Today, I’d like to use a car analogy to describe God’s role in our lives. He designed andmanufactured us and in today’s readings he operates as our mechanic. A good mechanicconsiders the conditions a car is exposed to, how the driver responds to those conditions,identifies what might fail, and then offers options for keeping the…
Jesus guides us on an adventure where even the faintest light can vanquish the darkest shadows to celebrate life with a joyous feast. At first sight, the main characters in the parable come across as disorienting.The bridegroom with his exaggerated tardiness.The five foolish ones have lamps but no spare oil.The wise ones refuse to help…
This Sunday’s Gospel burns the lips of all those “who often say and do not do,” perhaps believers but not yet entirely credible. God’s word sheds a challenging examination that involves everyone, for no one can say they are exempt from the inconsistency between saying and doing. Is the Gospel a severely demanding, unattainable project?…
Someone has a question for Jesus: Teacher, what is the greatest commandment? The core directive, the law that simplifies life and goes straight to the essentials? Jesus doesn’t hesitate and loudly lets his inner inspiration sum it up in a phrase: “You shall love” — a verb in the future tense, indicating a never-ending action…
God is great! Amen!? (Amen). Our psalm today says, “Awesome is he, beyond all gods. For all the gods of the nations are things of nought, but the LORD made the heavens.” Finally, it says, “Give to the LORD glory and praise; give to the LORD the glory DUE his name!” Read all
This Sunday’s gospel portrays a group coming to Jesus and asking him a cunning question, wishing to trigger hatred and enemies: is it lawful or not to pay taxes to Rome? They are partisans of Herod, the Idumean puppet king put in place by Rome; together are the Pharisees, who dream of a theocracy under…
The Gospel reiterates that the backbone of faith is the gift, and at the source, “THE” original gift: “If you knew the gift of God!” Today’s parable tells it well: there is a feast in town, the most important of feasts, the king’s son is getting married. Religion breathes the air of festivity; its source…
Jesus loved vineyards: he firmly said: I am the vine, and you are the branches (John 15:5). But the weekend Gospel presents a blood harvest, with evil characters plotting Jesus’ death: “This is the heir; come, let us kill him.” God’s love does not give up through the parable, and three times, after each disappointment,…
Today’s readings come from times of turmoil. We start the first reading with the words, “The Lord’s way in not fair!” Paul writes the second reading from his prison cell, facing the possibility of death, not unlike the death of Jesus. Paul talks to the Church of Philippi with some of the strongest words in…
The first son in the gospel repented and went to work. Wait! What did he repent of? Of saying no to his Father? Matthew says he “converted and transformed” his way of seeing things. His worldview had shifted in a revealing path toward the Father, the vineyard, and his obedience. It is no longer his…