January 2024

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/012824.cfm WHO IS MY TEACHER? By the time our junior and senior years rolled around in high school, we had to take several courses we had no interest in, but we worked through it. Many of us forgot these courses soon after we finished them, and they did not impact our lives and choices. For

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/012724.cfm Do Not Be Afraid To Go Deep. I Will Raise You Up   One early spring morning, I was fishing in Long Lake in Central Illinois with an old friend of my Dad, Bud Sepich. We were fishing for bluegill and bass in 15 feet of water on a boat. It was still cold, and

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/012524.cfm REMOVE THE SCALES FROM MY EYES St. Paul’s conversion is a fascinating story of how God works in our lives. He was in a murderous state of mind. His persecution of Jesus’ followers brought him into an encounter with our Lord. I am tempted to think that St. Paul had it easy because the

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/012424.cfm Life Is Not A Daydream  Suffering seems like such a waste of time and energy. It can be an illness, a tragedy of some description. I know I have had my share of hospitals, surgeries, time off work, and everything else. My joints keep giving out on me. I find comfort and even strength

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/012324.cfm    Remove the Scales from My Eyes How wonderful it is to belong to the family of Jesus we call the Church. The life and love he wanted to share with the world were too big to be passed on through a human bloodline. That would be just too limiting. So Jesus found another

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/012224.cfm     Jesus, the Stronger One, breaks all illusions.  “Hey Eve, if you eat of the tree of good and evil, you will be like God!” What a trick! What deceit? “For God knows that when you eat from it, your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/012124.cfm SNAKES AND FOG CAN BE DANGEROUS We really must give a hand to our firefighters. They find themselves in the most dangerous situations. I watched on TV a rattlesnake handler teaching firefighters how to manage snakes when they come across them. They wanted to learn the technique of handling snakes, especially venomous snakes. One