In today’s Gospel Jesus extends an invitation to each one of us: “Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest.” Today we celebrate the Feast of St. Francis of Assisi,...
Come to Me
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Friar Reflection
Disciples
In today’s Gospel Jesus sends out “seventy-two other disciples.” Previously Jesus had picked Twelve disciples and sent them out to preach: “He summoned the Twelve and gave them power and authority...
Spiraling
We are in the middle of an extended conversation between Job and three friends. The basic message his friends deliver is (1) God does not make mistakes, (2) God punishes sinners, (3) you are being...
Lessons from Suffering
In the first reading, Job was nearly crushed by the pain of suffering. He tore his robe, shaved his head, and fell to the ground when he heard that his children had died (Job 1:20). He then cries...
Nothing Borrowed
A world of information, expert advice, and knowledge all sit at our fingertips. With all that available to us via a simple query or the use of artificial intelligence such as Chat GPT, we should...
Grace
In today’s first reading Paul greets the Corinthians with these words: “Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.” The words of this greeting are also used as one of the...
The Woes
This is the week of “woes” as we listen to the reading of Matthew’s 23rd chapter. In English woe means sadness or distress. Seven times Jesus judges and rebukes the pharisees by saying sadness on...
Judgement, Mercy, and Fidelity
Certain things in the Word of God are easy to measure, control, and even accomplish. Paying a tithe of a certain product is rather easy. All we do is weigh our harvest and then pay the percentage....
Hypocrites
In today’s Gospel Jesus continues his denunciation of the scribes and the Pharisees. These along with the Sadducees were the religious leaders at the time of Jesus. At the time of the writing of...
Love
As a teacher I always wanted to make sure that the student focused on the essential or core element. Sometimes a student would get lost in a vast array of information as they were reviewing their...
The Invitation and the Tunic
God invites all to be part of his life, the great banquet. We like the sound of that. It’s all inclusive and we don’t have to do much. But then the parable takes a strange turn. People don’t want to...
Our Justice and the Generosity of God’s Love
This parable is so shocking. Seemingly it makes no sense at all. It goes against all our human sense of logic, justice, and order. How could those who worked less receive the same payment as those...