Readings for the 2nd Sunday of Lent: Gen 22:1-2,9A,10-13,15-18; Psa 116: 10,15,16-17,18-19; Rom 8:31B-34; Mk 9:2-10. Our third child was being baptized, and the priest did something at the end I’ve never seen before or since. “Lay the child on the altar,” he said. We walked forward, and Mark laid Clay down on his back […]
1st Sunday of Lent: COVENANT WITH NOAH
Readings for the 1st Sunday of Lent: Gen 9:8-15; Psa 25:4-9; 1 Pe 3:18-22; Mk 1:12-15 Adam was not aware. He lived in blissful beauty, he did not know the primal chaos. He couldn’t know the bleak facts of life without God: darkness; void; formless waste. He did not witness the glory of land rising […]
Lent, Year B: GOD HAS A PLAN!
As we plunge into Lent, settling into patterns of prayer and fasting and giving to others, the lectionary points us to the reason for it all. Each week until Easter, I’ll be musing on the Sunday readings: specifically, through the lens of the first (Old Testament) readings. Read in turn, these take us on a […]
ASH WEDNESDAY: It’s time to get clean
(Traducción en español al final) My son was the youngest and newest member of the local Peewee football league, and as such he sat warming the bench in his spanking-white uniform while his teammates slogged through the mud. It was a cold and rainy day but the game was exciting, and we all cheered as […]
A TALE OF TWO KINGS
Tomorrow we celebrate the birth of a king, the Son of God. Did you know that the day he was born, many thought he had already come? “He” was not a simple child of Israel. “He” was Caesar Augustus, who had already ruled for nearly 30 years. The adopted son and successor of […]
4th SUNDAY OF ADVENT: SHHHH…..!
Hush…. It’s time! Time to finish the buying and wrapping, time to set our troubles aside. Our cares will still be there next week, after all, and we don’t want to miss the peace that’s promised by the season. One Christmas hymn keeps floating through my mind, helping me focus. A friend sent me this […]
3rd SUNDAY OF ADVENT: REJOICE!
Twice a year, on Gaudete and Laetare Sundays[1], the priest dons rose-colored vestments for mass. In spite of what he might think about wearing that color (and there’s always someone cracking a joke about it) — I love seeing it. I love its rosy warmth and the way it breaks into the somber violet of […]
2nd SUNDAY OF ADVENT: PREPARE AND PROCLAIM!
Christmas preparations are looking very different for me this year. Normally, I’d be baking and planning parties and strolling with friends through winter-lit gardens. But I find myself staying home to avoid unsafe contact and searching out COVID test sites, investigating state travel restrictions and counting isolation days. Because what kind of Christmas will it […]
1st SUNDAY OF ADVENT: WATCH!
“You be the lookout,” I told my little brother. “Yell the second you see the car!” My parents had gone for the day, leaving me in charge. And now we were scrambling to finish our chores and get the house in order before they returned, bringing our cousins with them. Only when the last thing […]
A PSALM FOR GIVING THANKS
The signs are everywhere right now: “Grateful”, the word spelled out in fancy type, embellished with flowers, sparkles, or even gold leaf. I almost hit one with my grocery cart this morning, rounding the corner past a woman who, like me, had left her Thanksgiving shopping to the last minute. “Grateful … hmmpf!” she said, […]
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