Sunday Readings for the 15th Sunday in Ordinary Time July 16, 2017 I’ve always loved gardening. Seeds I’ve planted include carrot, cucumber, and of course, zucchini. In each case, I’ve planted seeds in neat rows, expecting nearly all of them…
The Double Message of the Parable of the Sower and the Seed
The Bread of Life
Recently, I received an emailed “essay” attacking, specifically, transubstantiation. The author claimed to have had an “intellectual epiphany” based on the “unshakable Scriptures”. We, however, choose instead to follow the word of Scripture, which calls the Church–not the Bible–the bulwark…
Having a Heart like Jesus’ Sacred Heart
Consider the heart: at the center of the body, it is essential to life. When we speak of the heart in matters of faith, we mean the center of our being, our key values lived out, our motive core. God…
#CatholicConvo: The Joy of the Gospel in America
Last week the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) convened a strategic conversation of 3,500 Catholic leaders on forming missionary disciples to truly animate the Church, so that the “joy of the Gospel,” as Pope Francis has written, might resonate, shine, and…
Does Life Feel like a Chore?
Sunday Readings for the 14th Sunday in Ordinary Time, July 9, 2017 I once knew a woman who called herself “a recovering Catholic.” It seems that as a child, she was taught a religion that was all about guilt. Impossible demands…
The Underrated Virtue of Nice
In mystery author Agatha Christie’s biography, she wrote about her father’s death. Many of those present at the funeral said the same thing about the late Mr. Miller. “He was a nice man.” She went on to state that niceness…
When the Mere Mention of Sin Becomes the “Sin”
Have you found that the mere mention of the word “sin” can be taken as a sign from others that you are somehow intolerant? Our culture relegates the concept of sin to a religious term that only extreme ideologues would…
Sins of Omission
You’ve heard the phrase in the title. I bet you have even formed a little catalog in your head of what is included. There are probably things in your list that include a lot of “forgetting”. You know: I forgot…
The Fantasy of a Judgment-Free Zone
The ad for a national fitness center franchise promised that for $10 a month I could enter a judgment-free zone. It gave the hours where I could escape the judgmental world around me to enter a place where no one…
10 Commandments in the Modern World Pt 9 – Relationship Boundaries
Commandment 9: Thou shall not covet thy neighbors wife. In the version of the 10 Commandments found in the book of Exodus place both objects of covetous desires, your neighbor’s wife and his goods, into the same commandment. The version…