Fra Angelico – San Domenico Altarpiece – Christ Glorified in the Court of Heaven, 1423-30.1 Holy Scriptures are full of mentions of Angels and Archangels who are in God’s presence and minister to men. Thank God our lives are also filled with the Angels’ presence; too bad we cannot see…
“Jesus seeing the thoughts of their hearts, took a child and set him by him, and said to them: Whosoever shall receive this child in my name receiveth me; and whosoever shall receive me receiveth him that sent me.” -Luke 9:47-48 In the past, people saw children as a blessing…
Not only people, but also words can be appealing or unappealing to us. Think, for example, of “yes” and “no.” For many people, “yes” is more valued than “no.” We are happy when someone says yes to us because we are not yet thinking about its fruit. Jesus’ Perspective Jesus…
Life strikes a surprise at every moment. When you think you have seen it all, a dramatic thing happens to shatter your plans. One is a poor and insignificant person today, but tomorrow he is riding on the waves as one of the big shots in town. Another presumes to…
“Who then is this about whom I hear such things?” And he kept trying to see him. (Luke 9:9) Have you ever found yourself absorbed in a passing curiosity in learning about a person, a trend, or an event, only to realize later that you don’t actually care about it…
Today’s readings offer us a profound lesson on what Christian prayer and living ought to be. The first reading presents us with a remarkably honest prayer of a man who understands the dangers of both abundance and deprivation. He asks God for neither riches nor poverty, but only what he…
Proverbs 21: 1 The king’s heart is a stream of water in the hand of the Lord; he turns it wherever he will. This verse has a very special place in my heart. Years ago, before moving to the small town of Peterborough in Eastern Ontario, I used to commute…
A controversial figure. The city was buzzing with talk about this Rabbi who called himself the Son of Man. There were reports of signs and wonders. It is true that he was not the only healer who would be followed by desperate people and we were not surprised at the…
The parable in today’s Gospel can be viewed in more than one way. In one sense, those hired toward the end of the day can be the Gentiles, who are grafted into God’s people later in salvation history. In another sense, understood within the Church, the faithful cradle Catholics are…
Today’s liturgical offerings present the Parable of the Sower and St. Paul’s epistle underscoring how we pin all our hopes on the Resurrection of the Dead. And of course, we do this in memory of Him: Jesus, the Way, the Truth, and the Life. Unless It Dies “What you sow…