Scripture: Jeremiah 26:1-9Matthew 13:54-58 Reflection: Two whistleblowers, Allan McDonald and Roger Boisjoly, engineers at Morton Thiokol Inc., testified before the Rogers Commission investigating the 1986 Space Shuttle Challenger disaster. They said there had been ongoing problems with the rocket’s O-rings…
Scripture: Jeremiah 18:1-6Matthews 13:47-53 Reflection: Jesus, in the 13th chapter of Matthew’s Gospel, shares seven parables with the crowds and the apostles. In today’s reading, we hear about the net cast into the sea, which is the final parable in…
Scripture: Jeremiah 15:10, 16-21Matthew 13:44-16 Reflection: Happy Wednesday in the 17th Week of Ordinary Time! “What would you do for a Klondike Bar?” Do you remember the ad campaign for a chocolate-dipped square of vanilla ice-cream? It had people doing…
Scripture: Jeremiah 14:17-22Matthew 13:36-43 Reflection: Once again our Scriptures give us a blueprint to help us grow in relationship with our God if we so choose. We read in the Alleluia verse: “The seed is the Word of God, Christ…
Memorial of Saints Martha, Mary and Lazarus Scripture: 1 John 4:7–16Luke 10:38–42 Reflection: “God is love, and whoever remains in love remains in God and God in him.” 1Jn 4:16 Growing up in California I would spend some of…
Scripture: 2 Kings 4:42-44Ephesians 4:1-6John 6:1-15 Reflection: Our readings today reflect the generosity of a loving, nurturing God. Twenty barley loaves brought from a man from Baal-shalishah fed over a hundred people with some left over. Five barley loaves and…
Scripture: Jeremiah 7:1-11Matthew 13:24-30 Reflection: In our Gospel reading for today, Jesus tells a parable about weeds and wheat. An enemy of a landowner has sowed weeds among the wheat of his field. When the owner’s servants ask him if…
Memorial of Saints Joachim and Anne, Parents of Mary Scripture: Jeremiah 7:1-11Matthew 13:18-23 Reflection: I grew up in Nebraska, though I know almost nothing of farming or ranching. Our family would often enough drive through the countryside and see vast…
Feast of Saint James the Apostle Scripture: 2 Corinthians 4:7-15Matthew 20:20-28 Reflection: A Gospel for Today Sometimes when directing a retreat or parish mission I’ll give a talk on the difficult passages in Sacred Scripture. In last Tuesday’s Gospel, for…
Scripture: Jeremiah 1:1, 4-10Matthew 13:1-9 Reflection: The Word Came to Us The beautiful phrase in today’s liturgy “the word of God came to me” Jer 1:4 appears many times in Old Testament. At its best a word comes from our…