Diligent Faith Around this time five years ago, our first granddaughter was baptized. Public gatherings were troublesome in pandemic days. Events that should have brought great rejoicing were muted by the fear of disease. Our pastor offered a private ceremony in which ten masked family members could attend. We stressed over who the ten should be. Our immediate family was [...]
A Well of Mercy How I wish I could be Thomas at the moment when Jesus says, “Put your finger here and see my hands, and bring your hand and put it into my side” (John 20:27). Thomas touched Divine Mercy when he touched Christ’s side. Jesus invited him to put his hand into the very wound from which blood [...]
A Week to Feel His Profound Love Today’s Gospel reading reveals the depths of divine love through Jesus’ suffering and sacrifice. This passage is enormously long! As we stand to listen to the Gospel proclaimed during Mass, you may feel your knees buckle a little or your back begin to ache. Small children in the pews will fiddle and whine. [...]
Jesus’ Timing Jesus loved Mary, Martha, and Lazarus, so He waited. This is such a difficult passage to swallow. Like Martha, who cries to Jesus, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died,” we, too, cry out to Jesus when the answers we seek are long in coming. I found the disciples' reaction to Jesus’ decision [...]
Look Into The Heart “Not as man sees does God see, because man sees the appearance but the LORD looks into the heart." Have you ever read this and wondered, ‘God, what about all of David’s sins around the adultery with Bathsheba even though he had so many wives already, the murder of her husband, neglect of his sons - [...]
Ripple Effects of Encountering Christ Every nuance of the encounter between Jesus and the Samaritan woman reveals His merciful, loving, and compassionate heart. It begins with the place He chooses to meet her—Samaria, a land considered unclean by Jewish standards. Her presence at the well, especially at noon, suggests she is avoiding others, burdened by shame. Yet Jesus waits for [...]
Faith and Action During this season of Lent, I think one of the images that comes up frequently is a desert. We perhaps think about Jesus fasting for 40 days in the desert or about the suffering of the Israelites in Egypt before they were freed. As these images come to mind I can't help but think what it would [...]
Jesus Shows Us How to Live I have heard a couple commentaries on today’s Gospel that have stayed with me. The first offers this passage as a practical way for each of us to combat the temptations we experience. Jesus relies on the word of God to refute Satan. Three times he is tempted and three times he responds with [...]
Return to God with Your Whole Heart Today we begin the great season of Lent. It always seems to arrive so quickly after Christmas and this year is no exception. The tree and decorations have been put away and all the parties have come and gone. We may feel like our homes and our souls are a bit barren. And [...]
Be Salt and Light in the World “You are the salt of the earth… You are the light of the world.” Salt and light are so ordinary—present in nearly every home, every meal, every sunrise—and yet, in Jesus’ hands, they become extraordinary images of the Christian life. Salt preserves, enhances, and even heals. A sprinkle of salt enhances the taste [...]