May those who sow in tears reap with shouts of joy! – Psalm 126:5 Alleluia! The season of Easter joy has arrived! Jesus promised His disciples that although He would suffer and die and they would have to hide while mourning Him, their suffering would be replaced with joy. Jesus told His disciples: “Truly, truly, I say to you, you will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice; you will be sorrowful, but your…
Then Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you. Go, and from now on do not sin any more.” – John 8:11 As I watch the Gospel scene of the woman caught in adultery (John 8:1-11) play out in my imagination, I notice the looks on the people’s faces. The Pharisees and scribes who brought the woman look judgmental and disgusted. They “forced her to stand in their midst.” Imagine her trapped there between all these…
I will get up and go to my Father and shall say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. – Luke 15:18 Have you ever felt like the prodigal son, far away from home? I have. Like the prodigal son, I had to listen to my conscience and come to my senses (cf. Luke 15:17). I knew I had the open arms of the Church to come home to, and I…
What’s going on with the barren fig tree in today’s Gospel? It’s growing in an orchard and a gardener cares for it. It should have everything it needs to bear fruit, but it’s barren. So what’s the problem? When the orchard owner tells the gardener to cut down the barren tree, the gardener asks him to spare it: “Sir, leave it for this year also, and I shall cultivate the ground around it and fertilize…
Jesus took Peter, John, and James and went up the mountain to pray. – Luke 9:28 In today’s Gospel passage, Jesus took his closest disciples to pray in the quiet of the mountains. Our world is so noisy and full of information. Lent is an ideal time for cultivating quiet in order to draw closer to God. Personally, I am trying to quiet some noise in my own life, so I made a list to…
Filled with the Holy Spirit, Jesus returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the desert for forty days, to be tempted by the devil. – Luke 4:1 Lent has arrived, and we are sent into the desert with Christ. Jesus was led by the Holy Spirit into the desert in order to be tempted. This can be a scary thought. What will be my temptations during this Lent? Will I be…
…from the fullness of the heart the mouth speaks – Luke 6:45 This scripture passage is convicting to me. It’s not enough to “watch my mouth” and try to limit my speaking only to what is true, good, and beautiful. I must think about what is true, good, and beautiful first. Even before that, this makes me realize that the types of things that I “plant” in my mind will bear fruit in my thoughts,…
Just as we have borne the image of the earthly one, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly one. – 1 Corinthians 15:49 Imagine an artist creates a clay sculpture of a person. It bears a striking resemblance to the model it was sculpted after. Now imagine that the sculpture was damaged in an earthquake. It toppled and fell to the floor. It was not entirely broken, for it still bears resemblance to…
Blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord, whose hope is the Lord. He is like a tree planted beside the waters that stretches out its roots to the stream: it fears not the heat when it comes; its leaves stay green; in the year of drought it shows no distress, but still bears fruit. – Jeremiah 17:7-8 In mid-February, I start daydreaming about being outside working in my garden or taking walks under…
Once you begin to read the Old Testament with the New Testament in mind (and vice versa) you start to see the amazing ways that these two parts of the Bible connect to each other. One way to interpret our first reading, “The Call of Isaiah,” is as a powerful prefigurement of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. Isaiah sees the Lord on His throne surrounded by a choir of angels singing, “Holy, holy, holy…