Daily Reflections
Today’s gospel puzzled me for years, from the moment I first read it. It seems that Jesus is praising fraud. Unsatisfying Answers I asked fellow college students in a Bible study about it, but got unsatisfying answers. I heard homilies about it—one in particular, when the priest made an elaborate…
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It can feel at times that we live in a tyrannical kingdom. But, if I am to be honest with myself, I also encounter in more sobering moments, a fleeting epiphany, that the ruler and sole inhabitants of that kingdom are I, me, and myself. It reminds me of the…
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There can be a sense of loss that marks today’s memorial because we commemorate the departed. I want to assume that a good number of people have experienced the loss of a loved one and the experience is not an easy one to handle. I have wrestled with the reality…
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All Saints Day—November 1—is a unique opportunity to reflect on divine blessings for us in the communion of saints. The saints in heaven lived holy lives and died in the Lord. They motivate us to do the same. Some celebrations cater to our bodily and emotional needs. Some inspire confidence…
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Reading through the Gospel, we are not used to seeing Jesus commend the scribes and Pharisees. However, today we hear Jesus say to a Scribe that he is not far from the kingdom of God. The scribes and Pharisees debated much as to which is the most important of the…
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Taking time to reflect, we can see the damage pride has done in our lives. I imagine excessive pride reared its head when, as young children, we yelled, “Me first!” Phrases like, “I’m right, you’re wrong; Let me do it; What do you know?” easily echo in our memories. Popular…
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My life was given over to holiness. The Law of the Lord was uppermost in my mind, from my earliest days. We were children of Israel, the Lord God’s children by adoption, living under the Law in a holy covenant. Among my people those of us who lived for holiness…
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St. Paul speaks to us today of the structure of which we are all invited to be a part: “You are no longer strangers and sojourners, but you are fellow citizens with the holy ones and members of the household of God, build upon the foundation of the Apostles and…
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Last week, we heard a lecture by Rev. Sr. Malmann, who survived cancer and authored a book about her survival. The title of the book is The Goldthreads Between Heaven and Earth: Living the Faith in Difficult Moments. (Goldfäden zwischen Himmel und Erde: Glauben in dunklen Stunden). The purpose of…
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