https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/102525.cfm All across America, people start their day by watching, reading or listening to the news. It's almost like we have a natural curiosity upon awaking that has us asking: What's going on. This is not new. In Jesus' time, news travelled literally along the highways and by-ways. It didn't come across airwaves, but it did come. In today's Gospel, there is some buzz about bad news that Jesus helps His followers sort through. One

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/102325.cfm I love to build a good campfire. I use a 'box fire' method which creates an outside square structure with stacked logs and then fills the middle with tinder (usually paper) and sticks and kindling. You must be enthralled by now. My point is that when I first light the fire, the logs will not burn. In fact, if I don't have enough tinder and sticks and kindling, they will never light. This is very much like sharing the light of

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/102225.cfm Some people struggle with decisiveness. They can’t pull the trigger. They linger in the in-between space. Here in the in-between, all of the options are still open. In the in-between, we have not closed ourselves off from one or more alternatives. Here in the in-between all things are still possible. But they aren’t. In the in-between all things are only theoretical. In this space you do not have or possess any of the fruits o

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/102125.cfm After reading today's Gospel many times over, both today and in the past, I think that I realized that there is something more important than vigilance in this passage. 'Gird your loins and light your lamps' it says. I think as I have read on in the past, I have zoomed past this to read about the servants being ready in the second and third watch - seems like vigilance will be needed. I blew right by it. Before you can be vigi

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/102025.cfm We can easily be drawn into our own worlds. Literally worlds that we think we have made, we own, we control. We work hard to get ahead, to make a name for ourselves, to move up in the world. In doing this we can easily delude ourselves into believing that we are the source of all of the goodness that we have in our lives. This is the way the rich man in today's parable is living. This man, even though his ‘land produced a bou

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/101525.cfm Scripture is always a reflection on us, allowing us to see ourselves in a new light. Sometimes that light illuminates our goodness, sometimes it puts a spotlight on our ills. Today, Jesus shines a spotlight on something hidden and dangerous. In today's Gospel, Jesus says that the Pharisees "are like unseen graves over which people unknowingly walk.” What do we make of this accusation from Our Lord? Well Jews could not come in

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/102125.cfm Gird your loins. Go ahead, gird them. I'll wait here. Many of us aren't familiar with this action because our loins are often already girt. We wear pants. Pants prepare us for action. Think of the whole host of things that one might do in pants that they would not do in a skirt. Girding one's loins in the time of Jesus was to take the long flowing tunic and pull it up and tuck it in the belt to prepare for work or even for fli

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/101325.cfm There are lots of famous people. In our Western world, and perhaps everywhere these...

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/101025.cfm There is a lot to think about in today's Gospel with the casting out of demons and...