosen Twelve, whom He also named Apostles. In the first reading from 1 Corinthians 6, St. Paul talks about judgement, and Christians treating one another […]
Our Work
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Happy Labor Day! I hope you are taking a day of R&R today. There are plenty of options for readings today. The link that I will provide is actually for Monday of the Twenty-third Week in Ordinary Time. But if you attend Mass today, you may hear different readings for Labor Day. The Gospel reading […]