Reflections for Ordinary Time

Love God and love your neighbor. It’s not complicated. Moses pointed this out thousands of years ago (Deuteronomy 30:10-14). Jesus did the same (Luke 10:25-37).  But Jesus went further. He took the effort to tell a story to make the point clear. He accepts that even the obvious may need spelling out, and does so […]

Our readings today may leave us feeling conflicted. “Rejoice!” (Isaiah 66:10-14c) Really?  There seems little to rejoice about as we look out at a world racked by war and poverty. We know this is “normal”, violence and hate are not unusual over human history. What perhaps hurts more is that attitudes of hate and violence,

Although it’s often repeated, no one knows where the phrase “the eyes are the windows of the soul” originated. The sentiment is carried through in the belief that looking (deeply) into someone’s eyes will tell you whether they love you, or can be trusted in a business deal, or are a “good person”.  Today’s readings

Last week we were asked to recognize that the starting point for our Christian life is our relationship with God. This week Jesus spells out what that relationship implies (Luke 6:27-38).  At present there are many people who claim to live a Christian life but there seem to be a very wide range of ideas

Faith, hope and charity – the traditional formulation of the three cardinal virtues. Like the four classical elements, earth, air, fire and water, which were thought to make up the physical world, the Christian life was built from faith, hope, and charity. And just as the elements are bound together to make up the world,

Today we hear the dramatic story of Isaiah’s encounter with the divine – it’s terrifying (Isaiah 6:1-2a, 3-8). But it ends with him accepting what God is asking of him – “Here I am, send me”. Paul doesn’t play up the dramatic in his telling to the Corinthians of his calling (1 Corinthians 15:1-11) –

On the recent Feast of the Baptism of the Lord we noted how this event is one of the very few that is included in all four gospels. The subsequent variety is clearly illustrated by the difference between last week’s reading from John’s gospel (John 2:1-11) and this week’s from Luke (Luke 1:1-4; 4:14-21). In

Jesus was human, like us, in all ways except sin. But from this starting point he becomes to us “the perfect man” – and the perfect man is obviously in control, in command of himself and the situation around him at all times, a man who understands everything about what will happen to him.  I

Daniel in our first reading (Dn 12:1-3) talks of “a time unsurpassed in distress”. Mark (Mk 13:24-32) recounts Jesus saying: “In those days after that tribulation the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will be falling from the sky, and the powers in the heavens will

Reading today’s Gospel (Mk 12:38-44) it would be easy to take away the message that we should be giving more to charity. The poor widow is an example to us.  But is that what Jesus was getting at? – give until you’ve got nothing left.  Mark sets the context of the story very clearly. Jesus