This coming Sunday marks our journey in Ordinary Time, the 15th Sunday in Year C. You can read a complete commentary on the Sunday Gospel here.
25 There was a scholar of the law who stood up to test him and said, “Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” 26 Jesus said to him, “What is written in the law? How do you read it?” 27 He said in reply, “You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your being, with all your strength, and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.” 28 He replied to him, “You have answered correctly; do this and you will live.” 29 But because he wished to justify himself, he said to Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?” Continue reading
I have been teaching bible studies for 33 years now. I have learned some things, forgotten some things, but I have come to appreciate the life-long project that slowly builds up a deeper appreciation of what God desires for us, God’s love for us, and the symphony of God’s efforts to lead us to salvation for the great homecoming of homecomings. 
Buzz words: a word or phrase that is popular for a period of time, even fashionable, and is used to impress people with one’s technical insight, leading-edge awareness of trends and strategies, and let the other know “you know.” Then again, sometimes we use them as a shorthand to communicate a longer sense or assessment of a situation or dynamic. The tricky part is your favorite buzz word might well slip out of fashion leaving you with your favorite phrase already having “jumped the shark.” Of course, that assumes you know that phrase, which I think has become a bit dated. 
This coming Sunday marks our journey in Ordinary Time, the 
These days, there are four words that are a sure way to get a reaction: “make America great again.” What kind of reaction? The “whys” “whats” and “wherefores” of the reaction, well, that is for another time and place. Like many slogans it is meant to point to some narrative beyond itself, to a larger story, to provide meaning, purpose, and destiny to this life.
It was a simple email. The writer said that she was committed to reading and studying the Bible. For her first time through, she wanted to accomplish it in a two-year period. She had already researched the internet for Bible study plans and discovered there are tons of plans, lots of perspectives, and advice a plenty. So much so, it was hard to sort through it all. And such was the genesis of the email asking for advice on “the plan.” 
This coming Sunday marks the return to Ordinary Time, the 
I wonder how often we pay attention to the first reading. It is from the Old Testament, often filled with names that are hard to pronounce at best and impossible to remember – especially when it comes as a collection of names that are a chain of ancestors. One of the gospels for Christmas Eve (Mt 1:1-17) has a list of 42 generations, all of whose names are ancestors of Jesus. Could you name some of them other than King David and Mary’s husband Joseph? Jesus’ genealogy starts with Abraham – who appears in our first reading – and continues with Isaac, his son Jacob , and whose son Judah… ok, we know those names. And the genealogy then ventures into, what I suspect is largely unknown territory. We come across Hezron, Amminadab – and one of my personal favorites – Zerubbabel. 
friarmusings 