My heart is breaking over events in Ukraine. As I continue to meditate on the readings from Ash Wednesday, I’m drawn over and over to Joel 2:12–13— “Yet even now,” says the Lord, “return to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning…” Joel is crying to a people crushed by an […]
Search Results for: joy
“COME TO JESUS!”—WHATEVER YOUR NEED
Ever since Advent began, I’ve been praying: Come, Lord Jesus! And come he did, in a whirl of stars and shepherds and “Joy to the World” sung into the night. But Christmas came and went, and although the baby Jesus took his place in the manger in our nativity set, I didn’t feel like Jesus […]
COME, LORD JESUS! — 1st Sunday of Advent
Advent is not a simple season. Its four weeks are full of festive preparation, yet it’s a penitential time as well. Along the way, it asks us to hold in balance three separate “comings”: The coming long ago of Jesus to earth, born as a child in Bethlehem His coming at the end of time […]
GRATITUDE MATTERS
You can’t blame them, really. The men who raced toward the Temple were only following instructions. Just moments before, they were lepers: living on the fringes of society, forced to keep a distance from other people, shouting “unclean, unclean!” to everyone they saw. But now—they are healed! It was all due to Jesus, the rabbi […]
C.R.O.S.S.—”O” is for “One nation”
God didn’t just set Israel free from Egypt, he freed them for a life with him. He does the same for us! “Cross” is a short word of only five letters, but break it apart and it contains the whole story of the Bible. C.R.O.S.S.—Creation, Redemption, One nation, Separation, Salvation. The story of the Bible is our story, too, and each of […]
C.R.O.S.S.—“C” is for “Creation”
“Cross” is a short word of only five letters, but break it apart and it contains the whole story of the Bible. C.R.O.S.S.—Creation, Redemption, One nation, Separation, Salvation. The story of the Bible is our story, too, and each of these stages helps us get the “big picture” of our life in Christ. Read the […]
YOU HAVE FREEDOM TO CHOOSE: BE CAREFUL!
We were born with freedom to choose: a God-given freedom to cast our lot with life, on the one hand, or death, on the other. Even our small choices lead, inevitably, in one direction or the other. The story in the book of Judges of Jephthah, the judge whose rash vow led him to sacrifice […]
I CHOSE YOU TO BEAR FRUIT … THAT WILL LAST?
I wonder what Jesus meant when he said he appointed us “to go and bear fruit that will remain.” If there is one thing fruit does not do, that’s remain. Leave it out on the counter too long and the fruit flies come, and the rot, and pretty soon those apples and grapes are good […]
THE FRUIT THAT COMES FROM ABIDING IN CHRIST
“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 […]
5th Sunday of Lent: ANNOUNCING THE NEW COVENANT
Readings for the 5th Sunday of Lent: Jer 31:31-34; Ps 51:3-4, 12-15; Heb 5:7-9; Jn 12:20-33 (if you hear different readings, your parish may be using the Year A readings that go with the Scrutinies for RCIA) The night before I turned sixteen, I couldn’t sleep for crying. High school wasn’t easy for me. Not […]
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