Reflections for Ordinary Time

“Blessed are the poor”. So that’s OK then… The poor may be having a tough time right now, but they’ll be OK at some point in the future, actually in another life. (Lk 6:17, 20-26) This view of Jesus’ teaching, which pushes the impact into the future is a profound distortion. The distortion arises because […]

Three very different people. Three very different encounters with the divine.  We can perhaps relate most easily to Peter, since he met a man, Jesus (Lk 5:1-11). He agreed to help him out with a trip on his boat. A meeting well within our normal scope of experience. But then again it wasn’t. Peter had

Corinth is a major industrial city in Greece, with a canal that splits northern and southern Greece and joins the Mediterranean and Aegean Seas. It has one of the largest oil refining industrial complexes in Europe. It was important in Gospel times, and has a history going back at least 700 years before that. There is a fascinating

The Judaism of Jesus’ time existed in two very different forms. There was the Judaism of Jerusalem with the temple, the sacrifices, and all the surrounding paraphernalia of markets, money changers, pilgrim hostels, etc. And there was the Judaism of the synagogue, often tiny buildings in remote places where the reading of scripture was a

We spoke last week of how the Baptism of the Lord was a “second Epiphany” in Luke’s telling. This week we have… a third Epiphany!? All the gospels, as we noted, include the story of Jesus’ baptism. But John presents it as opportunity for John the Baptist to testify to the significance of Jesus (Jn

Last week we were in a familiar world of poor people and rich people, all with our individual struggles and decisions. This week it seems like we’ve moved to a different planet – there are vague “tribulations” and strange cosmic events. (Mk 13:24-32) When we listen to the words of Jesus we are doing so

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