Turning point

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Next Sunday is the celebration of the 22nd Sunday in Ordinary Time. You can read a complete commentary on the Gospel here.

21 From that time on, Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer greatly from the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed and on the third day be raised. 22 Then Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, “God forbid, Lord! No such thing shall ever happen to you.” 23 He turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are an obstacle to me. You are thinking not as God does, but as human beings do.” 24 Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me. 25 For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. 26 What profit would there be for one to gain the whole world and forfeit his life? Or what can one give in exchange for his life? 27 For the Son of Man will come with his angels in his Father’s glory, and then he will repay everyone according to his conduct. 28 Amen, I say to you, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom.” (Matthew 16:21-27) Continue reading →

What good can come…

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Today is the Feast of St. Bartholomew, Apostle. We know very little about the saint other than In the New Testament where Bartholomew is mentioned in the lists of the apostles. Some scholars identify him with Nathanael, a man of Cana in Galilee who was summoned to Jesus by Philip. It is thought that Jesus paid him a great compliment: “Here is a true child of Israel. There is no duplicity in him” (John 1:47). The encounter continues with some unmentioned event that lead Nathanael to exclaim, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God; you are the King of Israel” (John 1:49). Jesus promised even great revelations. Those revelations drove him to mission. The Roman Martyrology says he preached in India and Greater Armenia, where he was flayed and beheaded, dying a martyr’s death.  Many of the images of the saint show him with the skin of his body and legs, flayed open. Very gruesome. Continue reading →

A question for a lifetime

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“Who do you say that I am?” It seems like one of those “fish-or-cut-bait” moments, doesn’t it? Peter and the disciples have been with Jesus several years now.  They have heard the sermons, listened to Jesus open up the deeper meaning of the Commandments, witnessed the miracles large and small, seen all the people healed, restored, and heard the amazing words of forgiveness and love. Wouldn’t it seem as though they have had enough time to know Jesus in a deep, intimate, and personal way? Continue reading →

Bourbon and the Spiritual Life

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(This is a reprint of a column from last year.  In these days a good bourbon augmenting the Spiritual Life seemed somehow appropriate – Fr George)

Bardstown, Kentucky, is not a large town; the population is only 12,000 or so. It was the first center of Roman Catholicism west of the Appalachian Mountains in the original western frontier territories of the United States. The Diocese of Bardstown was established on Feb. 8, 1808, by Pope Pius VII to serve all Catholics west of the Appalachians. The diocese served Kentucky, Ohio, Michigan, Wisconsin, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Missouri, and parts of other states. This area is now served by 44 dioceses and archdioceses across 10 states. Bardstown and the local surrounds are home to the Basilica of St. Joseph (the first Cathedral before the diocese center moved to Louisville), the Sisters of Loretto Motherhouse and the Abbey of Our Lady of Gethsemane, the Trappist monastery that was home to Thomas Merton. If that weren’t enough, several distilleries operate in and around the Bardstown area, including Jim Beam, Heaven Hill, Barton 1792 and Maker’s Mark, among others, and thus the town is known as the Bourbon Capital of the World. And perhaps bourbon and the spiritual life are connected and not just a consequence of history. Continue reading →

The Wisdom of Generosity

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In the well known parable of today’s gospel, the landowner goes out to secure laborers for the harvest. At the end of the day, all laborers are paid the same regardless of the time of day at which their labor began. Some complain that they worked from sunrise, while the ones who only began day’s end are paid the same. This has been a week of teachings on wisdom and riches…. what is today’s lesson?

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Eye of the Needle

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In today’s gospel we have the famous expression: “Amen, I say to you, it will be hard for one who is rich to enter the Kingdom of heaven. Again I say to you, it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for one who is rich to enter the Kingdom of God” It is a continuation of the encounter with the rich young man of yesterday’s gospel.   In other form, the expression also appears in the Jewish Talmud and in Qur’an 7:40: “Indeed, those who deny Our verses and are arrogant toward them – the gates of Heaven will not be opened for them, nor will they enter Paradise until a camel enters into the eye of a needle.” Continue reading →

What choices will we make?

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Next Sunday is the celebration of the 21st Sunday in Ordinary Time. You can read a complete commentary on the Gospel here.

13 When Jesus went into the region of Caesarea Philippi he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?”14 They replied, “Some say John the Baptist, others Elijah, still others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.”15 He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?”16 Simon Peter said in reply, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.”17 Jesus said to him in reply, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah. For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my heavenly Father.18 And so I say to you, you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against it.19 I will give you the keys to the kingdom of heaven.  Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.”20 Then he strictly ordered his disciples to tell no one that he was the Messiah. (Matthew 16:13-20)
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The Wisdom of Riches

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Today’s gospel is a familiar one: “Teacher, what good must I do to gain eternal life?” Jesus answers him, citing familiar words from the Commandments. “All of these I have observed. What do I still lack?”  Jesus responds: “If you wish to be perfect, go, sell what you have and give to the poor,…” And the young rich man goes away sad as he had many possessions.

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Leaning

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These days there are lots of ways in which we get our news – the classics: the evening news and the daily newsprint. The more modern 24-hour television and radio news – and even that gives way to the online, instant news that is a click away, a pop-up notification or just a swipe away.  While the modality changes, these days what is common is that each is a venue in our hunger for good news. Perhaps “hunger” does not describe our condition. These days we are starving for good news as we are offered an unending buffet of devastating headlines about the pandemic, the economy, Beirut, civil war, the rise of intolerance, … all fueled by rumor, innuendo, and the well-placed lie …. I could go on. Continue reading →

Explaining God…

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…is something that has eluded the best of humanity who would try to explain. The good folks at The Bible Project offer that Scripture has been describing God for us since the opening verses of Genesis. They “connect the dots” for us to explain that you can’t explain, but you can well describe. It strikes me that is perhaps at the core of the most human of endeavors. We don’t “explain” the love of our life; we describe. And so “description” is perhaps the best language for approaching God and entering God’s all embracing love.

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