Thanksgiving is a good symbol of the three day Vatican Conference I attended last week. Thanksgiving is the one holiday that all can enjoy no matter what faith we have. People travel great distances just to be together on that day, and the dinner table is famous for having all kinds of different people at […]
Gospel Reflections for November 9 2014: Feast of St. John Lateran
Gospel Reflections for November 9 2014 The first reading has a compelling image of a massive flood of water pouring out in all directions from the Temple in Jerusalem. This is good news? When I see anything like that I call a plumber, but here the image is a positive metaphor for God’s abundantly flowing […]
Gospel Reflections for November 2 2014: All Saints and All Souls Day
Gospel Reflections for November 2 2014 What about our loved ones who have died? Are they in Heaven? We hope so! Can we know for sure? Well …we can’t, but we can surely pray for them. The only people the Church makes any claim at all about heavenly status are the saints, and only after […]
Gospel Reflections for October 26 2014: 30th Sunday in Ordinary Time
Gospel Reflections for October 26 2014 Religion can become quite complicated at times. I am grateful when someone tries to keep it simple, truthful, and direct. That happens in this Sunday’s Gospel. A man approaches Jesus and simply asks “What is the greatest commandment of all?” What a great question! The man just wants Jesus […]
Gospel Reflections for October 19th 2014: 29th Sunday in Ordinary Time
Gospel Reflections for October 19th 2014 Who likes to pay taxes? Not me! Nevertheless, it is a hard fact of life for all of us every April 15th. But at the time of Jesus taxes were a hard fact of life every day. At any moment a tax collector could walk up to you and […]