Reflections

We believe that Jesus Christ, the Divine Word, God, was born of the Virgin Mary and entered our human condition. Why? Certainly, to show God’s love for us and to give us the truth of God.  I asked that question to a group of people a few weeks ago and a young woman responded, “For Salvation.”  I find that young people frequently come up with one-word answers that make a lot of sense. Salvation means going to heaven after we die, but…

Jesus wants us to be humble. When we are humble, we know that the gifts we have come from God. Let us see ourselves as we are, accepting our faults and limitations, and knowing God loves us unconditionally. Today, Sirach tells us that “The prayer of the lowly pierces the clouds; it does not rest till it reaches its goal, nor will it withdraw till the Most High responds.” When we humble ourselves to serve the needs of others, our…

There is a universal experience in life of feeling that something is missing.  Even in the absence of crises (health, financial, etc.)  people tend to have a vague feeling that things are not quite right, not quite complete.  A Harris Pole (Harris Poll Happiness index, 2017) found that over two-thirds of Americans are dissatisfied with their lives.  We could reasonably presume that the “happy” one-third are pragmatists, “This is as good as it gets.”  This sense of human unease sparked…

Growing weary of prayer is a temptation addressed in this week’s Scripture readings.   Moses literally grows tired as he holds up the staff of God, praying for protection as the Israelites battle Amalek’s army.  If Moses rests his arms, Amalek gets the advantage.  If Moses keeps his arms raised to God, the Israelites prevail.  Poignantly, Moses’ comrades come to his aid, supporting his arms until the battle is won. Unlike Moses we often do not see such immediate results from…

We all know the story.  The Israelites, children of Abraham, are slaves in Egypt.  God has Moses lead them out of captivity to the land God had promised to Abraham.  But there is a catch, isn’t there always a catch?  The road from captivity to the promise is long, difficult and dangerous.  Around 2000 BC the Amalekites were a nomadic people in the Negev, what is now the southern part of Israel, a boundary between the Sinai Peninsula and Jordan. …

Where do we hear God speaking to us?  I hope we all think immediately of the bible, the inspired Word of God.  Immediately after that we should think of the Mass.  After all, God only speaks one Word, Jesus Christ, and we encounter Christ at Mass in the Eucharist.  We always begin Mass with readings from Sacred Scripture, to hear God speaking to us in human language.  We need to realize, though, that in any Mass the Scripture readings we…