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  Wednesday - 28 th Week in Ordinary Time - revisited Gospel – Luke 11:42-46 All For Show Tristan’s Baptism Back when I was teaching World Religions, I would have this group project where the students acted out a ritual from the religion we were studying, such as a Hindu wedding ceremony or a Buddhist meditation.   For the most part, they did a fabulous job.   But there were a couple of groups who seemed more interested in the visuals and not the substance! They got so caught up in dressing for the part, all flashy and bright, that they completely lacked any depth of understanding. They looked great but there was no ritual, no words or action.   What should have been a good half-hour presentation was over in 5 minutes.   Smoke and mirrors! Jesus continues His condemnation of the Pharisees in today’s Gospel calling them out for the same thing.   You put on a good show publicly paying your taxes for something insignificant and you choose the best sea...
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  Tuesday - 28 th Week in Ordinary Time Gospel – Luke 11:37-41 Tea and Sympathy Dad’s Cup So this is your house-cleaning observation of the day.   Tea Stains Are The Worst!   I know this to be true from first-hand experience.   I’ve taken on a few more chores around the house these last 7 months, washing the dishes being one of them.   And trying to remove tea stains from the inside of a teacup is relentless and unending.   They never seem to go completely away.   It makes me glad I am a coffee guy; otherwise, there would be twice as many teacups to clean.   The outside of the cup – no problem!   But the inside, ugh!   I finally found a dishwasher detergent that worked perfectly.   But then I made the mistake of buying something cheaper – ugh!   Back to square 1 Given today’s Gospel, it makes me wonder if Mary had Jesus do the dishes on a regular basis.   It also makes you wonder why people would keep inviting Him...
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  Monday - 28 th Week in Ordinary Time Gospel – Luke 11:29-32 Give Me A Sign Sign, Mount of Beatitudes   Over 6 years ago, right around this same time of October, we were driving in rural upstate New York to visit my brother and his family and we were hopelessly lost.   It was the dead of night, pitch black on a windy twisty country road, no streetlights, no road signs, no signs of civilization.   GPS wasn’t working; even my ‘male’ sense of direction wasn’t functioning.   It was just a bit terrifying.   Every time we got to an intersection, we wrestled with which way to turn.   All we wanted was a sign, anything, that could lead us where we wanted to go.   Eventually we did reach our destination but not without a lot of backtracking and wrong turns; it was not a journey we would want to repeat. We hear about signs in today’s Gospel but the context is quite different.   The people are asking Jesus for a sign.   Prove yourself...
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