Reflections for August 2025

Humility (Sirach 3:17-18, 20, 28-29). Yup – got that one. I don’t think most of us feel a need to push for that place in the best seats (Luke 14:1, 7-14). If anything we may suffer from the opposite issue – always wanting to sit at the back… Not pushing yourself forward isn’t always the […]

It is important, even necessary, for us to feel valued. Feeling worthless is a terrible burden, it can be a crippling disability. One of the antidotes to such feelings is identifying with a group. Our value comes not from our individual worth but from the group. I’m valued because I’m a … That identity might

I wish it were easy. Be good and be kind to people. That’s it, isn’t it?  No, it isn’t.  In our readings today we are warned it is a battle. Jeremiah suffers as a result of an arbitrary and weak-willed ruler who seems to favor the last person who spoke to him (Jeremiah 38:4-6, 8-10).

Faith, Hope, and Charity – the three great virtues, as Paul enumerates them (1 Cor 13), are often considered as three distinct things. Paul’s treatment of Charity (or Love) as somehow superior could lead us to think of maybe choosing between them, that one is more important than the others.  Today’s readings give a very different

All of the great world religions have a strong emphasis on the need for detachment, avoiding getting caught up in the possessions and acquisitiveness that seem to be a common feature of humanity. The preacher Qoheleth (Ecclesiastes 1:2; 2:21-23) could just as well be found in Buddhist scripture or in the writings of the pagan