Gospel Reflections for Challenging Times

  Tuesday – 1 st Week of Lent    Gospel – Matthew 6:7-15 Babbling On! Church of the Holy Sepulchre A grandfather was walking through his yard when he heard his grandson repeating the alphabet in a tone of voice that sounded like prayer.   He asked him what he was doing.   The little boy explained.   “I’m praying but I can’t think of exactly the right words, so I’m just saying all the letters and God will put them together for me because He knows what I’m thinking! God hears our prayers!   God hears our heart!   Sometimes in prayer we use words!   Sometimes we pray in the quiet of our heart.   Sometimes the words get confused and jumbled!   Sometimes we just can’t find the words!   God knows! He always knows! And so in today’s Gospel, Jesus gives us His words of prayer, our primary prayer of faith to Our Father!   It is a prayer of a common faith; we use the word “OUR”!   It is meant to unite us all with our Father in heaven! Every nation in the world, every culture

  Monday – 1 st Week of Lent    Gospel – Matthew 25:31-46 Do’s and Don’ts Magdala Don’t play with matches!   Don’t hit your brother!   Don’t play in the mud!   Don’t steal cookies from the pantry!   Don’t make that face at me!   Don’t run in the house!   Don’t’ lie to me!   And the list goes on and on.   We all recognize it – that long list of parental rules which, truth be told, we had to be reminded of daily before it finally (hopefully) sunk in.   From the perspective of our childhood memory, it seemed as if being a good person meant I just had to avoid evil.   If it really was that simple, then couldn’t I just lock myself away from the world, avoid all contact with others and then the problem is solved!   No one else around to cheat or steal from!   That is what we hear in today’s first reading from Leviticus.   “You shall not steal.   You shall not lie or speak falsely to one another. You shall not swear falsely by my name, thus profaning the name of your God.   You

  1 st Sunday of Lent        Gospel – Matthew 4:1-11 A Desert Experience Masada, Judean Desert Near the Dead Sea A King was growing old and knew it was time to choose his successor. Instead of choosing one of his children, he invited all the young people from his kingdom and told them,    "I am going to give each one of you a seed today – one very special seed. I want you to plant the seed, water it, and come back here one year from today with what you have grown from this seed. I will then judge the plants that you bring, and, based on your efforts, I will choose the next ruler  One of the boys went home and excitedly told his mother the story. She helped him get a pot filled with soil, and he planted the seed and watered it carefully. Every day, he would water it and watch to see if it had grown. After about three weeks, some of the other youths began to talk about their seeds and the plants that were beginning to grow. He kept checking his seed, but nothing ever

  Saturday after Ash Wednesday Gospel – Luke 5:27-32 Heal Me! Anointing Stone, Church of Holy Sepulchre It’s impossible for me to read today’s Gospel (Those who are healthy do not need a physician, but the sick do) and not immediately think about the words of Pope Francis: “The thing the church needs most today is the ability to heal wounds and to warm the hearts of the faithful; it needs nearness, proximity. I see the church as a field hospital after battle. It is useless to ask a seriously injured person if he has high cholesterol and about the level of his blood sugars! You have to heal his wounds. Then we can talk about everything else. Heal the wounds, heal the wounds. ... And you have to start from the ground up.   “ A Big Heart Open to God ,” America magazine Sept. 19, 2013. I wonder how often we delude ourselves and think – I am healthy!   I am not like those other ‘sick’ ones!   How often do we, consciously or unconsciously, put ourselves in the role of the P