Tagged: Gospel of Matthew
Back in November, Brenda and I got to see our daughter Teresa perform in Gonzaga Prep’s production of The Sound of Music. I know some of you here are theater moms or dads, and your kids have been in shows too, shows like Ferris’ The Addams Family, Fiddler on the Roof, or Shrek. Or maybe some of you are theater kids and have seen your parents perform in Ham on Regal. So you know how it is that you end up seeing the same show multiple times. You...
The first reading and the gospel can be summarized like this: “Do not be afraid to use what has been entrusted to you.” In both readings something precious is entrusted to someone, and in both readings fear plays an important role. The master entrusts his possessions to his three servants. And the husband entrusts his heart to his wife. The third servant is afraid of the master. And the worthy wife has the Fear of the Lord. To entrust is to put something precious into another’s care. The...
If you drive to northern California through central Oregon, you cross the state line on US 199, also known as the Redwood Highway. As you continue into California, you reach a certain point where it feels like you’ve entered a fairytale. It feels like your car has shrunk, and now you’re driving a Hot Wheel, because there are these massive, massive trees stretching above you, over your head, these ancient redwoods. And if you get out of your car and walk around the groves of redwoods you feel...
Today is Catechetical Sunday, a day we pray for and bless those who instruct our children in the faith. Some of them do this for a living, as teachers at our parish school. Some of them do this as volunteers in the religious education program, giving up hours of their personal time each week. We might ask ourselves, why would someone choose to do this? Why do the school teachers work for less than they could make in a public school? Why do the volunteers spend their own...
Some of you might remember radio personality Paul Harvey who used to come on in the evenings and tell The Rest of the Story. He once told the story of the last case of the great French detective Henri Latour. Latour was the Sherlock Holmes of France, but unlike the famous English detective, Latour was a real person, an actual police detective. And he was a living legend when it came to tracking down criminals. In his last case, a terrible crime had been committed: an elderly couple...
This summer Brenda and I did a lot of cleaning and reorganizing around the house. Our two older boys have moved out, we’ve done a shuffle of the girls’ bedrooms, and we’re trying to get rid of all the unnecessary stuff that we’ve accumulated over the years. One thing that helps us to organize is to put things into boxes and label them. It makes it easier to remember where you’ve put things. We’ve got boxes with the boys’ names on them, we’ve got boxes labeled “Christmas,” and...
Today we’re asked to use our imaginations and picture ourselves as wheat. “The kingdom of heaven may be likened to a man who sowed good seed in his field.” Imagine us first as good seed, held in the hand of the Farmer. As he runs us through his fingers, he feels the potential for growth we carry within us. Just at the right time of the year, he carries us into the field, then scoops us up with his hands and scatters us onto the ground. We lay...
If you’ve ever looked at the hands of your grandmother or grandfather, Or at the hands of an elderly friend, Then you’ve had a glimpse of their life story. Each pair of hands has a story to tell, And the older we get, the more our hands have to say. Some hands are scarred or spotted. Others are twisted and gnarled with arthritis. A hand can have callouses or be as smooth as lotion. The fingers, too, tell a tale about our lives. Some of us have long...
Today’s readings come straight at us. Isaiah might just as well have said: “You are my servant, people of St. Peter Parish, through whom I show my glory….I will make you a light to the nations, that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth.” Paul speaks to the Corinthians, but also to us: “Paul, called to be an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, to the church of God that is at St. Peter’s, to you who have been sanctified in Christ...
We are at the end of Advent season and as we make our final preparations for Christmas we may wonder how we should spend these last three days preparing our hearts. A few minutes ago we sung together the antiphon from today’s responsorial psalm: “Let the Lord enter; he is the king of glory.” What better way to make our final preparations for Christmas, then by meditating on that antiphon? If we take some time over the next few days to repeat it to ourselves and reflect on...
Today marks the beginning of another liturgical year. It’s Advent, that time of joyful preparation. But so often, rather than marking a period of peaceful preparation, Advent marks the beginning of the season of stress and worry. Will I survive Black Friday? Will the gift arrive in time? Where do we spend Christmas? Will the flight be delayed? Will the pass be snowed in? Will I get what I want? What do I wear to the Christmas party? At the very time of year we are invited to...
