Everyone probably has a sermon or two they remember — but usually not for any profound insight. I remember Fr. Gilbert preaching once: “You can love, love, love until the cows come home but you’ve still got to keep the commandments.” Jesus as a good Jewish boy was very respectful of the commandments (“I have… Read More »

Someone once observed that most people treat God as a hobby — a occupation that you turn to when you are not doing something important. That the spiritual life requires effort and makes demands upon us is shunted to the background. Jesus challenges that view when he says to be his disciples we must take… Read More »

Jesus lifts his voice in prayer in St. Matthew’s gospel in a way that celebrates the relationship of the Father and the Son. During the prayer he says, “You have hidden these things from the wise and the learned you have revealed them to the childlike.” The wise and the learned know that you have to… Read More »

Then the LORD said to Isaiah: Go out to meet Ahaz, [king of Judah], …  and say to him: “Take care you remain tranquil and do not fear.” In the United States the idea of the separation of Church and State is so ingrained we can forget that for most of human history, in almost every… Read More »

For the next few days we will read from the prophet Isaiah — a major figure for both Judaism and Christianity so much so that at times he is referred to as The Prophet, capital P. The book of Isaiah opens with a denunciation of the religious practices of his time. The “word of the… Read More »

Once upon a time … When you hear that you kind of perk up. A story is coming. Once upon a time a daughter complained to her father that her life was miserable and that she wanted to eat worms. She was tired of struggling all the time, problem after problem. Her father took her… Read More »

The founder of my religious community had as his motto: every Catholic is called to be an apostle. Pope Francis says something similar when he says there is a universal call to be missionary disciples. For most Catholics the idea of being an apostle, being a missionary, seems beyond them. They know their faults and… Read More »

Chapter Ten of St. Matthew’s gospel is usually referred to as the “missionary discourse.” It begins with Jesus naming the twelve apostles and then consists of instructions on how to be an apostle. Jesus warns the twelve to expect opposition: I am sending you like sheep in the midst of wolves; so be shrewd as… Read More »

Hosea worked in the Kingdom of Israel, the northern Jewish kingdom, in the lead up to the Assyrian invasion. He kept warning them to change their ways. “Out of Egypt I called my son. The more I called them, the farther they went from me.” Finally in 721 BC disaster struck. The Assyrians destroyed Samaria and… Read More »

Jesus gave very clear instructions to the twelve, his first apostles. “Do not go into pagan territory or enter a Samaritan town. Go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” He wanted to limit their and his mission to the familiar, to those he knew, to his own people. In meeting the Samaritan… Read More »