Most Recent Posts
-
People of the New Fruit
Friday in the Second Week of Lent: Genesis 37:3-4, 12-13a, 17B-28a, Matthew: 21:33-43, 45-46. Today’s readings are truly riches in storytelling and spiritual teaching. The parallels between Jacob’s son Joseph and Jesus Christ abound in their details: both are the favored son, both are sent to help in the tending of the sheep, both are…
-
Tree Beside Running Waters
Thursday in the Second Week of Lent: Jeremiah 17:5-10, Luke 16:19-31. (Note: this is a lightly edited version of the reflection I originally wrote in 2020 for the Second Thursday of Lent: Beware the Enchantments of the World.) Today, we hear the parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus from the gospel of St. Luke.…
-
Worm of the Soul
Wednesday of the Second Week in Lent: Jeremiah 18:18-20, Matthew 20:17-28. Today’s readings show the ugliness of jealousy, which St. Cyprian of Carthage calls “the root of all evil.” After examining the readings, I’d like to reflect on St. Cyprian’s Treatise on Jealousy and Envy, which offers some sharp insights. The Jews in Jeremiah’s time…
-
Set Things Right
Tuesday of the Second Week in Lent: Isaiah 1:10, 16-20, Matthew 23:1-12. The prophet Isaiah utters a simple phrase in today’s reading that might serve as a saying for all of Lent: “Come now, let us set things right, says the LORD.” I love God’s gentleness here, like someone seeking to calm you, reassure you,…
-
The Flipside of Feeling Bad
Monday of the Second Week in Lent: Daniel 9:4b-10, Luke 6:36-38. Today’s readings present us with two sides of the Christian coin: sin and forgiveness. One side is ugly and tarnished; when we look at it in the full light of day, we are humiliated by what it reveals about us. The other side, though,…
-
A Glimpse of Heaven
Second Sunday in Lent: Genesis 22:1-2, 9a, 10-13, 15-18; Romans 8:31b-34, Mark 9:2-10. Today’s readings demand that we stretch ourselves beyond our comfort zone. Parts of our faith are easy to accept — the Beatitudes, for example — they mirror moral truths we find in other religions and civic systems. But when it comes to…
-
Pray for your Persecutors
Saturday in the First Week of Lent: Deuteronomy 26:16-19, Matthew 5:43-48. Today’s readings spell out our compact with God in a nutshell. He will make us sacred and all he asks in return is that we love unconditionally. We will ponder today how difficult it is to love those who hate us and are mean…
-
The Problem with Little Sins
Friday in the First Week of Lent: Ezekiel 18:21-28, Matthew 5:20-26. Most of us understand when something is evil because that word itself conjures the sense of serious moral wrong. Murder, for instance, is clearly evil, and hopefully we feel the same about stealing, cheating, and adultery. When we get to lying, things get a…