We reading today from the Book of Wisdom. The book is written late in Israel’s history — perhaps as recently as 100BC and in Greek. For this reason it never made it into the Jewish Bible — and since that was the basis for Martin Luther’s translation — not in Bible used by Protestants to… Read More »

And now, a word from our sponsor. In place of our usual programming, we interrupt this program for the following special announcement. The feast for today kind of feels like that. We’ve been rolling along since June doing the readings in Ordinary Time Sunday after Sunday and then last week and this, we take a… Read More »

Dostoevsky tells a parable about the Grand Inquisitor. Jesus had come back to earth and is once again imprisoned and condemned. The Inquisitor says that Jesus has misjudged human nature. He does not believe that the vast majority of humanity can tolerate the freedom that Jesus has given to them.  Jesus, in giving humans freedom… Read More »

The parable of the Unjust Steward has caused many a head scratch. It seems on the face of it that Jesus is praising a crook. It helps to have some background. In Jesus’ time it was common for owners to be absentee landlords. They would hire a steward to manage their property and then go… Read More »

When John Adams was in Philadelphia working on what would become the Declaration of Independence his wife, Abigail, wrote to him.  “In the new Code of Laws which I suppose it will be necessary for you to make I desire you would Remember the Ladies, and be more generous and favourable to them than your… Read More »

You could feel like you are getting whiplashed by the two readings assigned for today. St. Paul says, Owe nothing to anyone, except to love one another. Jesus says, “If anyone comes to me without hating his father and mother,  wife and children, brothers and sisters, and even his own life, he cannot be my… Read More »

Since we have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us exercise them. St. Paul was committed to growing the Church. He believed that would happen when everyone gave what they had to the building up of the body. He could not imagine a “passive” Christian who just came and sat… Read More »

Somewhere around 2016 the word “transactional” entered political discourse.  It translates basically as “what’s in it for me.” This is, of course, clean contrary to the Gospel. Jesus envisions his followers not as transactional but as compassionate. Invite, Jesus says, those who will not be able to invite you back. “Blessed indeed will you be… Read More »

This year we interrupt the normal cycle of readings and prayers in Ordinary Time to celebrate All Souls Day. This feast was added to the calendar because people had a sense that some of their loved ones might need a boost to get into heaven! They weren’t bad people but they weren’t exactly good either.… Read More »

See what love the Father has bestowed on us that we may be called the children of God. Yet so we are. Nobody asks to be born. You have to do something to become a mother or a father. You have to do something to become a wife or a husband. You don’t have to… Read More »