Friar Daily Reflection
Endurance
Here in the Northern Virginia area many of our parishioners are under a considerable amount of anxiety and uncertainty due to the efforts of the current administration’s efforts on “government efficiency” (DOGE). This vale of worry affects federal sector employees,...
Wisdom
Today we begin reading from the Book of Sirach also called Ecclesiasticus. The Jewish author, Jesus ben Sira, was a scribe living in Jerusalem around 117 B.C. His grandson wrote a forward to his work when he translated it from Hebrew into Greek and explained the...
The Greatest
A choice is put before us in today’s Gospel: the way of the cross or the way of earthly honor and glory. Jesus continues in today’s Gospel to teach his disciples that he is to be a suffering Messiah. In yesterday’s Gospel Peter rebuked Jesus for this teaching and...
The Messiah
Beware when you hear someone say: “I have it all figured out, I understand it completely.” I always find that right after I have “mastered” a subject I realize there is much more that I do not know or understand. Peter shows his understanding and his lack of...
Enduring Mercy
If you’ve been following the posts about the daily readings from Genesis we have covered the creation story, the rebellion in the Garden of Eden, Cain’s murder of Abel, and the first part of the story of the Great Flood. Along the way I have speculated about our ideas...
Divine Regrets
Yesterday’s post was a bit of speculation about our ideas of original sin, rebellion from the authority of God, the biblical account, and their interface with science - specifically genetics. The post offered: In a faith discussion that accepts evolution one has to...
The Rebellion Spreads
Last Friday the first reading, from Genesis, recounted the story of “original sin.” It is an event known by various monikers, among which are: “the fall of man,” “the fall from grace,” “paradise lost,” and “eating of the forbidden fruit.” In a post from that day I...
Children and Dogs
Jesus’ words addressed to the Syrophoenician woman in today’s Gospel are very harsh: “Let the children be fed first. For it is not right to take the food of the children and throw it to the dogs.” This woman is a non-Jew, a Gentile. She came to Jesus asking him to...
Unclean Foods
Jesus’ teaching in today’s Gospel would have shocked many of his fellow Jews. When he teaches that “everything that goes into a person from the outside cannot defile” they would have been shocked since Leviticus 11 gives a whole list of animals that are not to be...
Purpose and Chaos
The first readings from daily Mass for the first two days of this week are taken from Genesis, Chapter 1 into the opening verses of Genesis 2. It is a familiar story to all from children to grandparents and everyone in between. Some Christians take it literally that...