Gospel Reflections for Challenging Times

  Monday – 4th Week of Lent Gospel – John 4:43-54 Cure of the Royal Official’s Son Synagogue at Capernaum   A royal official in today’s Gospel has traveled from his home in Capernaum to find Jesus in Cana.   He makes this journey to ask Jesus to come back to Capernaum to heal his dying son.   It is a distance of 20 miles from Cana to Capernaum, roughly a 2-day trip by foot.   Imagine all the fears and stress he must have gone through on that long trek.   All the worries about his son’s health, the anguish of leaving him and the very real fear of losing him to his illness!   Sound familiar?   Loss, separation, fear, stress, worry?   Haven’t we all been there?   The loss of a loved one after a long and painful illness!   The worry and fear over the sad state of our country and economy!   The stress over the future of our job, our career, our family! And yet the royal official makes the trip!   What in the world ...

  4 th Sunday of Lent Gospel – Luke 15:1-3, 11-32 Dad Always Liked You Best Wailing Wall, Jerusalem There’s an old Jewish story about two adult brothers, each of them a farmer.   The older one was married with 10 children and the younger one was single and had no kids.   The younger one felt sorry for his older brother having to feed all those kids; so, every night he would load up a bag of wheat from his barn and take it to his brother’s barn.   And every night the older brother, worrying about his younger brother growing old and having no one to support him, would also load up a wagon with wheat and place it in his brother’s barn.   Finally, one night they met midway between their barns, realized what was happening, and they embraced! That is certainly not the case in the story of the Prodigal Son.   The older son harbors resentment and anger toward his brother for wasting his inheritance and his father for welcoming him back with open arms...