Friar Daily Reflection
Strangers No Longer
When visiting someone’s home, we are often invited in, offered a place to sit, a refreshment, and when the purpose of the visit is complete, we are thanked and escorted to the door. There is something wonderfully different in being welcomed into someone’s home; truly...
Rich in Mercy
What is your image of God? Is God Santa Claus or the Bogeyman? While the true God is neither he is more the giver of good gifts than someone out to scare us. In today’s first reading Paul describes God as “rich in mercy.” “But God, who is rich in mercy, because of...
Express Love At All Costs
Today we see Jesus invited to dinner with one of the town’s Pharisees or religious leaders and other important neighbors. While they were dining, a woman appears and washes Jesus’ feet. The whole story and event is centered around washing of the feet. This may seem...
Redemption and Forgiveness
Woe to you who build memorials to the prophets! Woe to you, scholars of the law! Hard words today that Jesus directs at the religious leaders, scribes, Pharisees, and scholars of the religious laws. After this public chastisement in the temple, things changed. The...
Even more
“Woe to you Pharisees!” Today’s gospel gets right to it! In our 21st century experience, we understand the phrase as one of condemnation, or at least as a warning of the coming condemnation. The phrase calls to mind the evangelical preacher admonishing the...
Path to Freedom
The first reading today begins: “For freedom Christ set us free; so stand firm and do not submit again to the yoke of slavery.” The larger context of his message to the Galatians is about reports he is receiving that some among them are advocating an adherence to the...
Sign of Jonah
It is natural to seek signs to bolster and strengthen our faith. Sometimes the signs are not what we expect and can be difficult and challenging to accept. St. Paul reflects on the challenge and even the scandal of the sigh of the cross. “For Jews demand signs and...
The Heart as Dwelling
In today’s gospel we witness an encounter between Jesus and the people after Jesus had driven a demon out of an afflicted person. At the end of the dialogue, Jesus offers a parable: “When an unclean spirit goes out of someone, it roams through arid regions searching...
Stupid Galatians!
In today’s first reading St. Paul calls the Galatians “stupid” not once but twice. “O stupid Galatians! Who has bewitched you…Are you so stupid? After beginning with the Spirit, are you now ending with the flesh?” Galatians, descendants of the Celtic tribes, were...
Jesus Prays
Today’s Gospel is the story of Jesus praying and in turn teaching his disciples to pray. Today’s Gospel begins: “Jesus was praying in a certain place…” Throughout his Gospel Luke notes how Jesus spends time in prayer especially before times of crisis or before...