Gospel Reflections for Challenging Times

  Thursday – 17 th Week in Ordinary Time First Reading – Exodus 40:16-21,34-38 Gospel – Matthew 13:47-53 Ad Majoriem Dei Gloriam Mount of Beatitudes I have a certain fondness and attachment to Loyola University of Chicago.   It’s where I earned my Bachelor’s degree in Classical Languages and Education and my Master’s degree in Religious Education.   It’s where I began my career in education – first as a clerk in the Registrar’s Office, then Assistant Registrar and finally Assistant Dean in the College of Arts and Sciences.   Of course, none of that compares with the fact that it is also where Ginger and I met for the first time in the LSGA Office.   And the rest, they say, is history. Which makes today all the more special; it’s the Feast of St. Ignatius Loyola, founder of the Jesuit order, patron saint of soldiers, retreats and, most importantly, education!   It took a long period of recovery from wounds suffered as a soldier for him to turn awa...

  Wednesday – 17 th Week in Ordinary Time Gospel – Matthew 13:44-46 The Treasure Within Altar Server Training When I was little, what mattered most to me were my toys – my games, my models, action figures and toy cap guns.   They were my treasures – all those toys waiting for me under the Christmas tree!   As I grew older, things changed.   I met Ginger, we dated, we married!   And Ginger became my treasure!   3 years later, Jaime was born and that little bundle of joy became our treasure!   I began my 40-year career as a teacher, and all those students became my treasure!   Jaime married Josh.   And he became my son, my treasure!   Grandsons followed and Tyler and Nate became my treasure! Let’s face it!   Many of those ‘treasures’ were never really treasures in the truest sense of the word.   They didn’t last; they focused on the wrong things.   Others, my relationships, my friendships, my loves – they continue t...

  Tuesday– Feast of St. Martha, Mary and Lazarus      Gospel – John 11:19-27, Luke 10:38-42 Family Matters Papal Mass, Edmonton July 2022   You will pardon me if I reflect on where I was 3 years ago this week!   Those 7 days in July still remain a bit of a blur!   On that Wednesday I headed to Louisiana for a 4-day Tekakwitha Conference, an annual gathering of Native Catholic communities in the US and Canada.   Because of COVID, it was the first opportunity to gather in person in the past 3 years.   Needless to say, it was a wonderful chance to reconnect with old friends and to forge new bonds for the future. We returned from the conference late on Sunday night, just before midnight.   And then I headed right back to O’Hare 5 hours later to fly out to Edmonton Alberta to attend Pope Francis’ Mass of Healing and Reconciliation for the Native Peoples in memory of the tragedy of the Residential Schools.   And then I r...