Tag: Matthew
-
God Will Provide… Right?
Saturday of the 11th Week in Ordinary Time Matthew 6:24-34 At a parish potluck, many people showed up, but few brought food. I heard one of the volunteers say, “We were all asked to bring a dish to pass; so few did! I’m worried that we’re going to run out of food.” The woman serving […]
-
Being Who We Were Made to Be
Solemnity of St. Joseph, husband of the Blessed Virgin Mary Matthew 1:16, 18-21, 24a A theologian once said that “great occasions do not make heroes or cowards; they simply unveil them to our eyes. Silently and imperceptibly, as we wake or sleep, we grow strong or weak; and at last some crisis shows what we […]
-
The Paradox of Love: Friday of the 19th Week in Ordinary Time
Joshua 24:1-13; Psalm 136:1; Matthew 19:3-12 Today’s readings remind me of that famous scene in the musical Fiddler on the Roof when Tevye asks Golde, his wife of 25 years, do you love me? She replies, “Do I love you? For 25 years I’ve washed your clothes, cooked your meals, cleaned your house, given you […]
-
Change in His Native Place: Friday of the 17th Week in Ordinary Time
Matthew 13:54-58 For me, social media is a mixed blessing. On the one hand, it’s been the best way to find out what my kids are doing; you know, things they hadn’t gotten around to telling me yet, like if they were pregnant or had a new job. Dads really are last to know. But […]
-
To Seek, To Find, To Give, To Possess: Wednesday of the 17th Week in Ordinary Time
Exodus 34:29-35; Matthew 13:44-46 The French mathematician and philosopher Blaise Pascal, a Catholic, once said that he would have written a shorter letter but didn’t have time. Anyone who has tried to say exactly what they want to say in as few words as possible knows how hard that is. Our Lord is certainly a […]
-
One of the “Do Nots”: Friday of the 16th Week in Ordinary Time
Exodus 20:1-17; Matthew 13:18-23 Even though I’ve gone through it countless times over the last 35 years, each time still amazes me. I look at one of my kids, say, “Do NOT do that,” then find myself standing there incredulous, less than 5 minutes later, saying, “Didn’t I just tell you not to do that? […]
-
Ready or Not: Sunday of the 32nd Week in Ordinary Time
Wisdom 6:12-16; Thessalonians 4:13-18; Matthew 25:1-13 My father died when he was 55 years old. He went out golfing with one of my brothers and had a massive coronary on the golf course. According to the coroner, Dad died from a total blockage of the left anterior descending artery of his heart – known as […]
-
Feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary
We who remember Mary on her birthday do well to remember the lessons from Scripture…
-
Happy Shall You Be, and Favored: Wednesday of the 21st Week in Ordinary Time
2 Thessalonians 3:6-10,16-18; Psalm 128:1-2; Matthew 23:27-32 When I was a child, learning came quickly and easily to me. I was the type of student who excelled without much effort. I expected that to continue when I got to graduate school but it didn’t; I quickly found myself struggling. Although the other students seemed to […]
-
Love Worthy of Suffering: Friday of the 18th Week of Ordinary Time
“The way in which a man accepts his fate and all the suffering it entails, the way in which he takes up his cross, gives him ample opportunity to add a deeper meaning to his life.”
Mark 10:45 