Kings on Trial

Posted on November 20, 2024 by Friar Musings

This coming Sunday is the Solemnity of Christ the King. The gospel reading for this year is the scene of Jesus on trial before Pontius Pilate during which the nature of Jesus’ kingship and kingdom is revealed. It is worth noting that as a rule, kings usually do not stand trial. They rule until their deaths. They are in charge of everything that happens in their kingdom. There are times when a king may die an early death — when another king with a more powerful army conquers the king or when the king’s subjects rebel. When such things happen, the defeated king is seldom given a trial. He was just killed. Continue reading →

The Kingdom

Posted on November 19, 2024 by Friar Musings

This coming Sunday is The Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe. The gospel reading for this year is the scene of Jesus on trial before Pontius Pilate during which the nature of Jesus’ kingship and kingdom is revealed. It is important to understand that as we consider the nature of Jesus as King of the Universe, we must also consider the “Kingdom of God” and Jesus’ role in establishing it. The idea of the “Kingdom of God” or “Kingdom of Heaven” or “Reign of God” – all have a foundation in history. Continue reading →

Lost along the way

Posted on November 18, 2024 by Friar Musings

Today’s first reading is from the always mysterious, often misunderstood and frequently misinterpreted Book of Revelation. Perhaps the centerpiece of the book is the letter to the seven churches of Asia Minor from which we hear the letter to the community as Ephesus.

The letter opens by praising this community for its endurance and its resistance to false teachers who claim to be apostles – most likely traveling missionaries carrying an apocryphal message. Though not in danger from false teachers, the Ephesian community has to be recalled to its former enthusiasm. The Sacred Writers accomplishes this by first reminding the listener of the source of the message: “The one who holds the seven stars in his right hand and walks in the midst of the seven gold lampstands.” Continue reading →

Waylaid and Lost

Posted on November 16, 2024 by Friar Musings

There was once a trusting Franciscan guardian who took a young friar to live in his own lean-to down by the river. For the first week the friar was ecstatic – his prayer life blossomed and he really felt he had taken a major step on his journey to God. Continue reading →

The Widowed Prophet

Posted on November 9, 2024 by Friar Musings

This coming Sunday is the 32nd Sunday in Ordinary Time, the story of “The Widow’s Mite.” Today’s post is from a writer, Debie Thomas, whose work I always enjoy and find insightful. The words of this post are entirely hers. Enjoy.

“The Widow’s Mite” is a classic Gospel story — a go-to for churches during Stewardship Season. Who hasn’t heard the moving account of the widow who slips quietly into the Temple, drops her meager offering into the treasury, and slips away? Who hasn’t squirmed when a well-meaning pastor saddles the story to its inevitable “so what?” question: “If a poor widow can give her sacrificial bit for the Lord’s work, how can we — so comfortably wealthy by comparison — not give much, much more?” Continue reading →

It is personal

Posted on November 1, 2024 by Friar Musings

When Jesus answers the scribe, He uses the second person singular form of the verbs: “You shall love..” Jesus is telling this individual what he should do. In this way it is not a dissimilar encounter with the earlier episode of the rich young man who asks what he must do to inherit the Kingdom (Mark 10:17-22). Although the man goes away sad, he clearly understood that this was an answer to what he, personally, must do. When the scribe responds and virtually repeats what Jesus had said he makes it impersonal. He doesn’t say, “You’re right! I should love ….” It is as though the initial question was somewhat “academic” as opposed to personal; an intellectual exercise for the scribe as opposed to seeking a guide to this life and the Kingdom to come. Even Jesus notes that the scribe has answered “with understanding” perhaps acknowledging the goodness of the answer. Continue reading →

Hear, O Israel

Posted on October 29, 2024 by Friar Musings

This coming Sunday is the 31st Sunday in Year B. Mark alone among the evangelists reports that Jesus introduced his answer with the opening words of the Shemaʿ: Hear, O Israel! The Lord our God is Lord alone! (Deut. 6:4), a prayer and confession of faith said every morning and evening by pious Jews. The words of the Shema’ indicate that the command to love God is an obligation which stems from his uniqueness as God and his gracious favor in extending his covenant love to Israel. Continue reading →

What’s on your refrigerator

Posted on October 24, 2024 by Friar Musings

The gospels for today’s daily Mass readings have been taken from Luke 12:49-53:

49 “I have come to set the earth on fire, and how I wish it were already blazing! 50 There is a baptism with which I must be baptized, and how great is my anguish until it is accomplished! 51 Do you think that I have come to establish peace on the earth? No, I tell you, but rather division. 52 From now on a household of five will be divided, three against two and two against three; 53 a father will be divided against his son and a son against his father, a mother against her daughter and a daughter against her mother, a mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law.”

Not exactly the magnet saying you’re going to put on the refrigerator in the family kitchen. Continue reading →

On the Way

Posted on October 14, 2024 by Friar Musings

This coming Sunday is the 29th Sunday in Year B of the lectionary cycle. It is a familiar story in which James and John seek glory: ““Grant that in your glory we may sit one at your right and the other at your left.” (Mark 10:37)

The tenth chapter of Mark has been especially dense with preparing the disciples for the time when Jesus will no longer be with them as their teacher. Jesus will enter Jerusalem at the beginning of Mark Chapter 11. The terrible fate that Jesus has already predicted for himself awaits even as he strives to have the disciples more fully understand the meaning of the Kingdom. At a certain level, this scene is déjà vu – didn’t Jesus just have a discussion with the disciples regarding the true meaning of greatness as service to the least among us? Hasn’t he already told them that the path of discipleship will consist, not just of demonstrations of power (healing and casting out demons), but also one in which one “must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me.” (8:34) Did they not draw any broader conclusion about the nature of the kingdom in Jesus’ exchange with the rich man (10:17-31)? Continue reading →

Awards Season for Science

Posted on October 8, 2024 by Friar Musings

I think we are all familiar with the entertainment industry awards …. Which seems to go on forever. This month we are in the Nobel Prize season with its announcements across a breadth of topics. But did you know that in the field of science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) it only awards in the categories of physics, chemistry and medicine. Given the specialization and interdisciplinary nature of STEM these days, the Nobel Prize – while prestigious – is not the pinnacle of success for most of the disciplines these days. Continue reading →

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the musings of a Franciscan friar…

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