September 2023

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/092123.cfm Dancing with Jesus.  It is not hard to imagine Peter carrying his load of fish from his boat to the tax collector’s booth. He’s been out all night in a rocking boat fighting the elements. Yet, this man is sitting here doing nothing but taking his money and too much of it. How Peter […]

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/092023.cfm Dancing with Jesus.  Presidential campaigns seem like they go on forever. Conservative and liberal candidates spend millions of dollars on travel and commercials. While they stayed their policies, most of what they do is bash each other. The scribes and Pharisees were neither conservative nor liberal. They would not listen to or follow John

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/tuesday-twenty-fourth-week-ordinary-time “I Command You; Get Up!”  My heart goes out to parents who lost a child in death! It is devastating, and the sorry seems never to go away. Yet, we may know a friend who is as good as dead, perhaps from despair or loss of meaning in their lives. Have you reached out

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/091823.cfm Jesus’ Heroes  We all have an alarm that goes off in someone who is in a crisis. Strangers run into a burning house to save someone. We know everyday heroes who sacrifice themselves for the good of others time and time again. In the gospel, the centurion would be a hero in his day.

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/091723.cfm How Grateful Am I? When I read this gospel of the ungrateful servant, I was flooded with the many blessings I have received throughout my life. I couldn’t begin to count them. God blesses all of us with his gift of creation that He sustains every minute of every day. But a few memories

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/091623.cfm Deep Roots  I know of a friend whose neighbor’s tree hit her house during a tropical storm. It was too top-heavy for the weak root system to keep it upright during the high winds. Life’s storms also come by occasionally and take the form of losing a job, an illness, and daily frustrations.   Jesus

Septembe https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/091523.cfm Stand by My Side The most difficult of all funerals is when a mother or father buries their child. Who can comprehend the sorrow a parent is experiencing when they see their flesh lying in a coffin? When I have sat with them, they always say, “Why couldn’t it have been me”? Today,

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/091423.cfm Don’t Be Afraid of the Sting  In every Catholic Church and Chapel throughout the world, we are celebrating today an instrument of execution called “The Exaltation of the Cross.” The Romans adopted this most torturous form of execution from the Chinese. The Chinese reserved it for the worst of criminals.     How does God take something so

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/091323.cfm Poor, Hungry, Weeping, Hated, And Persecuted – But Blessed. What a challenge Jesus presents to us! A willingness to be poor, hungry, weeping, hated, and persecuted is not very appealing: Unless your heart is overcome with so much love, you can’t help yourself. How many parents sacrifice so much to send their children to

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/091223.cfm Pray First. The Lord Jesus is incredible and never ceases to amaze me, filling my heart with wonder. There is a vast difference between when I pray and when I don’t pray before going into a difficult meeting with someone. It could be anointing someone sick, someone carrying a giant cross or even something