For the next few days we will read from the prophet Isaiah — a major figure for both Judaism and Christianity so much so that at times he is referred to as The Prophet, capital P. The book of Isaiah opens with a denunciation of the religious practices of his time. The “word of the… Read More »

Once upon a time … When you hear that you kind of perk up. A story is coming. Once upon a time a daughter complained to her father that her life was miserable and that she wanted to eat worms. She was tired of struggling all the time, problem after problem. Her father took her… Read More »

The founder of my religious community had as his motto: every Catholic is called to be an apostle. Pope Francis says something similar when he says there is a universal call to be missionary disciples. For most Catholics the idea of being an apostle, being a missionary, seems beyond them. They know their faults and… Read More »

Chapter Ten of St. Matthew’s gospel is usually referred to as the “missionary discourse.” It begins with Jesus naming the twelve apostles and then consists of instructions on how to be an apostle. Jesus warns the twelve to expect opposition: I am sending you like sheep in the midst of wolves; so be shrewd as… Read More »

Hosea worked in the Kingdom of Israel, the northern Jewish kingdom, in the lead up to the Assyrian invasion. He kept warning them to change their ways. “Out of Egypt I called my son. The more I called them, the farther they went from me.” Finally in 721 BC disaster struck. The Assyrians destroyed Samaria and… Read More »

Jesus gave very clear instructions to the twelve, his first apostles. “Do not go into pagan territory or enter a Samaritan town. Go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” He wanted to limit their and his mission to the familiar, to those he knew, to his own people. In meeting the Samaritan… Read More »

At the sight of the crowds, his heart was moved with pity for them because they were troubled and abandoned.  While there are situations where my heart is moved with pity — refugee children separated from their parents, dying patients isolated from loved ones, people who are denied opportunity because of their race or national… Read More »

The prophet Hosea had his work cut out for him. He worked in the northern kingdom of Israel and they felt they had all they needed — God had given them the land, a king, and a place to worship. They felt fat and sassy… so much so that they forget about the God who… Read More »

“Take my yoke upon you and learn from me … For my yoke is easy, and my burden light.” Jesus used an image that his hearers would readily understand this a yoke was something they saw often. However, a yoke is not part of our everyday experience it might help to provide a definition: A… Read More »

Perhaps no other country on earth makes such a claim on its people. We are not a nation because of our geography, our ethnicity or our history. We are a nation because of our ideals: “that all [people] are created equal and that they are endowed by their creator with certain inalienable rights.”  If we… Read More »