Gospel Reflections for Challenging Times

Monday - 16 th  Week in Ordinary Time Gospel –  Matthew 12:38-42 What’s Your Sign? Sign, Mount of the Beatitudes In case you haven’t noticed, we live in a world of signs!    Traffic signs and price tags, for sale signs, detour and animal crossings! And remember how much more dependent we were on signs during Covid.    Shops had only one entrance and one exit door.    There were one-way signs for the aisles in grocery stores.    Arrows to direct us which way to go to communion in church and signs to warn us about wearing masks! And even today, if you look carefully, you can still see faded images on the floor – 6 feet apart! Signs!    They protect us, provide us with information, they give us direction.    And in today’s Gospel, that is exactly what the Scribes and Pharisees are looking for from Jesus!    Give Us A Sign!!    Show us the way!    Show us who you really are!    Prov...

  16 th  Sunday in Ordinary Time Gospel – Matthew 13:24-30 Be Patient, My Child Tied Up in Knots!   Many years ago, I remember one summer when it was time for our daughter Jaime to learn how to ride a bicycle.  So I took off the training wheels, she climbed onto the bike and proceeded to take off.  I followed close behind, holding onto the back bumper, trying to keep the bike upright and trying to make sure she didn’t fall.  It was exhausting for both of us.  I thought I was being a good dad by doing everything I could to keep her from falling.  But it didn’t work.  We were both getting frustrated.  Finally, she had had enough and she banished me to sit on the front porch while she worked it out on her own.  It took time and it took a lot of patience, something neither one of us had much of at the start of the process. I was getting impatient with the process and she was getting impatient with me.  Patience was in short supply....

Saturday - 15th Week in Ordinary Time Gospel – Matthew 12:14-21 No Rest for the Weary  St. Joseph’s Church, Nazareth We have all had one of those ‘endless’ days!  What started out as a relatively normal, calm day turned into more work, more stress, more demands to carry out.  And it wasn’t just work; it was also people asking for help, people you couldn’t and wouldn’t say no to.  So you just let it pile on.  That evening when you got home. you thought you had those last few hours of the day to put your feet up and relax and just catch your breath.  And then the phone rings, you need to help getting dinner on the table, help the kids with homework, corralling them into bed and then start planning for the next day. Now don’t get me wrong; many of those commitments were done willingly and out of love because you just can’t say no and you truly want to help.  But at the end of the (every) day, you are exhausted. And so it is for Jesus in today’s Gospel....

 Friday – 15th Week in Ordinary Time Gospel – Matthew 12:1-8 Apples and Grain Father Judge Mission Seminary Back when I was in the seminary (Father Judge) in Monroe, Virginia, in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains, we would spend a lot of our free time just wandering along all the country roads in the area.  I especially loved the hikes in the autumn when the apple orchards were ready for harvest.  We would always carry along a bag or two and grab as many apples as we could manage.  Was that “kosher”?  Not really!  Did we know we were stealing?  Sure!  And there were plenty of times when we ‘almost’ got caught.  The Apostles (looking for a snack, I guess), in today’s Gospel, are caught picking grain on the Sabbath.  The law is clear: no work on the Sabbath and picking grain qualifies as work.  Jesus reminds the Pharisees that there have been exceptions to the rule in the past, particularly King David.  And He tries to te...

  Thursday – 15th Week in Ordinary Time  Gospel – Matthew 11:28-30 Share the Load! Sharing a Moment We all have our burdens; we are all weighed down with cares and stress and worries for ourselves, our family, and our world.    We all trudge through long days and sleepless nights, wondering when we will find a break from the load and relief from the hardships. In today’s Gospel, Jesus tells us to bring our troubles to Him and He will give us rest.   Ok, sounds good.   But then He says to take on HIS yoke because His yoke is easy and light and we will find rest.   Seriously??   His yoke is easy?   Let go of my burden and take on His?   How is that gonna be any better?   Are we missing something here?   Well, of course we are! Unlike Jesus’ followers, most of us lack simple farming experience; we simply don’t realize that a yoke is meant for TWO oxen!   And that is the crux of Jesus’ words today.   The yoke is n...

Wednesday – St. Bonaventure    Gospel – Matthew 11:25-27 Carrying the Load St. Joseph Church, Norris TN The social hall here at St. Joseph Church in Norris, TN also doubles as the overflow area for Sunday Masses.   We just set up folding chairs to handle the crowd,   And during the summer months, we do get a lot of “lake people’, visitors spending their vacation in the area.   It’s an unwritten rule that, after Mass, everyone folds up their chair and puts it away, clearing the hall in a matter of minutes.   Last Sunday, after Mass, I noticed one little boy, probably 3 or 4 years old, dutifully fold his chair and store it away.   What impressed me was that no one directed him to do it; he just went about the task like normal.   Mind you, that chair was easily a foot taller than him.   And yet he just dragged it like it was nothing.   Such a good example for all of us.   He did his share; he shouldered the burden easily and ha...