In today’s first reading we hear Paul preaching in the synagogue in Antioch of Pisidia. Much like our Eucharist, this synagogue service begins with the “reading of the law and the prophets.” Paul...
Word of Exhortation
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Friar Reflection
Doing the Works of Jesus: Living Beyond Sin and Death
Throughout the Gospels we see the doubts, questions, misgiving, errors, worries, and musings of the apostles. Overall, we see that their reactions are not that different than our own. Their humanity...
Feast of St. Athanasius
In today's gospel, Jesus is asked: “How long are you going to keep us in suspense? If you are the Christ, tell us plainly.” (John 10:24). I am sure that if among Jesus’ disciples there were folks...
God Made Me Do It
Why would you do such a thing? This question was put to Peter in today’s first reading. What did Peter do? “You entered the house of uncircumcised people and ate with them.” (Acts 11:3). Some...
The Resurrection: Get Up and Go
It is truly amazing and awesome to see how the resurrection affected the early disciples. Today we see how open Philip was to the promptings of the Spirit. Amid his activities and his ministry, he...
Bread of Life
In today’s Gospel Jesus declares: “I am the bread of life.” Bread and water were essential to life and survival in Jesus’ time. If you didn’t have bread you died of hunger and if you didn’t have...
Humility: vice or virtue?
One afternoon in the synagogue, a rabbi was overcome with rapture and threw himself to the ground proclaiming, “Lord, I am nothing!” Not to be bested, the cantor prostrated himself and exclaimed,...
What can we do?
So they said to him, "What can we do to accomplish the works of God?" Jesus answered and said to them, "This is the work of God, that you believe in the one he sent." (John 6:28-29) Accomplishing...
Mary Magdalene’s Call into the Resurrection
Today we are celebrating mass with our grade school children. That is why the Gospel we are using is different from the one scheduled in the Roman lectionary. If I were planning the resurrection, I...
Obeying God
Today’s first reading from Acts teaches that God’s authority comes first before human authorities, be they political or religious. When Peter is ordered by the Jewish religious authorities, the...
Living the Light
Pamela Addison never expected to be a widow at 36. Just two years ago, she held her six-month -old son and two-year old daughter and watched helplessly as paramedics rushed her husband Martin to the...
The Ideal Community
Luke, in today’s first reading from the Acts of the Apostles, gives us a summary description of the life of the first Christian community in Jerusalem: “The community of believers was of one heart...