Spiritual

Jeremiah, in the 1st reading today, promises we will no longer need to teach others that we are God’s people. They will just know it because we have been forgiven. God no longer remembers our sins. They have been driven away! How perfect! Today commemorates St. Patrick, who supposedly drove the snakes out of Ireland. Satan, […]

  ‘No prophet arises from Galilee’, the Pharisees attest today. Jesus is accounted as nothing because he is not what they are looking for and worse, he is from a backwater nothing of a town. This passage gave me pause. I wonder how often I ignore folks and what they say because they are not ‘learned’

The book of Wisdom is describing a God-fearing person today. That person makes everyone else uncomfortable because they don’t measure up in comparison. Ever call someone a ‘Goody Two Shoes’ or ‘Teacher’s Pet’? Didn’t like them much, did you? Why? No, doubt it was because the mirror they held up toward you (not intentionally, mind

Jesus says in John’s Gospel that John the Baptizer was a ‘burning and shining lamp’ and that people were ‘content to rejoice in his light’. But just like the shining golden calf in today’s excerpt from Exodus, shiny doesn’t mean best. The Israelites needed an idol; John’s followers needed something new. Neither group saw what

Today the Prophet Isaiah tells the heavens to sing out and the mountains to burst into song with joy. I wonder what the stars and mountains would sound like if I could hear them singing? I’ve heard the whoosh of a falling star, and the roar of wind on a mountain top. Those sounds are

When I read Ezekiel’s vision of enough water flowing from the Temple to freshen the sea, my first thought was “They need a plumber!!” Then after my giggles subsided, I thought, ‘what flows out of me?’ Do I give life as this stream does? Am I a source of refreshment? Do I bring gladness? Do

I paraphrase Isaiah today; God created people to be a delight. Isn’t it wonderful to know that? To know that you delight the Almighty!! Just think, you are the apple of God’s eye, the object of God’s affection! Would that we lived each day as though we believed it! The love we’d radiate would transform

Jeremiah warned ‘Until the land has retrieved its lost Sabbaths…it lies waste!’ in this excerpt from 2 Chronicles. This seems a paraphrase of the Commandment to ‘Remember the Sabbath and keep it holy.’ Do I keep it holy? What makes something holy? I think it means set aside, special to God. Well, yes, I go

Another reading from Hosea today. The prophet and the Gospel writer present us with a contrast; the self-righteous (piety as ephemeral as the morning dew) versus the humble (like the spring rain). I admit to the sin of pride. I have been blessed with gifts and sometimes consider myself a bit better than others because

The prophet Hosea promises us today that those who turn back to God will be like the olive tree. What a blessing to be like an olive tree!! They are long lived, have beautifully grained wood for carving, and bear versatile fruit. Not only can the fruit be eaten, but olive oil has countless uses: