Woven throughout St. Paul’s letters are pleas and thanks for donations. The Church in Jerusalem asked him in his missionary travels “to remember the poor, the very thing I was eager to do.”  He invites people to be generous for God loves a cheerful giver. No compulsion, Paul insists, but he is not above using a little guilt. Do… Read More »

In the Sermon on the Mount Jesus tells us that he has not come to abolish the law and the prophets but to fulfill them. He then illustrates what it means to fulfill the law through six antithesis. “You have heard it said …. But I say to you.” These antithesis can be looked upon… Read More »

2 Corinthians 6 was the scripture passage my classmates and I chose as our ordination theme. Looking at the text today we were probably highlighting St. Paul’s statement: “In everything we commend ourselves as ministers of God.” That is as true today as it was 45 years ago. Looking again at the epistle another line… Read More »

Language is the way people convey information to others. Problems can arise because language is alive, it evolves so communication can wobble. What words signify changes over time. When I was growing up somethings were “groovy” or “outta sight.” I knew I was getting older when I didn’t know what it meant to be “gnarly”… Read More »

One puzzling aspect of the pandemic has been that some people have not been able to think in terms of the common good. Responses to mask wearing or vaccine getting have been couched in terms of personal freedom instead of how my actions impact others. St. Paul wanted the people of Corinth to think more… Read More »

The Sacred Heart of Jesus has been part of Catholic devotion at least since the growth of Christian mysticism in the fourteenth century with figures like St. Gertrude the Great. It was in the seventeenth century that the devotion started to percolate into the general body of the Church through the visions of St. Margret… Read More »

St. Paul told the church in Corinth we are not discouraged because in Christ we are being transformed from glory to glory.  When I look at the state of the country, the church, the city, my own soul I am discouraged. Instead of moving from glory to glory it seems things are going from bad to… Read More »

In ordinary time the daily scriptures are done as a “continuous reading” — going through each reading chapter by chapter.  They are not meant to comment on each other… which makes today’s two selections very interesting since they seem to contradict each other! St. Paul said,  the letter brings death.  Jesus said, “Not the smallest… Read More »

Years ago I led the singing at La Purisima Church. The priest told me to change the lyrics to a popular song. “Let you light shine before men that they may see the good that you do.” He complained, the focus should be on God not what we do. I objected, the song writer didn’t… Read More »

The daily Bible readings will be taken for the next weeks from St. Paul’s second letter to the Corinthians and the Gospel of Matthew. We begin the gospel texts with the Sermon on the Mount, particularly the Beatitudes where Jesus reminds us of the blessings which are ours. Note that we don’t create or produce… Read More »