Spiritual

God surprises! Cyrus, king of Persia liberated the enslaved Israelites. https://bible.usccb.org/readings/calendar.  When he conquered the Chaldeans, he inherited the Hebrew slaves. He was their master. The author of Ephesians suggests that we are mastered by our transgressions, and John’s Gospel assures us that Christ came not to condemn, but to save. At every moment, after every transgression, […]

Hosea speaks to us again today. He tells us that the Lord will come “…like spring rain that waters the earth.” https://bible.usccb.org/readings/calendar .  Is there anything so sweet as the gentle rains in spring? The smell of wet earth just plowed for the planting is wonderful—so full of promise. The earth drinks up the rain, just as we

Today the prophet Hosea assures us that if we return to God, we will have splendor like the olive tree. https://bible.usccb.org/readings/calendar. To be like an olive is something indeed. Olives were essential to life. The fruit was eaten, the oil was used in lamps, cooking, hygiene, and worship, to name a few. Almost no tree was as

The Psalmist tells us to “joyfully sing songs to the Lord.” https://bible.usccb.org/readings/calendar. Notice that we are not told to sing beautifully, only joyfully. The quality of our voice is not important. What is important is that we sing. So many times, folks have said to me that they cannot sing well, so they don’t. My retort

Today Moses warns the Israelites to be on guard and not forget the Lord. https://bible.usccb.org/readings/calendar.   He implores them to remember the past and all that the Lord God did for them. That is still a message for today. Jesus says he has not come to destroy the former ways, but to fulfill them. So, what are we

Jesus tells a parable today. https://bible.usccb.org/readings/calendar.   The parable of the debtor who does not show mercy as he had been shown mercy. We are then told to forgive, from our hearts, those who hurt us in any way because we have been shown mercy. But for me, a very real reason to forgive is because holding onto

Naaman, the army commander and a highly respected man was a leper. He was cleansed by Elisha. https://bible.usccb.org/readings/calendar . Now the problem with Naaman was that he balked at the way the cure would happen. He, like most of us, wanted fireworks—something grand. Instead, all he had to do was bathe. How dull! I wonder if we

Today we are given the Ten Commandments  https://bible.usccb.org/readings/calendar. A lot of time is spent on the first—no idols. We know how long that lasted. A golden calf was soon being worshipped. It didn’t end well. Do we have golden idols? Are we worshipping false gods? Anything that removes us from the sweet, trustworthy, precious, and wisdom-filled

The Gospel is the well-loved Prodigal Son tale.  https://bible.usccb.org/readings/calendar. We are encouraged to place ourselves into the story. It is easy to think of the wayward son as us, and maybe even the son who stayed home because we feel his indignation. And the God-like father waiting patiently always ready to forgive and welcome home. We

“A landowner planted a vineyard.” Matt 21. …and the landowner was God. Guess who the vineyard is? You know grape vines must be pruned. They must be pruned hard to get rid of old unproductive branches so new fruitful branches can grow and mature. Maybe I need some hard pruning. Maybe I need to look