St. Lawrence of Brindisi – If we are discouraged about our own personal growth, let us remember the true story of a piece of marble that was hewn from one gigantic block, unwanted, and discarded for 38 years after being poorly cut. Then the authorities commissioned a young 26-year-old artist to work on it. In …
St. Apollinaris – In the midst of Jesus addressing the people, some of his family members arrive and ask to speak with him. Jesus takes advantage of this opportunity and makes a very radical and shocking declaration. Gesturing to his disciples he says these are my sisters and brothers, this is my family. He redefines …
God reveals his love for us in every act of kindness, in every offering of forgiveness. God is in our midst not in displays of miraculous wonder or supernatural power, but in humble gratitude and selfless service that imitates the love of Jesus in the Gospel. Such signs of God’s mercy and love are all …
Sixteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time – If we look through the eyes of Jesus I am sure we would see unrealized possibilities in everyone. Jesus looked at Nicodemus and saw that he could be transformed into a better person. He looked at a rugged fisherman who denied him but still saw him as leading the …
A smoldering wick he will not quench. Jesus came to fan us into full flame, no matter how weak that smoldering fire might seem. In fact, Jesus seemed to gravitate toward those whose light of goodness was barely a dying ember. He made special note of Zacchaeus, Mary Magdalen, the Samaritan woman at the well, …
Our Lady of Mount Carmel – We make the Sabbath holy by doing good on that day. Both worship and work honor the Sabbath, as long as the focus is on God and the neighbor. Worship is not the exclusive point of the Sabbath. Jesus insisted that we must shoulder our moral responsibilities by giving …
St. Bonaventure – The rest that Jesus promises the weary is not the rest of idleness. Rather, Jesus offers the deep calm that comes from a new perspective and a fresh involvement in life. When we take up the yoke of Jesus, we find the center of our lives shifting from ourselves to others. Our …
St. Kateri Tekakwitha – When Jesus calls his disciples to embrace the simple faith of the “childlike,” he is not saying that our approach to faith should be “dumbed down” to the level of children. He is calling us, instead, to embrace a faith that is centered in the love of God: love that is …
Are we paying attention to the presence of Jesus in our lives? Do we spend time in silence with him? What does this Gospel say to us and our relationships? How often we ignore people or give them the cold shoulder or exclude them from conversation or direct all our attention to one person and …
We need to understand that Jesus did not take pleasure in conflict. His first preference was always peace. He wept over Jerusalem; he felt sorry for the crowd because they were like sheep without a shepherd; he taught his disciples to turn the other cheek and not fight back. If we walk with him, part …
