The first reading today is a companion piece with yesterday’s first reading. The message of encouragement remains even as the prophet who speaks the word changes. A verse from the Gospel succinctly...
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Friar Reflection
Vision and Restoration
In today’s first reading we hear from the Prophet Ezekiel. It is from the end of his prophetic writings and there is a lot of “water under the bridge” that has led to this amazing vision of a new...
You Are What You Eat
We have all heard the expression, “you are what you eat”. Indeed, doctors and nutritionists are constantly reminding us that we need to be discerning, to be careful about what we eat, as it can...
Do we really have to love a bully?
The reflection for today is from a Mass with the students and teachers from the parish elementary school. The gospel for the school Mass is the same as the gospel reading from the recent 7th Sunday...
Watch Your Language
Watch your language, the way you talk about others. These words could well be Jesus’ response to those criticizing and demonizing him in today’s Gospel. Jesus’ opponents quite literally demonize...
The Living Law: Remember and Teach It to Your Children and Grandchildren
The law in the Old Testament is the way that God gave to the people so that they could maintain a good relationship with him – a way to holiness. When Moses gives the law to the people of Israel, he...
Forgiving and Forgetting
In Teri Libenson’s newspaper comic strip, The Pajama Diaries, her adult daughter Jill discovers that her mother has found love again at 70. Jill is delighted and asks how she and Harry are getting...
Living Gratefully
In the first reading, we hear the end of the story of Naaman, a Syrian general, who has just been cured of his leprosy. When Naaman comes to Israel he encounters the prophet, Elisha. Naaman has come...
God’s Vineyard
We are God’s vineyard. Jesus uses the image of the vineyard or a building to describe the People of God. Paul uses these same two images to describe Christians and their teachers in his letter to...
Recognizing the Needs of Others
In a small African village, two brothers were about to set out to make their fortune in a distant country. “Go with my blessing,” their father said, “but on your way put marks on the trees lest you...
Destroying People
The first reading today is from the Prophet Jeremiah who was among the last prophets who proclaimed the Word of God to the people of Jerusalem immediately before the city was conquered by Babylon...
Unity of Word and Life
It is easy for us to live the letter of the law and forget the Spirit behind the law, to live out only the minimum requirements. We seem to like the special distinctions, honors, and titles of the...