Reflections for Ordinary Time

Our two main readings this week, telling the stories of Naaman (2 Kings 5:14-17) and of the Samaritan leper (Luke 17:11-19), are very clearly parallel. They once again show that God has no favorite people, no favored groups or nations. This despite the desperate need that humans have felt throughout history to feel they are […]

We can probably easily identify with Habakkuk when he says (Habakkuk 1:2-3; 2:2-4):  How long, O LORD?  I cry for help but you do not listen!I cry out to you, “Violence!” but you do not intervene.Why do you let me see ruin; why must I look at misery?Destruction and violence are before me; there is

We hopefully don’t have much in common with the rich man in Gospel this weekend (Luke 16:19-31), nor with the complacent on their ivory couches humming along to the latest tunes (Amos 6:1a, 4-7). So there not a lot here for us today then, except perhaps for sorting out our feelings towards those that Jesus

Usually when reflecting on the readings for a week we start with the Gospel, then see what the first reading from the Hebrew Scripture may add, and finally take a look at the second reading. Very often we end up leaving the second reading to one side because the other two give us more than

I don’t hate any members of my family. I don’t hate my life. Unlike Saint Francis, I haven’t renounced all my possessions. So where does that leave me? According to today’s gospel, not in a good place. I can’t be a disciple of Jesus. (Luke 14:25-33) But I’m sorry, that just doesn’t make any sense! Can

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