After two and a half years spent with Jesus, walking along paths and villages, Jesus opens an opinion poll with his disciples: What do people say about me? The people’s opinion is exemplary about the Rabbi: You have the voice that opens my heart; you sound like many great prophets, a lover of God. Jesus…
The woman of the scraps, the pagan Canaanite woman, surprises and challenges Jesus: she turns him from the master of Israel to the shepherd of all those in sorrow worldwide. An indomitable woman does not give up; like any true mother, she thinks of her child and gets closer to Jesus. She throws herself to…
Commitment. It’s a foundation of our faith and a theme that runs through all of today’sreadings. God is famous for the commitments between Himself and his people. We see thisthroughout the Old Testament in the various covenants. For example, in Jeremiah a newcovenant is proclaimed, “I will be their God and they shall be my…
Jesus used two similar parables to vividly depict faith’s beauty, similar to when the sun rises silently to create a golden background. He evokes treasures and pearls, beautiful and unusual terms in our relationship with God. It is the language of novels and pirates; in those adventures, we usually don’t find priests or liturgies, first…
Good and evil, good seed and bad weeds have taken root in my turf: My heart seems to be a battleground for the opposing forces of life and death. And from that reality, the Lord Jesus develops one of his most beautiful parables to guide me on my inner journey in God’s style. My first…
Out of the living voice of Jesus, we hear parables. Listening to them is like listening to the murmur of the spring, the initial, fresh, springing moment of the Gospel. The parables are not an afterthought or an exception but the highest, most brilliant, refined tip of Jesus’ language. He loved the lake, the wheat…
Happy summer to all of you, especially those who are visiting St James. We’ve been blessedwith local sunshine today and hopefully you’ve had a chance to enjoy it. In our gospel, Jesus says, “Come to me, all who labor, and are burdened, and I will give yourest.“ This is a time of year when we…
The Gospel records one of those sudden roadblocks that ignited Jesus’ words with wonder. The source of divine joy stemmed from the little ones, the children, the women, the simple of heart, and the poor because when God moves nimbly, they immediately get it. In the Bible, God’s economy of littleness supports those often overlooked.…
He who loses his life finds it. Play on words between losing and finding; an essential paradox found six times on Jesus’ lips. We understand that to lose is not letting life slip away or go astray but actively giving it away. As one does with a gift, with treasure spent drop by drop. I…
“Do not be afraid, fear no one, do not be frightened.” Jesus opposes fear three times this Sunday, but instead of proposing courage, he signals faith, as when the Master shocked his frail disciples one stormy night: “Why are you afraid? Do you still have no faith?” (Mk. 4:40). We believe faith is the antidote…