Those of us of a certain age remember an old TV show called Mission: Impossible. (Not to be confused with the movies of the same name.) It always opened up with Peter Graves (“Mr. Phelps”) looking at photographs of those who would be on the “impossible mission” team. He chose them based on some skill or… Read More »

St. Paul said, “I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake.” I think most people don’t put the word “rejoice” and the word “suffering” in the same sentence. We ordinarily think of suffering as something to be avoided, to overcome; not something to rejoice in. But think for a moment about parents. They go through suffering… Read More »

In all of the four gospels, in Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, among all the words that Jesus spoke, the word “Church” only comes up two times – both in St. Matthew’s gospel. The first we heard proclaimed several weeks ago when Jesus told Simon, “You are Peter, and upon this rock I will build… Read More »

What did St. Paul mean when he said, “persevere in the faith … of the Gospel which has been preached to every creature under heaven.” He obviously knew that those who actually heard the Gospel at the time he was writing the letter to the Colossians (c. 60??) was limited to a small number of… Read More »

St. Matthew includes the names of four women in Jesus’ genealogy before mentioning Mary, his mother: Tamar, Rahab, Ruth, and Bathsheba. These women illustrate some of the bumps in the family tree. Tamar slept with her father-in-law, Rahab was a Canaanite madam in Jericho, Ruth was a Moabite )and the Book of Deuteronomy instructs the… Read More »

The call of the first disciples in St. Luke’s gospel is a model of the process that we all go through in following Jesus. Like Peter and companions “fishing all night” we try to find our own happiness and we remain unfulfilled. Hearing the word of Jesus we are attracted to his message of love… Read More »

We begin reading today from St. Paul’s letter to the Church in Colossae. As was Paul’s custom he begins the letter with a word of appreciation for that particular community, a prayer of thanksgiving that they are living the faith. Of course, as was also Paul’s custom, he will fuss with the Colossians about where… Read More »

During Ordinary Time of the liturgical year the readings provided each day are done as a “continuous reading,” a lectio continuuo. The Church picks a book and then we go through it chapter by chapter. For the next three months the gospel chosen for each day will be taken from the Gospel of St. Luke.… Read More »

Jesus inaugurates his public ministry in St. Luke’s gospel by quoting from the prophet Isaiah: “The spirit of the Lord is upon me.” Jesus applies to himself the prophetic image of bringing healing, peace, freedom and good news to the poor. This “mission statement” that Jesus makes at the beginning of his ministry contrasts with… Read More »

One of the reasons there are so many skyscrapers in Chicago is because you can drill down to bedrock.  You can build a firm foundation on rocky ground, firm enough to hold up a tall building.  When you see a house made out of stone you know it is well built.  A stone house will… Read More »