Reflections
2023
Third Sunday of Advent
Sometimes Advent is presented as a penitential season, almost a mini-Lent, a time for reflection on our inadequacy or unworthiness in the face of the incomprehensible gift that God gave us by sending His son.…
Second Sunday of Advent
As we move from the first to the second week of Advent, our readings are still pointing us forward (together with Peter’s reminder not to get hung up over timescales (2 Pet 3:8-14)). But the framework shifts.…
First Sunday of Advent
Birthdays, anniversaries, memorials, they are all important markers in our lives. And of course their significance changes over time. A birthday when we are 7 is not the same as one when we are 70. We may even…
The Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe
Today we finish our Church year with the Feast of Christ the King. It feels somehow appropriate that we should complete our annual cycle with a recognition of the power and majesty of our Savior, even as we…
Thirty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time
The parable of the talents is always a bit of a head scratcher (Mt 25:14-30). Jesus so often asserts the value of the weak, the poor, the inadequate, and wants us to recognize that the typical values in any…
Thirty-second Sunday in Ordinary Time
This week we have a nice simple parable: "Be prepared." (Mt 25:1-13) But there is a little more to it. What are we to be prepared for? We don’t really know, when or even how whatever will happen will happen.…
Thirty-first Sunday in Ordinary Time
Over the last few weeks we’ve heard Jesus go back and forth with the scribes, the Pharisees, the Sadducees, the Herodians, and just about everyone who was anyone in the government of the time. Today we hear…
Thirtieth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Which of our laws are most important? Sometimes it's easy - a law against murder is more important than a law about fraud, and we really don’t care much about a law regarding speed limits. Some tie us in…
Twenty-ninth Sunday in Ordinary Time
I grew up with a version of Christianity that had no political content whatsoever. If anyone had suggested there was any relationship between religion and politics I think the reaction would have been…
Twenty-eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time
This week Isaiah is at his most exuberant: “a feast of rich food and choice wines, for all peoples” as God “wipes away the tears from every face” and “destroys death forever”. (Isa 25:6-19a) This is followed…
Twenty-seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time
Our readings this week may seem harsh. God is going to tear down his vineyard, the house of Israel, because of the way the people have behaved. In the gospel Jesus is again going after the “the chief priests…
Twenty-sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time
This week Ezekiel joins in with the theme of how God is unfair, or not. The question he’s addressing concerns individual responsibility (Ez 18:25-28). And he clearly didn’t have much impact on Jewish thinking,…
Twenty-fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time
We’ve arrived - at the point where Isaiah spells it out: God’s way are not our ways (Is 55:6-9). And we have another passage from Matthew’s gospel where the point is illustrated yet again (Mt 20:1-16a). This…
Twenty-fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time
So why does the king decide to let his servant off his debt? (Mt 18:21-35) Because he offers to pay him back, in full? Not at all. The amount of money mentioned in the original words of this parable doesn’t…
Twenty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time
“whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.” — Matt 18:18 These words may well sound familiar. We heard them just a few weeks ago. But that…
Twenty-second Sunday in Ordinary Time
It’s not always easy to follow the way of the Lord. The message of both Old and New Testaments is that God loves us and wants our well-being. Jesus continually tells us not to be afraid and delivers a message…
Twenty-first Sunday in Ordinary Time
So, according to our reading from Isaiah today (Is 22:19-23), Shebna is out of favor and Eliakim is on the up. But in the end it didn’t turn out so well for Eliakim either. In the subsequent conflict with the…
Twentieth Sunday in Ordinary Time
All three of our readings this week talk about inclusion and exclusion, being on the inside vs on the outside. The Book of Isaiah is remarkable for its championing of an inclusive view of God’s relationship…
Nineteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
The readings this week provide us with an interesting comparison between Elijah and Peter (1 Kgs 19:9a, 11-13a and Mt 14:22-33). Both have been called by God, personally and directly. Neither is handling it…
Feast of the Transfiguration of the Lord
The Transfiguration is arguably the most dramatic event described in the gospels. I guess bringing people back to life is also up there but, at least in the way the gospels talk about it, doesn’t have quite…