Mary, David, and the Theo-Drama
20 Dec 2015
Contributed by Lukas
In today's readings we see the Theo-drama, the great story being told by God, confronting the ego-dr...
Baptism in the Holy Spirit
13 Dec 2015
Contributed by Lukas
Our Gospel for this third Sunday of Advent is of extraordinary importance, for it speaks to us of th...
God Has Really Arrived in History
06 Dec 2015
Contributed by Lukas
Christianity is not a mythic system. It is an historical religion that makes very concrete historica...
Advent and the Shaking of the Kingdoms
29 Nov 2015
Contributed by Lukas
Our Gospel for this first Sunday of Advent begins where the readings for the end of last liturgical ...
What Does It Mean to Say that Christ Is King?
22 Nov 2015
Contributed by Lukas
The liturgical year ends with the feast of Christ the King. This day reminds us what the Christian t...
Daniel and the New Kingdom
15 Nov 2015
Contributed by Lukas
Our first reading for this weekend is from the utterly fascinating book of Daniel. Daniel is an exam...
A Tale of Two Widows
08 Nov 2015
Contributed by Lukas
Today’s Scriptures highlight two widows and two very important biblical principles: God reveals hi...
Elijah, the Widow, and a Story of Trust
08 Nov 2015
Contributed by Lukas
The story of Elijah and the widow of Zarephath, a section of which is our first reading for this wee...
What Does It Mean to be a Saint?
01 Nov 2015
Contributed by Lukas
One problem with our great feast day today is that it can make sanctity seem like something that is ...
Master, I Want to See
25 Oct 2015
Contributed by Lukas
The story of the healing of blind Bartimaeus is a spiritual icon of enormous power. Bartimaeus is ev...
Real Spiritual Power
18 Oct 2015
Contributed by Lukas
When the ego grabs power and honor for itself, things get dangerous and dysfunctional very quickly. ...
The Rich Young Man and the Hunger for Eternal Life
11 Oct 2015
Contributed by Lukas
In today's Gospel we hear the story of the rich young man who desires eternal life. We all have a hu...
Sexuality, Love, and Marriage
04 Oct 2015
Contributed by Lukas
This week's readings offer a reflection on human sexuality, love and marriage. These readings show u...
Would that Everyone Could be a Prophet
27 Sep 2015
Contributed by Lukas
Our first reading from the Book of Numbers and the Gospel reading from Mark both highlight a very in...
The Undoing of Original Sin
20 Sep 2015
Contributed by Lukas
One of the most important doctrines of the Church is the doctrine of original sin, which asserts tha...
Faith Perfected by Love
13 Sep 2015
Contributed by Lukas
Today's second reading from the letter of James discusses the relationship between faith and love. W...
Ephphatha
06 Sep 2015
Contributed by Lukas
In this week's Gospel, Jesus heals a man who is deaf and dumb. When we read this account at the spir...
Law and Laws
30 Aug 2015
Contributed by Lukas
All of today's readings pertain to law. We Americans are a fairly litigious society. Lawyers are thi...
Lord, To Whom Shall We Go?
23 Aug 2015
Contributed by Lukas
In today's Gospel, we see Jesus' followers reacting to his shocking teaching about eating his flesh ...
Wisdom's Meal
16 Aug 2015
Contributed by Lukas
Today's first reading personifies Wisdom as a woman who invites people to a feast, lavishly offering...
Spiritual Food
09 Aug 2015
Contributed by Lukas
In our first reading today, Elijah is dejected and requests that the Lord take his life. But an ange...
Bread of Life
02 Aug 2015
Contributed by Lukas
This week, the Church’s Gospel is again taken from the sixth chapter of the Gospel of John. The pr...
The Mystery of the Mass
26 Jul 2015
Contributed by Lukas
The sixth chapter of John's Gospel, from which we will be reading these next several weeks, is a sus...
Looking for a Shepherd
19 Jul 2015
Contributed by Lukas
In today's first reading, God announces that he himself will shepherd his people. Yet a few sentence...
Summed Up in Christ
12 Jul 2015
Contributed by Lukas
For many people in the West, liberty seems to trump everything. We avatars of the egodrama, we worsh...
The Mission of the Prophet
05 Jul 2015
Contributed by Lukas
This week's Scriptures illuminate the identity and mission of a prophet—a calling that belongs to ...
God Did Not Make Death
28 Jun 2015
Contributed by Lukas
The Book of Wisdom offers us the strange assertion that God did not make death, but formed humanity ...
The Storm at Sea
21 Jun 2015
Contributed by Lukas
The story of Jesus calming the storm at sea is an archetypal description of the church down through ...
Walking By Faith and Not By Sight
14 Jun 2015
Contributed by Lukas
Sometimes God does things we can't understand. This is where our need to walk by faith and not by si...
The Trinity as Call to Action
31 May 2015
Contributed by Lukas
It's often joked that Trinity Sunday is "the preacher's nightmare." But while the Trinity can be vie...
Pentecost and the Gift of Language
24 May 2015
Contributed by Lukas
Today's readings recount the unforgettable events of Pentecost. Language is our primary mode of comm...
Ascension Sunday: The Relationship Between Heaven and Earth
17 May 2015
Contributed by Lukas
We tend to read the Ascension along enlightenment lines, as if Christ has gone to a distant, irrelev...
God's Marvelous Choice
10 May 2015
Contributed by Lukas
Today's Gospel present the distinction between a generic spirituality which emphasizes our decision ...
The Vine and the Branches
03 May 2015
Contributed by Lukas
'I am the Vine, and you are the branches.' Jesus is not simply an inspiring teacher to whom we liste...
The Good Shepherd
26 Apr 2015
Contributed by Lukas
Jesus sums up a long Biblical tradition when he says 'I am the good shepherd.' The prophets and the ...
The Strangeness of the Resurrection
19 Apr 2015
Contributed by Lukas
Authentic Christianity does not present Jesus as a ghost, an abstraction, or a disembodied soul. It ...
Divine Mercy
12 Apr 2015
Contributed by Lukas
On this Second Sunday of Easter, Divine Mercy Sunday, we remember the dedication of this day by Sain...
The Empty Grave
05 Apr 2015
Contributed by Lukas
Many people enjoy visiting the graves of famous people, from Abraham Lincoln in Springfield, IL to S...
The Passion Narrative of Mark's Gospel
29 Mar 2015
Contributed by Lukas
The Gospels are passion narratives with long introductions, dominated by Jesus' death and resurrecti...
United in the Blood of Jesus
22 Mar 2015
Contributed by Lukas
The best way to understand the history of salvation is to understand it as the story of covenants be...
Hesed All the Way Through
15 Mar 2015
Contributed by Lukas
The Divine Love is the great theme of the Bible. One of the great mistakes we can make is to project...
The Ten Commandments
08 Mar 2015
Contributed by Lukas
Although most of our parents's generation knew the Ten Commandments by heart, few Christians today c...
The Mystical Transfiguration of Christ
01 Mar 2015
Contributed by Lukas
The story of the Transfiguration of Christ has beguiled the Christian mind for centuries. It is the ...
The Ark, the Mass, and Re-Ordering the World
22 Feb 2015
Contributed by Lukas
As Lent commences, the pews will be filled with people escaping the chaos of the modern world and fi...
Evangelizing Out of the Encounter
15 Feb 2015
Contributed by Lukas
The strange and unsettling Gospel account of the leper approaching Jesus is the manifestation of the...
The Spirituality of Pain
08 Feb 2015
Contributed by Lukas
Why would an all-powerful and all-loving God allow his people to suffer so much? That's one of the o...
Greater than the Greatest Prophet
01 Feb 2015
Contributed by Lukas
Radical Christianity
25 Jan 2015
Contributed by Lukas
When Christianity is reduced to deism or moralism, we turn the Gospel into a faint echo of the surro...
The Call of Samuel
18 Jan 2015
Contributed by Lukas
The story of the call of Samuel is illuminating for our time of corruption and cleansing. I argue th...
Priest, Prophet, and King
11 Jan 2015
Contributed by Lukas
All the baptized participate in Christ. Since Christ is the fulfillment of the priest, prophet, and ...
Feast of the Epiphany
04 Jan 2015
Contributed by Lukas
Our modern culture suggests a tension between spirituality and religion. But the Magi in today's Gos...
Keeping Your Family Holy
28 Dec 2014
Contributed by Lukas
The Bible is not particularly sentimental about families. What makes a family holy, as far as the bi...
Adam, David, and Jesus
21 Dec 2014
Contributed by Lukas
Adam had a kingly mission. However, he became a bad king. David was meant to restore kingship to its...
A Not Very Cozy Advent
14 Dec 2014
Contributed by Lukas
Christ proclaims himself as the King of everything. This is a bold claim for it puts everything unde...
The Victory of God
07 Dec 2014
Contributed by Lukas
Today we hear the first line of St. Mark' Gospel, which in a sense contains the whole Gospel message...
We Need a Savior
30 Nov 2014
Contributed by Lukas
The single biggest challenge of the Advent season is to feel our need for a savior. The truth is, we...
He Reigns! The Solemnity of Christ the King
23 Nov 2014
Contributed by Lukas
When Israel begins to long for a new David, the true David and true king of the world, we witness th...
Parable of the Talents
16 Nov 2014
Contributed by Lukas
Your being increases in the measure that you give it away. That's the law of the gift, and it can be...
St. John Lateran and the Meaning of Church Buildings
05 Nov 2014
Contributed by Lukas
Today we celebrate the great Feast of the Dedication of St. John Lateran Basilica, which is the Pope...
All Souls' Day and the Mystery of Immortality
02 Nov 2014
Contributed by Lukas
Near death experiences, the loss of a loved one, other other out-of-body occurrences point toward th...
Pier Giorgio Frassati and Social Justice
26 Oct 2014
Contributed by Lukas
Is the Catholic Church a proponent of social justice? Yes, according to this week's readings. They r...
Caesar and God
19 Oct 2014
Contributed by Lukas
Jesus places everything in its proper relationship to God. But he also chastises those who are invol...
The Parable of the Wedding Banquet
12 Oct 2014
Contributed by Lukas
Many devout believers find the parable of the wedding feast in the Gospel of Matthew difficult to un...
Peace Beyond Understanding
05 Oct 2014
Contributed by Lukas
At the end of his letter to the Philippians, St. Paul reveals the secret to a peaceful life. Serenit...
Taking Spiritual Responsibility
28 Sep 2014
Contributed by Lukas
Today's readings show that one can and should stand before God, individually, and assume spiritual r...
Going Beyond a Mercenary Love for God
21 Sep 2014
Contributed by Lukas
The Bible constantly warns against a merely mercenary relationship with God—a friendship of conven...
Venerating the Cross
14 Sep 2014
Contributed by Lukas
When we live in convenient darkness, unaware of our sins, we will never make spiritual progress. We ...
Correcting a Brother
07 Sep 2014
Contributed by Lukas
Should we address someone who is in the wrong? This week's Gospel cautions against gossip and malici...
"But for Wales...?"
31 Aug 2014
Contributed by Lukas
All must be aware of the possibility of losing one's soul in pursuit of gaining the world. One will ...
Inscrutable and Faithful
24 Aug 2014
Contributed by Lukas
The God of Israel is mysterious and inscrutable and at the same time is totally faithful and loving....
How Great Is Your Faith
17 Aug 2014
Contributed by Lukas
The story of the persistent Canaanite woman has intrigued and puzzled Christians for two thousand ye...
Elijah and Peter
10 Aug 2014
Contributed by Lukas
Elijah is a contemplative who has the eyes to see and the ears to listen. God does not appear in the...
Grace
03 Aug 2014
Contributed by Lukas
Our readings for this weekend are filled with grace, the free gift that God is. Our relationship wit...
Solomon's Prayer
27 Jul 2014
Contributed by Lukas
God says to Solomon in our first reading, "Ask for anything, and I will give it to you." What would ...
Three Parables; Three Spiritual Lessons
20 Jul 2014
Contributed by Lukas
Jesus' parables in today's Gospel tell us how and why the Kingdom of God emerges. It does so often t...
The Prodigal Sower
13 Jul 2014
Contributed by Lukas
God sows his Word into each of our hearts liberally. He does not solely give his grace to those he k...
The Yoke's On Me
06 Jul 2014
Contributed by Lukas
What is it like to have Christ for a king? All three of this Sunday's readings examine this very que...
Peter and Paul
29 Jun 2014
Contributed by Lukas
This week gives us an opportunity to reflect on the legacies of Peter and Paul, two of the most impo...
Bread in the Desert
22 Jun 2014
Contributed by Lukas
All of us are on a spiritual journey from sin to salvation. Like the Israelites longing for a return...
Drink of the Holy Spirit
08 Jun 2014
Contributed by Lukas
Everyone thirsts for the divine life. No one is content without it, even proclaimed secularists. Chr...
Meeting of Heaven and Earth
01 Jun 2014
Contributed by Lukas
The mysterious and wonderful feast of the Ascension of the Lord which celebrates Christ glorified "a...
The Spirit of Truth
25 May 2014
Contributed by Lukas
This Easter season, the Church has asked us to meditate on the Acts of the Apostles. Today Jesus tel...
Temple Talk
18 May 2014
Contributed by Lukas
This week's readings all have to do with the holy temple in Jerusalem. The temple was the meeting pl...
The Great Hope of Easter
20 Apr 2014
Contributed by Lukas
Easter Sunday represents God's great yes to humanity. Throughout history, humanity has turned its ba...
Treating Death as a Trifle
06 Apr 2014
Contributed by Lukas
This week's Gospel tells the story of Lazarus and how Jesus raised him from the dead. In this story ...
Coming to See
30 Mar 2014
Contributed by Lukas
This week's Gospel from John tells us the story of the man born blind. Jesus offers the blind man he...
What is the Matter With Us?
09 Mar 2014
Contributed by Lukas
The first reading for this week is the section of Genesis which describes the creation of humans and...
Extreme Demand, Extreme Mercy
16 Feb 2014
Contributed by Lukas
In this week's Gospel, Jesus intensifies the moral law and raises the bar higher than it ever had be...
Salt, Light, and a City Set on a Hill
09 Feb 2014
Contributed by Lukas
At the beginning of the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus compares his disciples to salt, light, and a city...
The Presentation of the Lord
02 Feb 2014
Contributed by Lukas
This week we celebrate the feast of the Presentation of the Lord in the Temple. In ancient Israel th...
Land of Zebulon, Land of Naphtali
26 Jan 2014
Contributed by Lukas
This week's reading from the prophet Isaiah emphasizes God's tendency to bring the best from the wor...
Isaiah and Paul
19 Jan 2014
Contributed by Lukas
This week's readings reveal Isaiah and Paul as missionaries, as evangelists. Isaiah's mission is to ...
The Slave of Christ
22 Dec 2013
Contributed by Lukas
This week's second reading is the beginning of st. Paul's letter to the Romans. Paul identifies hims...
Eden, The Mountain, and The One Who Baptizes with Fire
08 Dec 2013
Contributed by Lukas
This week's readings take us to chapter 11 of the prophet Isaiah. Isaiah looks back to the garden of...
The Mountain of the Lord
01 Dec 2013
Contributed by Lukas
This week we enter into the great season of Advent. Our first reading from the prophet Isaiah descri...
Apocalypse and the Resurrection
17 Nov 2013
Contributed by Lukas
As the liturgical year comes towards its end the Church considers apocalyptic Scriptures. This week'...
The Resurrection of the Body
10 Nov 2013
Contributed by Lukas
This week's reading from second Maccabees and Luke's gospel are wonderful meditations on the resurre...
The Hard Texts of the Old Testament
20 Oct 2013
Contributed by Lukas
The Old Testament is full of violent accounts that seem contradictory to the idea of the merciful, c...
Humility and the Healing Power of God
13 Oct 2013
Contributed by Lukas
This week's reading from 2 Kings 5 contains some wonderful lessons on humility and obedience. We all...
The Just Shall Live By Faith
06 Oct 2013
Contributed by Lukas
In this week's reading the prophet Habbakuk questions the ways of God, quite understandably. The evi...