Gospel Reflections for Challenging Times

  Friday – 12 th Week in Ordinary Time Gospel – Matthew 8:1-4 Father Knows Best Chapel at Magdala At some point in our lives, we have probably had that unfortunate experience of wanting something a bit too much.   Maybe it was a toy, a new bike, fancy sneakers, whatever.   And we were willing to do anything to get it – even throw a nice little tantrum in public to get our point across. I did that once for a bright red sweater that I thought I just had to have. And I sulked and pouted in the store until I got what I wanted.   Not very proud of that!   In the end, I probably only wore that sweater a couple of times before I got tired of it. In today’s Gospel, we have a leper who only wants one thing – to be cured.   But his approach is not that of a little kid.   First of all, He approaches Jesus!   Jesus performs a lot of miracles in the Gospels but, the majority of the time, it is Jesus approaching the afflicted person.   And ...

  Thursday – Feast of Sts. Peter and Paul Gospel – Matthew 16:13-19 Who Are You? Capernaum   Who are you?   No, I don’t mean the theme song from CSI!   I mean, if someone asked you who you are, how would you answer?   Some would respond simply with their name.   Others might say I’m a father, a wife, a son, grandma, cousin, or friend.   Still others might say teacher, police officer, carpenter, lawyer, nurse, student, bus driver, web designer, or athlete. No matter what the answer, each response speaks of a relationship, a connection to others.   Each response ties us to others in unique and personal ways.   None of us live in isolation; we all live in relationship with others. Jesus asks a similar question in today’s Gospel.   Who do people say I am?   Some say John the Baptist reborn, or Elijah or Jeremiah or a prophet.   Jesus then asks - who do YOU say I am?   And it’s Peter who responds – You are the Chr...

  Wednesday – 12 th Week in Ordinary Time     Gospel – Matthew 7: 15-20 Bad Fruit! Mt. Carmel, Galilee We did some grocery shopping the other day, normal stuff – milk, eggs, zucchini(of course) butter, potatoes and strawberries.   A few days later we opened the container of strawberries and they had already gone bad!   They certainly looked fine when we bought them but all it took was one spoiled berry (that we couldn’t see) to spoil the whole package.   Yuck!   We thought they were all good to eat but we were wrong.   All it takes is one bad apple (strawberry)! It happens that way with friends sometimes too, unfortunately!   That one friend we confided in, trusted in, shared our deepest secrets, and valued their advice and counsel and then they turn around and bad-mouth us behind our back and betray our confidences.   That person we considered a good friend turned out to be false!   In today’s Gospel, Jesus caut...

  Tuesday – 12 th Week in OrdinaryTime     Gospel – Matthew 7:6, 12-14 It Ain’t Easy Being…….Christian Door of Humility, Bethlehem   I consider myself a half-way decent handyman, not great but I manage.   I try to get things done, get things fixed.   And during our Covid year when the entire world hunkered down at home, I certainly had time to really tackle my honey-do list.   But on occasion, I tried to cut corners, to do a quick patch job, and then I paid for it farther down the line.   I slap some paint on a window sill but neglect to scrape and prime the area first.   And then months later, that same window sill needs painting again after my quick job flakes away. We all wish life was easy, manageable, predictable, but that just isn’t the case.   Life is hard; living is hard.   And any attempt to rush through it ends up eventually slapping us in the face. Snap out of it!   This is what Jesus addresses in tod...

  Monday – 12 th Week in Ordinary Time Gospel – Matthew 7:1-5 Stop Judging! Synagogue Church, Nazareth An old man meets a young man who asks:   “Do you remember me?” And the old man says no. Then the young man tells him he was his student, And the teacher asks: “What do you do, what do you do in life?”   The young man answers: “Well, I became a teacher.” “ah, how good, like me?” Asks the old man. “Well, yes. In fact, I became a teacher because you inspired me to be like you.”   The old man, curious, asks the young man at what time he decided to become a teacher. And the young man tells him the following story: “One day, a friend of mine, also a student, came in with a nice new watch, and I decided I wanted it. I stole it, I took it out of his pocket. Shortly after, my friend noticed the his watch was missing and immediately complained to our teacher, who was you. Then you addressed the class saying, ‘This student's watch was stolen during classe...