Meditation and Questions for Reflection or Group Discussion Mass Readings: 1st Reading: Numbers 11:25-29 Responsorial: Psalm 19:8, 10, 12-14 2nd Reading: James 5:1-6 Gospel: Mark 9:38-43, 45, 47-48 Eldad and Medad. (Numbers 11:27) We all know that Moses was filled with the Spirit of the Lord, but today’s first reading tells us that God took […]
Miles Finer has good reasons not to believe in God. Or so he thinks. That’s what a tragedy can do to a person who measures God against prayer results. Never mind that his father is a pastor, it seems to Miles that God either doesn’t come through for us or he just isn’t there. The […]
Meditation and Questions for Reflection or Group Discussion Mass Readings: 1st Reading: Wisdom 2:12, 17-20 Responsorial Psalm: 54:3-6, 8 2nd Reading: James 3:16–4:3 Gospel: Mark 9:30-37 The Son of Man is to be handed over to men. (Mark 9:31) What a remarkable statement! As he begins his journey to Jerusalem, Jesus tells his disciples—and us—that […]
Are women more prone to insecurity than men? Maybe. At least about some things. Who is under the magnifying glass more on appearance? How about how clean a house is? My brother-in-law once said, housework is more a reflection on the woman than the man. Fair or not, it’s true. That’s not to say that […]
I’ve been putting in a lot of Mom Hours lately. You know, days when one doesn’t even get a solid fifteen-minute break. (Not to say anything of the night.) Of course it’s been busier than usual with the selling of our home and the purchasing of another, but it’s more than that. It’s the start […]
Meditation and Questions for Reflection or Group Discussion Mass Readings: 1st Reading: Isaiah 50:5-9 Responsorial: Psalm 116:1-6, 8-9 2nd Reading: James 2:14-18 Gospel: Mark 8:27-35 Get behind me, Satan. (Mark 8:33) Try to imagine the look on Peter’s face when Jesus rebuked him. He must have gone from a beaming smile to a forlorn frown in […]
When World War II ended, Louis Zamperini, a former Olympian runner and war hero, was ready for peace. But soon, he fell captive to another more personal war. Memories from his ruthless treatment in a Japanese prisoner of war camp would not release him. The story was told in 2014 in Unbroken, but that movie only hinted in […]
The Church recently celebrated the mysteries of Christ lived out in the person of Saint Monica. I found myself drawn to rereading the beautiful and eloquent Book IX of Saint Augustine’s Confessions that highlights the holiness of Saint Monica as a wife and mother. Saint Augustine’s conversion by the grace of God involved a lifetime […]
Meditation and Questions for Reflection or Group Discussion Mass Readings: 1st Reading: Isaiah 35:4-7 Responsorial: Psalm 146:7-10 2nd Reading: James 2:1-5 Gospel: Mark 7:31-37 The burning sands will become pools. (Isaiah 35:7) Isaiah’s promises seem extravagant, don’t they? If we look at them literally, they are quite marvelous. God will permanently alter the Holy Land […]
What struck me the most about Mother Teresa when I saw her for the first time was her diminutive size and the rounded hump on her back. It actually startled me for a moment. I had not known she was so short. I immediately attributed the hump to her constant stooping to care for the […]
The Nun, is a film that releases this September about a priest and a woman who is in training to become a religious sister sent to investigate the mysterious death of a nun at an isolated, ancient convent. Last summer, I was graciously invited by Warner Bros. and the filmmakers to visit their set in […]
