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  Thursday – 9 th Week in Ordinary Time Gospel – Mark 12:28-34 Love is the Answer, and the Question Church of Transfiguration, Mt Tabor Finally!   A Pharisee asking Jesus an honest question and actually agreeing with His answer!   There are 616 precepts in Jewish Law and asking Jesus which one is the greatest is probably asking for trouble.   Jesus’ answer perfectly sums it all up.   Why obey all those precepts?   Love, love is the answer.   I obey the law because I love the law-giver – God!   Because I want the relationship to be strong and to flourish. It’s that love of a parent for a child, the willingness to get up in the middle of the night to give them a glass of water even though you were sleeping soundly.   It’s a love that goes out of its way to comfort them when they are sick or skinned their knee.   It’s a love that joyfully shares in their laughter even when you have a long list of jobs to do around the house.  ...
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  Wednesday – 9 th Week in Ordinary Time Gospel – Mark 12:18-27 1 Bride for 7 Brothers? Wedding Chapel, Cana Hypocrisy – Round 2!   Today it’s the Sadducees turn to try and get under Jesus’ skin by asking a ridiculous question about heaven.   What if a woman ended up marrying 7 men (brothers)?   Then to whom is she married when she gets to heaven?   It reminds me of grade school religion class when we would play ‘stump the teacher’!   If God is all-powerful, can He make so big and heavy that He can’t lift it???? Let’s be clear; the Sadducees don’t even want an answer from Jesus; they just want to make Him look foolish.   They don’t even believe in a resurrection.   And that, I think, is the point.   Their only focus is on this life. They believe there is nothing after death.   They believe that any reward or punishment happens to us in this life, not the next.   So they can only conceive of heaven in human terms, in terms o...
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  Tuesday – 9 th Week in Ordinary Time Gospel - Mark12:13-17 Flipping the Coin Garden in Cana There was a man who kept a garden in his backyard and every year would grow a variety of vegetables to help feed his family.   But one year, for whatever reason, his garden completely failed, nothing grew at all.   And yet his neighbor, his good friend, had an abundant harvest, loads of tomatoes, zucchini, etc.   So, in his frustration and upset, he decided to steal from his neighbor.    So late one night he went out into the darkness to steal from his neighbor’s garden. But he didn’t go alone; he took along his little boy to keep a look-out in case anyone should come along. The man jumped over the fence with a large bag on his arm, and before commencing to take the corn he looked all around to make sure no one was watching, first to the left and then to the right, behind him and in front, and not seeing anyone, he was just about to start filling his bag. ...