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  Monday – 19 th Week in Ordinary Time Gospel – Matthew 17:22-27 Rubber Duckies Fishing on Sea of Galilee In case you missed it, this past Thursday over 75,000 little yellow rubber duckies were dumped into the Chicago River.   As part of an annual fundraiser for Special Olympics Illinois, each duckie was individually ‘adopted’ and, in the process, over $450,000 was raised to support the organization’s efforts.   The first few duckies to cross the finish line earned prizes like a new car, vacations and cruises.   There is a certain humor to the event when you see this huge truck dumping them into the river.   And maybe that’s the point. In the midst of all the violence and suffering in the city (and the world), it gives us the chance to step aside from all the worry and stress and just smile at the absurdity of it all.   Maybe it’s a reminder that, from time to time, we all need a moment of humor and comedy to lighten the mood! And maybe that is what’s going on in tod
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  19 th Sunday in Ordinary Time Gospel – Luke12: 32-48 Be Prepared! Zucchini Bread Growing up in the rural farmland of Southern Maryland, we never had the chance to join the Boy Scouts.   So we never specifically learned the motto – Be Prepared!   We were 4H kids through and through, learning to be good citizens and learning how to grow and cultivate potatoes and Japanese yews, for example.   I can still remember harvesting our little plot of potatoes and then the joy of ‘selling’ them to my Dad for him to sell in his country store.   After he subtracted the original cost of the seeds, fertilizer, and a few other things, my brother and I earned a whole 25 cents each.   Of course, we immediately spent it on candy/ice cream in the store!   Wow! Granted that wasn’t much of a profit but there were plenty of lessons learned, not the least of which was all the time and effort necessary to produce a crop - the daily care and weeding, and the tilling of the soil.   It wasn’t jus
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  Saturday – Feast of the Transfiguration Gospel – Luke 9:28b-36 Coming DOWN the Mountain View from Mount Tabor In the Old Testament, mountains are mentioned over 500 times. It was a place where you encountered the divine, where you were closer to God.   Mount Ararat – where Noah’s ark came to rest and God made   the first covenant.   Mt. Sinai where Moses met God, received Ten Commandments and his face shone white.   The Mount of Olives where Jesus often went to pray.   Mount Zion where the Temple was built.   Mount Hebron where God makes his covenant with Abram.   Mount of Beatitudes on the shores of the Sea of Galilee, where Jesus gave us the New Law.   And Mount Tabor where today’s Gospel story of the Transfiguration takes place. Mount Tabor is a very high, very steep mountain; it has a treacherous, windy, switch-back road with no guard rails, barely enough room for 1 vehicle, much less 2-way traffic.   It is better experienced with your eyes shut.   But the view fro
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  Friday – 18 th Week in Ordinary Time Gospel – Matthew 16:24-28 This Is Gonna Get Messy Via Dolorosa, Jerusalem Apparently we are living in an age of superheroes.   Avengers, Justice League, Guardians of the Galaxy, just to name a few!   Only last week, Marvel Studios announced plans for at least 15 more Avenger movies.   For me, this brings me back to childhood and my fascination with comic books.   My dad always had a stack of them for sale in his store.   Whenever he received a new supply, I got the chance to read them all before they went on sale.   Lucky me!   What occurs to me, though, is that in all those comics, no matter what battle Superman, Batman, or Green Lantern (my favorite) were engaged in, at the end of the conflict, they always looked perfect – no splatters on their uniform, no rips, no tears, nothing out of place!   It was never a messy universe that these heroes lived in!   If only! Life is hard.   I don’t really need to tell you this.   Unless
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