1 May, 2022: Third Sunday of Easter, Year C: Acts 5:27-32, 40b-41; Revelation 5:11-14; John 21:1-19      Children, have you caught anything to eat?      That’s a game-changing question, because Jesus shifts the emphasis from fishing to earn a living, to providing a meal for his apostles. This is no command to change, it’s a […]

Easter Sunday, Year C, 17 April, 2022: Acts 10:34a, 37-43; Colossians 3:1-4; John 20:1-9     In this morning’s Gospel, there are yet no angels, no announcement of the Lord’s rising; rather, Mary Magdalene, Peter and the Beloved Disciple puzzle over the empty tomb.     Was Peter driven to the tomb by his inner turmoil? He […]

The final and devastating plague meted out on a stubborn and recalcitrant Pharaoh and his hapless subjects, is also the only plague that the Israelites had to consciously and actively choose to evade. According to the Exodus account all the other plagues assailing Egypt left the Land of Goshen (where the Israelites dwelt) untouched—all this […]

Fourth Sunday of Lent (Laetare Sunday), 27 March, 2020: Joshua 5:9-12; 2 Corinthians 5:17-21; Luke 15:1-3, 11-32      After decades of listening to today’s Gospel, I have some questions.      Has the absence of a mother in this family had a serious impact on them? Did this father wonder whether his younger son demands his […]

The various ploys utilized in so-called “reverse psychology” succeed because they tap into our sinful, warped, and misguided free wills. In varying degrees, we balk at being told what to do (or not do) and often struggle against a spontaneous rebelliousness. Thus, when a certain response is desired, insisting on its opposite can sometimes achieve […]

Second Sunday of Lent, Year C, 13 March, 2022: Genesis 15:5-12, 17-18; Philippians 3:17-4:1; Luke 9:28b-36     …Moses and Elijah…spoke of his exodus that [Jesus] was going to accomplish in Jerusalem.     Right in the midst of this incredible epiphany of glory, the mystery of Jesus’ Passover, from his last supper, through his arrest, trial, […]

It can be helpful (at times) to think in either/or and black and white categories. In doing so, though, we disregard those gray areas of life that can be ambiguous, complex, and even confusing. Jesus seems to be doing just this with his metaphor of the tree that produces either good or rotten fruit—it is […]

Seventh Sunday, Year C, 20 February, 2022: 1 Samuel 26:2, 7-9, 12-13, 22-23; 1 Corinthians 15:45-49; Luke 6:27-38       This Gospel carries the extremely hard commandment to love our enemies. It’s not just the alienating nature, the repulsive aspect of people we dislike or who have hurt us; the underlying problem is the nature of […]

Third Sunday, Year C, 23 January, 2022: Nehemiah 8:2-4a, 5-6, 8-10; 1 Corinthians 12:12-30; Luke 1:1-4; 4:14-21      Jesus’ visit to his home town starts off well enough, but as will unfold next Sunday, it ends rather badly, with his neighbors attempting to kill him. The narrative doesn’t described how the change occurred which is […]

The Epiphany of the Lord, 2 January, 2022: Isaiah 60:1-6; Ephesians 3:2-3a, 5-6; Matthew 2:1-12      The Magi from the east are genuine seekers of the truth who brave the risks of travel through an inhospitable terrain to reach their goal in an unknown land and an unknown religion. They have read the cryptic signs […]