Today, September 8th , the Church marks the feast of the nativity of the blessed Virgin Mary, the Mother of Jesus. This feast day was introduced in Rome from the Eastern Church in the seventh century. Only a few people enjoy the privilege of a birthday celebration in the Church’s…
A priest went out to dinner with a group of friends; one was married and other was single. The one who was single said to him: “I know that for you priests, it must be difficult to remain without a woman in your life.” And he replied: “the same as…
It is worthy of note that Jesus spent an entire night in prayer before He chose His apostles. This was not the only time He spent hours in prayer during His ministry on earth. It was His lifestyle. Although He was and still is God, He knew that as an…
Today we observe Labor Day and consider the importance of work in our lives. When I think of Labor Day, I remember living in eastern Europe just a few years after the fall of Communism. They still celebrated May Day, the great Communist holiday adulating work. People joked that they…
Hey, St. Paul! Who are you calling “rubbish and scum” in today’s reading from Corinthians? Presumably, it is the church in Corinth, because you and Apollos address the letter that way. We know that the Bible is written to us, so that would put us in the same heap of…
When We Follow Our Own Plan, Things Don’t Always Work Out Have you ever found yourself in a situation where you put plans in place, and you were so self-assured everything was going to be just perfect? Or you were participating on a team where you felt if you were…
Stewardship is related to responsibility. And it is sometimes used interchangeably with servanthood. The root meaning of “steward” as used in the New Testament Greek means literarily, a “house-distributor”; that is, a manager of a house (and or the resources being housed) in which sense, an overseer, in a sense…
There is a saying that the secret to orderliness in home care is: “A place for everything, everything in its place.” Everything in the house has its right place. Whether it is the coffee maker or the cups, the plates or the trashcan, the bed and the dresser, the groceries…
In today’s Gospel, we experience the healing power of Jesus. After leaving the synagogue, Jesus went to the home of Simon. When he arrived, Simon’s mother-in-law was very ill with a high fever. When Simon brought Jesus to his home, his mother-in-law was instantly healed and fully restored. She got…
Chapter 4 of Luke’s gospel starts with a dramatic account of the start of Jesus’ ministry in Galilee. It is one of my favorite scenes. Luke builds up the dramatic tension as Jesus is handed a scroll of the prophet Isaiah. He reads Isaiah’s well-known prophecy – written some seven…