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Wheat and weeds

July 9, 2020

Isaiah Chapter 55 says, “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways” (55:8). This reminder the Lord gives us through his prophet may well resound in our minds as we consider the Gospel passage for the 16th week in ordinary time. In this text, Christ makes clear that though the wicked certainly grow among the good in the field of the world, he is the one who will separate them out at the end of time, and it is not ours to root them out at will.

A farmer’s work

July 8, 2020

I recently witnessed a minor miracle in my parents’ backyard. After almost a decade of work, my dad finally got nice, green grass to grow in what had been a desert-dry bald spot for most of my childhood and beyond. It took years of cultivation, preparing soil and scattering seed, often with mixed results. But finally: success.

A well-fitted yoke

July 1, 2020

Industrial and technological developments in recent decades have ushered in a world of conveniences, unimagined by our ancestors, that have lifted nearly every physical burden from our daily lives. We have air conditioning and hair conditioning. We have Wawa and Wi-Fi. We have indoor plumbing and outdoor grilling. We have instant coffee, instant messaging, instant oatmeal, instant pizza, instant noodles, instant approval credit, and if something isn’t instant yet, just give it a few more years. But with so many burdens lifted, why is it that life still feels so burdensome? The answer is that the comforts of the body have no power to comfort the soul. It’s why the invitation we hear in the Gospel this week is one of the most compelling verses in the Scriptures: “Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest … for my yoke is easy, and my burden light.”

A cup of water

June 24, 2020

Today, the church celebrates the 13th Sunday in ordinary time. I am not a big fan of the use of the word “ordinary” to describe this moment in the church’s liturgical year. At a minimum, it informs us that we are not in the Advent, Christmas, Lent or Easter seasons. However, during “ordinary time,” we strive to allow the profound mysteries and abundant graces of Christ which we celebrate during Christmas and Easter seasons to penetrate the depths of our hearts, heal our brokenness and empower us to live Christlike lives. There is nothing ordinary about that reality.

To be known in loving detail

June 19, 2020

The Gospel of Matthew says, “Do not be afraid … all the hairs of your head are counted” (10:30). The Lord Jesus reminds us in the Gospel of this week that even the smallest matters of our life are of importance to God. We do not have a God who stands at a distance, aloof from us and from how our lives unfold, but a God who is invested down to the last hair, who cares about each detail of our existence.

Solemnity of Corpus Christi

June 10, 2020

Today we celebrate the solemnity of Corpus Christi, that is, the solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ. This feast day is a beautiful culmination of our recent feast days: On Easter we celebrated the resurrection of Our Lord Jesus, who triumphed over sin, suffering, death and evil itself. On the Ascension, we celebrated Our Lord entering gloriously into heaven, thereby fulfilling the promise to be with each of us every moment and prepare a place for each of us in heaven. On Pentecost, we celebrated the outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon the apostles, who then went forth to found the church, preaching the Gospel and making Our Lord present through the sacraments. And last week, we celebrated the solemnity of the Holy Trinity, the God who is love, who has revealed himself as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and who invites us to remain in that love.

A moral crisis

June 4, 2020

If you ever have to wager your last nickel on which passage in the Bible is the most famous and best loved of all, bet on John 3:16. We hear it read in our very brief Gospel reading, “God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, so that all who believe in him might not perish, but might have eternal life.” Since we celebrate Trinity Sunday this week, focus particularly on the first words of that passage, “God so loved the world, that he gave.” Love is nothing other than giving. The very definition of love is to will the good of another person, entirely for their own sake. Our belief in the Trinity teaches us that such total, unconditional, self-sacrificing love is God’s very identity. Our Lord’s words challenge us to make that love our identity as well.

The promised Advocate

May 27, 2020

Pentecost is the grand finale of the paschal mystery. The pouring forth of the Holy Spirit onto the church and into the hearts of Christians is absolutely critical to the saving mission of Christ. The celebration of Pentecost boldly proclaims our belief in the power of the Holy Spirit to generate faith in Jesus, unify a divided world, set hearts on fire with a love for God and send out disciples to scatter the darkness with the light of Christ.

Constant presence

May 24, 2020

Trying to understand the feast of the Ascension and its importance in our lives of faith can be difficult. Today we see Christ return to heaven, out of our sight. Having finished his earthly mission, he promises he will be with us to the end of the age, and that’s that. It can seem like too neat an ending. Christ promises he’ll be in our hearts, and now it’s our job to be good Christians. Yet, if we understand the Ascension as the ancient Christians did, we find riches of meaning.

We say yes to God

May 15, 2020

In his book, “Strangers in a Strange Land: Living the Catholic Faith in a Post-Christian World,” Archbishop Charles J. Chaput cites a 2015 New York Times article by philosophy professor Justin McBrayer. His second-grade son had a homework assignment in which he had to decide whether a statement was opinion or fact, for example, “Copying homework assignments is wrong,” “Cursing in school is inappropriate behavior,” and “All men are created equal.”