Scripture: Sirach 1: 1-10Mark 9: 14-29 Reflection: In our Gospel today we hear a remarkable, deeply human love story. It is about a parent, in this case a father, who brings his son, who suffers from dreadful seizures, to Jesus…
Scripture: Leviticus 19:1-2, 17-181 Corinthians 3:16-3Matthew 5:38-48 Reflection: So be perfect! Perfect is defined one way to be absolute; complete (used for emphasis). Today we hear Jesus telling his disciples, “So be perfect, just as your heavenly Father is perfect.”…
Scripture: Hebrews 11:1-7Mark 9:2-13 Reflection: “This is my beloved Son. Listen to him.” (Mark 9:6) The readings for today’s mass present us with a moving sermon on the nature of faith and the beautiful account of Jesus’ transfiguration on Mount…
Scripture: Genesis 8:6-13, 20-22Mark 8:22-26 Reflection: I still find myself navigating a post-pandemic world. Still taking in the shock of what was so deeply lost. But also so aware, maybe for the first time, of how tactile Our Lord was…
Scripture: Genesis 6:5-8; 7:1-5, 10Mark 8:14-21 Reflection: Recently I heard a recording from a Fr. Richard Rohr presentation called the “Beginners Mind”. It reminded me of how a child reacts to the world. When we arrive in a room with…
Scripture: Genesis 4:1-15, 25Mark 8:11-13 Reflection: Today, we pick up the story in Mark’s Gospel following Jesus’ feeding of the four thousand (8:1-9). These four verses connect to a bigger story of Jesus’ struggle with the Pharisees. Beginning in chapter…
Scripture: Sirach 15:15-201 Corinthians 2:6-10Matthew 5:17-37 Reflection: To attempt to pull together the message of the Word today, we are seeing the contrast between a mentality that asks “What must I do?” and, “What can I do to follow God’s…
Scripture: Genesis 3:1-8Mark 7:31-37 Reflection: When I was in grade school, it was a big deal to get one’s hands on a Playboy magazine. The gloss and glitz! The provocative photos and enticing article titles! Groups of us would gather…
Scripture: Genesis 2:18-25Mark 7:24-30 Reflection: More Than a Woman’s Intuition We meet two women in our readings today. We know the first not by name yet, but more in the marrow in our bones. The Syro-Phoenician woman we know just…
Scripture: Genesis 2:4b-9, 15-17Mark 7:14-23 Reflection: In the time of Jesus, one of the preoccupations amongst the doctors of the law was that of ‘cleanliness’ or more so ‘uncleanliness’. There seemed morbid fascination with how many ways one could be…