Gospel Reflections for Challenging Times

  Saturday – 3 rd Week in Ordinary Time Gospel – Mark 4:35-41 Calming The Storm Within Sea of Galilee, Tiberias   I’m holding in my hand an 8oz cup filled with about 4oz of water – what am I going to say next?   Half full?   Half empty?   HAA!   No, actually it doesn’t really matter if it’s half empty or full.   The weight doesn’t matter at all!   What matters is HOW LONG I hold it!   If I hold it for an hour, my arm starts to ache.   If I hold it for a day, you better call for an ambulance!   In every case, it’s the same weight.   But the longer I hold it, the more it weighs me down, the more it hurts! And so it is with stress, with fear, with anxiety!   And let’s face it, we are all stressed about something. Maybe it’s school, or family, or our health, or the world in general.   Maybe it’s the next winter storm to hit the east coast this weekend! Maybe it’s the violence and bloodshed we see in the news on a...

  Friday – 3 rd Week in Ordinary Time Gospel – Mark 4:26-34 Look At Me Now! Planting Seeds, 2006 In spite of all the rush and stress of moving to Tennessee, despite the reorganizing, de-cluttering, simplifying and tossing out of so much ‘stuff’ accumulated over 40 years, we realized it was also a time of growth and transformation.      We came across those long-forgotten boxes of old photographs.   And we spent days looking through them, reminiscing about the old days and reflecting!   Wow, look at me now!   Look at how far I (we) have come!   Look at how much I have grown and changed!   A time of growth and transformation, a time of reflection!   And isn’t that exactly what today’s Gospel is addressing?   You take a seed, even something as small as a mustard seed.   You plant it, it splits, grows, develops, and miraculously transforms into a bud, a flower, a plant, a source of beauty and sustenance.   Growth and ...

  Thursday – 3 rd Week in Ordinary Time Gospel – Mark 4:21-25 Lights Out!! The Road Less Traveled, Heiskell TN My guess is the past week has not been kind to any of us, weather-wise.   And it’s not showing any sign of ending either!   Bitter cold, freezing rain and sleet, and multiple feet of snow in some places.   My brother in upstate New York has 16 inches of new snow this week and they have had measurable snow every day since Christmas.   Here in Tennessee, it’s not so much the snow as the ice!   We only had a dusting of snow, but the freezing rain and ice has really shut everything down for days. There are no such things as straight-line roads down here – serpentine is a better description – ups and downs and tight curves.   It makes for treacherous driving for the brave of heart.   And yet, I have to admit it has been so much quieter around here! But the real worry is loss of power – heavy ice weighing down power lines to the po...