Reflections for Ordinary Time

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

We make choices all the time. They range from the trivial (what shall I have for breakfast) to the profound (will I marry this person). Some are so easy to make we don’t even notice ourselves doing it, some we agonize over for days or months.  How do we make that choice, how we reach

Today’s Gospel tells the story of the blind man who was cured because he believed Jesus could and would do that for him (Mk 10:46-52). We can reflect on what got him to that point. He yells out from the back of the crowd. Did he simply think he had nothing to lose? There was

As we start to move towards the end of our church year, the character of our readings at mass changes. Over previous weeks we have focused very much on the teaching Jesus gave to the crowds, to the disciples, to us. Now we start to focus more on Jesus himself – what was happening for

We are familiar with stories like those of Saint Francis and Saint Ignatius who went through dramatic conversion experiences and literally gave everything they had to the poor. Those sorts of examples likely come to mind when we hear today’s Gospel (Mk 10:17-30). But where does that leave us? We are probably more like the