The Lord said: “Woe to you Pharisees!… You are like unseen graves over which people unknowingly walk.” (Luke 11:42). Not for all the tea in China would I watch a horror movie. Even at my age they...
The Hand that Reaches
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Friar Reflection
Freedom
“For freedom Christ set us free; so stand firm and do not submit again to the yoke of slavery.” Paul’s letter to the Galatians is the great letter of Christian freedom. Paul declares that Christ...
Signs and Sight
“This generation is an evil generation; it seeks a sign, but no sign will be given it, except the sign of Jonah. Just as Jonah became a sign to the Ninevites, so will the Son of Man be to this...
The greatest gift
In today’s first reading, the epistle to the Galatians, the apostles make clear that justification does come by works of the law: “For all who depend on works of the law are under a curse.” The...
Stupid Galatians!
“O stupid Galatians! Who has bewitched you…Are you so stupid?” It seems that St. Paul has never learned the lesson that the students of St. Francis School know so well: “You never call anyone...
Christian Prayer – Action and Trust in the Father
Our relationships with other people, with God, with our environment, and with the events of our life (history) shape and change us over time. I remember when I was on vacation in New York City on...
St. Francis of Assisi
Today we celebrate the Feast of St. Francis of Assisi and there are special readings for today’s feast: Sirach 50:1,3-4, 6-7; Galatians 6:14-18 and Matthew 11:25-30. St. Francis is of course the...
The cost of being in love
Our gospel is the well-known story referred to as the Parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25-37). The reading opens with a question posed to Jesus: “Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal...
An Invitation to Wisdom
The first reading this week has been taken from the Book of Job. It is considered to be one of the scrolls belonging to the Wisdom category and is a narrative that, in its own way, attempts to...
Archangels
“You will see heaven opened and the angels…ascending and descending.” Jesus makes this promise to us, his disciples, in today’s Gospel. The disciple Nathanael is amazed that Jesus seems to know...
Jesus is the Only Center
Today we have a collection of saying and incidents in Jesus’ life that help us to focus on a true and good relationship with Jesus as the center of all things in our lives. There are many reasons to...
Lessons from Suffering
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). And yet in the midst of such pain and...