Ambassadors for christ

†A reflection on how the point of fasting has changed, thanks to Christ’s saving act of sacrifice.

Starting the Great Fast

†A reflection on why Lent is called “The Great Fast” in Eastern Churches and how we can prioritize being spiritual beings.

Who Said Catholics Aren’t Pro-Choice?

†A reflection on the choice between a blessing and a curse, but re-framed by Jesus: will you deny yourself or not?

Doughnuts and Kenosis: Our Come-to-Jesus Moment

†A reflection on how kenosis is denying yourself as Jesus did, and it is the proper way to understand divine love. But what happens to us, to our personalities?

Fasting for What?

†A reflection on how sincerity is a key component of fasting.

The Spirit of Fasting

†A reflection on how the spirit of fasting is to fulfill our purpose within the Mystical Body of Christ and become better spiritual beings.

On Being Chosen

†A reflection on how much continuity there is between Old and New Testaments, and also how Christ expands the scope of who is “chosen”.

Embracing God’s Offer

†A reflection on the true Fatherhood of God, which offers each of us a call to be with him, and in this unrestricted love, we learn the true meaning of justice.

Year A

Getting to Know the Tempter

†A deep-dive on the Genesis story and the three temptations of Christ.

Year B

The Power of Baptism

†A reflection on how Lent is a time of preparation for Catholic catechumen, and how St. Mark’s telling of the Baptism of Christ is a powerful reminder of how our Church is impelled in and through the Holy Spirit.

Judgments will be based on Acts of Love

†A reflection on living out the command to love all, fusing a fear of God with the perfect love He is.

The Life-Giving Word

†A reflection on the generative, active Word of God, which the Father promises, “It shall not return to me void, but shall do my will, achieving the end for which I sent it.”

The Fertile Word and Forgiveness

†Agricultural metaphors help us understand that God’s Word is meant to be food for us – both in scripture and the Eucharist. True forgiveness means remembering that we are the fruit of God’s Word.

Woe to (and Deliverance for) the Faithless Generation

†A reflection on how God’s Word and Wisdom were with Jonah and Solomon, but Jesus is greater than that because he is a sign of how conversion can save us for everlasting life.

Something Greater is Here

†Do we interpret all of history through Christ or do we think that he’s just one voice among many holy voices? A recapitulation of the reflection on the left.

Esther: Model of How to Petition the Father

†A reflection on how we might “ask and you shall receive” if we do so in the model of Esther, and with God’s will in mind.

Asking for God’s Help

†A reflection on how we must place Jesus’s words about asking and receiving within the broader context of the Sermon on the Mount to truly understand them.

Salvation Is Based on Our Core Person

†A reflection on how salvation is not a weighing of sins vs. virtues, but an accounting of how completely our hearts have turned toward God and done his will.

The Problem with Little Sins

†A reflection on how venial sins are a refusal to accept a precious grace offered by God, and how we can misperceive Jesus’s teaching about the spirit of the Law.

The Difficult New Covenant of Love

†A reflection on how God changed his covenant with humanity as he prepared them for his coming in full closeness; and how our New Covenant can be difficult to fully comprehend because he is so close to us.

Pray for your Persecutors

†A reflection on how the command to be perfect as your Father in Heaven is perfect is impossible without turning to our spiritual nature, prayer, and acceptance of God’s grace.

Year A

The Transfiguration Reveals Truth “According to His Own Design”

†A reflection on God’s covenants, and how Christ is on both sides of the New Covenant: both the gift and our requirement.

Year B

A Glimpse of Heaven

†A reflection on how God asks us to be “all in” when it comes to our faithfulness, and how the Transfiguration bolstered the faith of the Church when it needed it.

The Examined Self Before God

†A reflection on how Christ tells us to carry divine love in our hearts as we live and love others, and, in return, divine love will be given to us for eternity.

The Flipside of Feeling Bad

†A reflection on how we can flip the coin from focusing on humiliation and penance to forgiveness and generosity.

Led by the Master

†A reflection on humility, with examples from the Desert Fathers.

Set Things Right

†”Come now, let us set things right, says the LORD,” could be a saying to guide us through all of Lent – alongside Jesus’s reminder that there is only one Master: the Christ.

The Chalice of Persecution and the Ransom for Many

†A reflection on how Jesus Christ’s life and suffering enact a new status for humanity, and how his teachings about how to live are a key to dwelling in the Kingdom he establishes, not just a good “code of conduct”.

Worm of the Soul

†Jealousy pushed the Jews to torment the Prophet Jeremiah and to crucify Christ. Jealousy also acts like a worm in our souls in varied ways through our lives – learn from St. Cyprian and Christ in this reflection.

Beware the Enchantments of the World

†A reflection on how the rich man in Jesus’s parable is “bad fruit” that reveals a bad tree, but what about poor, suffering Lazarus? St. Therèse of Lisieux helps us appreciate Christ while suffering.

Tree Beside Running Waters

†A recapitulation of the reflection on the left.

Tend to the Good Fruit of the Vineyard

†A reflection on the Parable of the Wicked Tenants, and how we Christians are the new tenants – what kind of fruit will the landlord find when he returns?

Rejoice for the Pardon of the Prodigal

†A deep dive on the Parable of the Prodigal Son. The father in the parable gave his life (in the original Greek) in response to the demand for his portion of the inheritance. We are asked to focus on our return (reditus) to God through this parable.

Year A

If You Knew the Gift

†A reflection on the amazing and spiritually dense encounter with the Samaritan Woman at the Well, and how she is the archetype of the sinner who converts in honesty, is baptized in water of the Spirit, and enjoys an honest and blessed existence close to God. 

Year B

The Radicality of the New Covenant

†A reflection on how Jesus Christ is the new Temple, transforming a type of ritual worship centered on a building into a true communion with God that provides real spiritual food.

A Prophet in his Own Land

†A reflection on Elisha prefiguring Christ. God meets us in our reality of linear time through a progressive revelation of himself, yet at every stage of revelation, he and his message are fully there.

The Unexpectedly Common

†A reflection on how we have to humble ourselves before God, embrace our baptism and rebirth, and see that common, unexpected person as likely even more chosen than we are.

Mercy is the Master Principle

†A reflection on how mercy is not only the core of God’s love, but it is expected that we pour forth mercy just as our Father does.

Forgiveness is Mercy in Action

†A reflection on the phrase “fear of God” as well as mercy being at the heart of our faith and actions.

Our Vocation to Teach the Word of God

†A reflection on why Jesus tells us to teach his Word, and how the Word is the fullness of communication.

†A reflection on Jesus’ words: “whoever does not gather with me scatters,” and how the root of the Greek word is the same as scorpion.

Agape Has Only One Source: God

†A reflection on the greatest commandment, and how the love we are called to give our neighbor, agape, comes from God first. This is why we must renew ourselves through the Eucharist to be true Christians.

Internal Transformation

†A reflection on the internal transformation God promises when we receive his love and pass it along to our neighbor: you shall blossom like the vine!

As Certain As the Dawn

†A reflection on how to pray correctly, putting Jesus first, and reading ourselves with the conviction that he will come again, as certain as the dawn.

The Jesus Prayer

†Simliar to the reflection on the left, a consideration of how the Jesus Prayer is a powerful way to pray correctly, like the tax collector in today’s gospel reading.

Year A

Seeing with the Light of the Lord

†A reflection on light and darkness, and how our Baptism cures us of spiritual blindness while at the same time sending us to bring Christ to others. 

Year B

Lifted Like the Serpent

†Just as the Jews’ suffering from being bitten by serpents is ameliorated by gazing at that exposed suffering on a pole, our suffering from sin in this life is ameliorated by gazing on the Lord’s suffering on the Cross, done for our sakes.

Living in the Promise

†A reflection on being OK with waiting, transitions and travel, because we are a people “on the Way.”

New Heavens and a New Earth

†A reflection on how we fail to grasp the newness of our beings, once divinity has come to dwell among us. The Incarnation ushers in an entirely new creation.

Water from the Temple

†A deep dive on Ezekiel’s temple vision and how Jesus establishes himself as the new temple and Lord of the Sabbath.

From Temple to Living Water

†A reflection on how the River of Life coming from the Temple is Christ, and flows outward; this is the configuration of our Church, too, as the Bride of Christ.

Our Vocation to Teach the Word of God

†A reflection on why Jesus tells us to teach his Word, and how the Word is the fullness of communication.

†A reflection on Jesus’ words: “whoever does not gather with me scatters,” and how the root of the Greek word is the same as scorpion.

Agape Has Only One Source: God

†A reflection on the greatest commandment, and how the love we are called to give our neighbor, agape, comes from God first. This is why we must renew ourselves through the Eucharist to be true Christians.

Internal Transformation

†A reflection on the internal transformation God promises when we receive his love and pass it along to our neighbor: you shall blossom like the vine!

As Certain As the Dawn

†A reflection on how to pray correctly, putting Jesus first, and reading ourselves with the conviction that he will come again, as certain as the dawn.

The Jesus Prayer

†Simliar to the reflection on the left, a consideration of how the Jesus Prayer is a powerful way to pray correctly, like the tax collector in today’s gospel reading.