Reflections of the Kingdom

Taking up the Cross Lectionary:  97 Reading 1 -  2 Kings 4:8-11, 14-16a Responsorial Psalm -  Psalm 89:2-3, 16-19 Reading 2 -  Romans 6:3-4, 8-11 Alleluia - 1 Peter 2:9 Gospel -  Matthew 10:37-42 Welcoming Christ, Welcoming the Cross ... LESSON: The Cost and the Welcome My brothers and sisters in Christ, today's Gospel ends a long discourse in Matthew chapter 10, where Jesus has been preparing his disciples for mission. He has warned them about persecution, about division, even about being hated for his name. And now, at the very end, he gives us these striking words: "Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me… whoever does not take up his cross and follow after me is not worthy of me." These are hard sayings. They almost seem to contradict everything Jesus teaches elsewhere about honoring father and mother, about loving our neighbor, about the sanctity of family life. So what is going on here? Jesus is not telling us to love our famili...

Pentecost (Day) Lectionary:  63 Reading 1 -  Acts 2:1-11 Responsorial Psalm -  Psalm 104:1, 24, 29-31, 34 Reading 2 -  1 Corinthians 12:3b-7, 12-13 Alleluia Gospel -  John 20:19-23 Receive the Holy Spirit LESSON: The Church's Work: Reuniting Mankind Today our 50 day Easter season concludes with Pentecost Sunday, commemorating that day in the early Church … when the Father and the Son poured out the Holy Spirit in a special way upon the Apostles … who then took up the mission of proclaiming the Gospel throughout the whole world.  This makes Pentecost one of the most significant moments in our Christian faith. However, before it was a Catholic feast, it was a Jewish feast … and when we look at Pentecost in that context, we add a deeper and richer understanding of what it all means for us today. In its Greek origin, the word “Pentecost” means simply “fifty” … and … for Christians … occurs 50 days after the Easter Resurrection of our Lord Jesus and marks ...

The Good Shepherd Lectionary:  49 Reading 1 -  Acts 2:14a, 36-41 Responsorial Psalm -  Psalm 23: 1-6 Reading 2 -  1 Peter 2:20b-25 Alleluia - John 10:14 Gospel -  John 10:1-10 I am the good shepherd, says the Lord! So we have reached the mid-point of the Easter Season and come to what is unofficially known as “Good Shepherd Sunday” because every year at this time we read from John 10, the famous “Good Shepherd Discourse.” For the most part, the readings are focused around the idea of Jesus Christ as our divine Shepherd. But what is a shepherd like? Now, let’s be honest: most of us have never actually spent much time with a literal sheep. We tend to romanticize them as fluffy, docile creatures on greeting cards. Case in point, despite having midwestern farmers as parents, my experience with sheep is limited to petting zoos and the movie Babe … where except for a very talented pig, Shepherds often drive sheep in different directions using dogs to intimidate them...

The 19th Annotation of the Spiritual Exercises   The Spiritual Exercises are a collection of meditations, contemplations, and practices developed by St. Ignatius of Loyola between 1522–1524 after his own radical conversion, and officially published in 1548 as the foundational handbook for Ignatian spirituality and the training of the  Society of Jesus  (Jesuits). They are designed to help a person discern God’s will and reform their life in freedom from disordered attachments.  Ignatius intended the Exercises to be given by a spiritual director , not self‑guided. They function as a framework for a retreatant’s encounter with God.  The Exercises are structured into four thematic sections, traditionally called "weeks," though their actual duration can vary depending on the retreat format.  These “weeks” are not literal seven‑day periods but movements of the soul. The Four “Weeks” (Phases) First Week (God’s Love and Human Sin): Reflection on t...

The Raising of Lazarus Lectionary:  34 Reading 1 -  Ezekiel 37:12-14 Responsorial Psalm -  Psalm 130:1-8 Reading 2 -  Romans 8:8-11 Verse - John 11:25a, 26 Gospel -  John 11:1-45 Lazarus, come out! LESSON: The Power of God Through Those Who Believe We’re a week away from the start of Holy Week. Our Lord now has his sights set on Jerusalem, and the pace is quickening. In these next two weeks, we’re living just one part of the Gospel passage from today: an encounter with the reality of suffering and death. Jesus is asking us to have faith in him. In today’s First Reading the prophet Ezekiel reminds us of the Lord’s promise to not only to bring us back to life but to bring us home. The background of this passage is the famous "Valley of Dry Bones." The people of Israel were in exile in Babylon. They weren't just sad; they were spiritually and nationally "dead." Their common saying was: "Our bones are dried up, our hope is lost, and we are cut off." They d...

The Temptation of Jesus Lectionary:  22 Reading 1 -  Genesis 2:7-9; 3:1-7 Responsorial Psalm -  Psalm 51:3-4, 5-6, 12-13, 17 Reading 2 -  Romans 5:12-19 Verse - Matthew 4:4b Gospel -  Matthew 4:1-11 One does not live on bread alone. Every year, we begin our Lenten journey in the same place: the desert.   The Gospel for this Sunday places Jesus in the wilderness, fasting and praying, confronted by temptation. In that stark setting we find the pattern of our own Lenten journey: a movement away from distraction toward the heart of God, a testing that reveals what truly sustains us, and a call to conversion that reshapes our lives.  Throughout our lives, we are frequently confronted with tests … and these tests generally reveal something about ourselves: In school, we demonstrate that we have mastered an academic subject with a test  in sports, we demonstrate our level of a particular skill with a contest  In life, we demonstrate the integri...