This is the last week of our liturgical year in the Church. This week the readings all speak of the end times. We are fascinated with the end times, the end of the world, the final judgement, the...
Living Through the End Times
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Friar Reflection
Three vs. 144,000
“I, John, looked and there was the Lamb standing on Mount Zion, and with him a hundred and forty-four thousand.” (Rev 14:1) It is a famous verse from Scripture that quickly focuses on the “144,000”...
House of Prayer
In today’s Gospel Jesus performs a prophetic action in the Jerusalem Temple. Jesus “entered the temple area and proceeded to drive out those who were selling things.” Why does he do this? He...
The Lamb of God
In today’s first reading the seer John has a heavenly vision. “I had a vision of an open door to heaven, and I heard the trumpetlike voice that had spoken to me before, saying, ‘Come up here and I...
Busy About Something
One of my favorite films is the 1994 drama, The Shawshank Redemption. It is a movie I think I may have seen 10 or more times. The film tells the story of Andy Dufresne, a banker who spends nearly...
God’s Incredible, Unexpected Love
Zacchaeus was a notorious public sinner in Israel. He collaborated with the Romans by collecting tariffs and tolls. That made him a traitor to his own country in the eyes of all his neighbors. To...
Lost along the way
Today’s first reading is from the always mysterious, often misunderstood and frequently misinterpreted Book of Revelation. Perhaps the centerpiece of the book is the letter to the seven churches of...
Thankfulness and Being Ready
November is the end of the harvest here in North America. This is the month when we celebrate Thanksgiving Day. It is also the month when we come to the end of our liturgical year. Advent brings the...
The What, When, and How of the Kingdom of God
The Gospel is full of questions about the Kingdom of God. What will it be like? How can we recognize it? Who will get in? Who will be excluded? Today a group of pharisees ask Jesus when the Kingdom...
Eucharist
The word Eucharist comes from the Greek word “to give thanks.” As we hear in today’s Gospel only one of the ten lepers returned “fell at the feet of Jesus and thanked him (eucharistōn).” This man,...
Servant or Employee
When I was a kid, my brother and I worked all through junior high, high school and my first year in college doing all sorts of odd jobs in the neighborhood: raking leaves, shoveling snow, hanging...
Servant and Apostle
Today we begin reading from Paul’s letter to Titus. Paul begins this letter as he begins all his letters by “introducing” himself: “Paul, a servant of God and Apostle of Jesus Christ for the sake...