Each of us, at some point, has asked questions like: What can I do? How am I supposed to serve? Lord, how are You calling me to point others to You? Those questions live in many of our hearts, especially when we hear readings like these today. We sense that we’re being invited to come…
When we hear today’s Gospel, there’s a detail that we might miss on the surface but is one that’s pretty important when we want to understand what Jesus is saying here. The detail is how little Matthew tells us about the crowd. Think about it: we’re given no information about who these people are, what…
As I was praying with these readings this week, I found myself really drawn into the idea of darkness that we see in the first reding from Isaiah. There is something really unsettling about darkness. It’s not just the fact that we have trouble seeing in the dark, it’s more so that we lose our…
So often, those of us who are trying to grow in the spiritual life, we see other people who seemingly have it all together, those who are really truly holy, and a thought comes to our minds that tells us: I could never be that holy. We tend to think that holiness is reserved for…
What if everything we cling to – our routines, our plans, our friends, our families, even the world as we know it – what if all those things crumbled? That is definitely not a comfortable question, but it’s one that today’s readings make us think about. In the Gospel, the disciples are so impressed by…
It’s possible for us to look like we’re praying while never actually speaking to God at all. That’s the example we see in the parable that Jesus has just shared in the Gospel. The Pharisee begins his prayer by thanking God, but before we know it, he starts listing all of his accomplishments. He shares…
In the Gospel today, we hear a story that is quite familiar to all of us. Jesus encounters ten lepers who cry out to Him: “Jesus, Master! Have pity on us!” We can imagine how desperate they were, how isolated, how unclean, how unworthy. Because of this condition, they were cut off from their families,…
If we take an honest look at our hearts, I think we would find that fear can be one of the strongest influences on some of the decisions that we have made in our lives. Fear can paralyze us at times, keeping us silent when we know we should speak, and holding us back from…
His name was Lazarus. In all the parables that Jesus shares throughout His ministry, this is the only character He ever names. Think about that. That says something, doesn’t it? The rich man has no name, but Lazarus does. To God, the rich man is a cautionary tale, but Lazarus is a son. We can…
When I was younger, I remember hearing this Gospel about the “dishonest steward” and thinking, “Wait! What’s happening here? Is Jesus really praising a crook?!” It almost sounds like He’s telling us to embrace a way of life where others are being taken advantage of and cheated. But as always, if we sit with this…
Fr. Tom Pringle 