Discipleship
What does it mean to be a disciple – a follower – of Jesus Christ? Blog posts in this section tend to be practical, as you can see by the list of highlighted titles. Below that, posts appear chronologically with the most recent first. Look for more such reflections in the future that reflect on Scriptural examples of discipleship and the Lord’s instructions to those who followed his Way while he was on earth.
- The Disciples at the Well: a Fresh Reading of John 4
- How to Grow as a Disciple with Scripture
- Stop Keeping Score! True Love is Not 50-50
- When You’re Anxious and Troubled: Where are Your Eyes?
- 5 Steps to Finding God’s Will for Your Life
Sometimes there's not enough of me to go around. The kids need help. A loved one dies. The dryer breaks, or the car. Taxes are due and a deadline zooms and no, I can’t possibly help you today. My own needs are too great … I’m stretched as far as I can go. Sometimes there's not enough of me for ...
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How do you get from LUV to LOVE? How do you move from “sure, I love Jesus” to “Lord, I love you!” That’s the question Jesus asked Peter in their post-breakfast heart-to-heart on the shore of the Sea of Galilee: do you (really) love me? Jesus had risen from the dead, and he had just amazed his disciples with a ...
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All over the world this week, Scripture is being specially celebrated by Catholics in the first-ever “Sunday of the Word of God.” Parishes will mark the day in various ways. Many will enthrone the Bible in their churches. They will honor and pray for people who teach and translate and study and proclaim God’s word. And they will look for ...
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I was five and we were vacationing on Lantau island. Today an airport crowns the Hong Kong mountain. Back then, it hosted scores of families seeking respite from the summer heat. The tiny cabins were separated from the main peak, where we took meals at a common dining room, by a “saddle”: a flat, grassy strip of land with steep ...
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“Everything is 50-50 in our marriage,” a friend told me. “That’s why it works.” I cringed, not knowing how to respond. Clearly she was proud of the way she and her husband shared things equally, down to the daily chores. But 50-50 isn’t just equal; it’s divisive. By which I mean you have to divide to reach it. Your eyes ...
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“I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in me, and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit. … By this is my Father glorified, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be my disciples” (John 15:5,8) John 15 is one of the best-loved of all the gospel readings, and with good ...
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My great-grandma Jennie’s life is packed inside a single word: “Hallelujah!” She typed that on a thousand tiny strips of paper and tucked them into cracks and books and under dishes as she prayed. She died many years years ago—but even now, finding one of those Hallelujahs brings her back in an instant. Who was Jennie, you ask? Look at this ...
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Nobody ever talks about the disciples at the well in Samaria. Everyone zeroes in on the woman, and understandably so: with her many past husbands and her daily slog for water, she represents that “God-shaped vacuum” in all of us that can’t be filled by anything (or anyone!) but God. We all want what she gets: living water that radically ...
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I always want to jump to Martha’s defense, when I read Jesus’ response to her complaint. Her sister has left her to do all the work, and the Lord seems to dismiss her worry. “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and worried,” he says. “There is need of only one thing. Mary has chosen the better part and it will not be ...
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