Reflections for Ordinary Time

Jesus sits across the street from the Temple treasury, watching (Mk 12:38-44). Is he watching us, checking to see how we are behaving? Are we being sufficiently generous? No, he’s not watching us, rather he invites us (his disciples) to watch with him. Why? To teach us – as he does constantly. He points out […]

In today’s gospel reading (Mk 12:28b-34) Jesus says to a scribe: “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” Just a few verses later Jesus says: “Beware of the scribes, … They will receive a very severe condemnation.” The “Scribes and Pharisees”, usually lumped together, are condemned frequently and vehemently by Jesus. So it

Jesus says to the blind man: “Go your way; your faith has saved you.” (Mk 10:46-52) So today our gospel is about faith. Or is it? Certainly the blind man has faith, he clearly believes that Jesus can help him. But his faith isn’t new, it didn’t suddenly start when Jesus showed up. Why did

James and John are certainly pushing their luck today! (Mk 10:35-45) Once again we are shown how far they are from understanding what Jesus is teaching them. The reaction of the other disciples is hardly surprising – we would feel the same, I’m sure – “who do they think they are!!”. Jesus however doesn’t get

So here we have Salvation 101, or “How to Lead a Good Life; in 4 Easy Steps” (Don’t lie, cheat, steal or kill!) Pretty much any religion, or even those without a religion, would agree on that. The young man in today’s gospel (Mk 10:17-30) knows that. He’d been brought up knowing it. But he

Last week’s readings were challenging – with hands and feet being cut off! This week we may also struggle – how do we reconcile Jesus’ apparently uncompromising words (Mk 10:2-10) with the reality of marriage and married life as many people experience it? As we seek to understand what Jesus may be saying to us,

In this week’s readings we have two topics, which seem unrelated. In the story from the Book of Numbers (Nm 11:25-29) and the first part of the Gospel (Mk 9:38-40) we hear how both Moses and Jesus have no problem accepting that “other people” can preach about God, and don’t feel the need to define

I’m sure there are times when we have all felt confused. Confusion can be frustrating and maybe irritating – for others or for ourselves. But confusion can be worse than that. When confusion affects our sense of what is real or unreal it verges into mental illness. When it affects our understanding of what is

Isaiah says:  The Lord GOD opens my ear that I may hear (Is 50:5). If the Lord opens your ears what might you hear? Angelic voices; the sounds of peace and harmony; words of comfort and consolation? Isaiah didn’t hear those things. What he heard was harsh and unpleasant. He tells us what an effort

The whole Bible is an account of how everything that exists is based on God, a God we call our Father. Everything from the creation of the cosmos, to the sparrows in the sky, to each of us individually. In that sense everything belongs to God and everything is under His power. So where does