Reflections

Light for November Many of us will be familiar with the opening lines of Thomas Hood’s delightful poem, “I remember, I remember the house where I was born, The little window where the sun peeped in at morn.” Less familiar and less cheerful are his lines about November, “No shade, no shine, no butterflies, no…

The Greatest Commandment It was an attempt to start an argument with Jesus, to disconcert him when one of the Pharisees asked for his opinion on the greatest commandment.  Jesus cut through all their commentaries and debates with a simple and challenging answer.  “You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, with…

Sun28A God’s Invitation to us Today’s Gospel (Matt 22:1-14) is a parable about an invitation to a wedding, not just any wedding, but the royal wedding of the king’s son.   In Michelangelo’s famous fresco on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, the finger of God is reaching towards Adam drawing him into life.  It is…

    “Let me sing to my friend the song of his love for his vineyard”.   These are the opening words of today’s First Reading from Isaiah.   However, it turns out to be a sad song about a neglected vineyard that produced sour wine.   The Responsorial Psalm identifies the vineyard as the House of Israel….

Francis Mary: Patron Saint for a Pandemic There’s more trouble down the farm today.  In last Sunday’s Gospel it was grumbling over wages in the vineyard.  This Sunday (Matt 21:28-31) it’s a father’s confrontation with a son who said he would do the job but he didn’t.   Conversely, the other son stamped out in blunt…

God’s Generosity “Why be envious because I am generous?”  The story of the workers in the vineyard is not about paying a fair wage (Matt 20:1-16).  The parable is about envy.  Every worker got the agreed payment.  The horrible aspect of envy is that it is a negative reaction to some goodness or success that…

The Beauty of Forgiveness In today’s Gospel (Matt 18:21-35) we continue the moral teaching of how to follow the ideals of Jesus Christ if we wish to be true followers.  One of the greatest signs of genuine Christianity is the ability to forgive.   Today’s First Reading tells us “resentment and anger, these are foul things.” …

Loving Correction We have reached a section of Matthew’s Gospel which deals with practical moral issues that occur in our lives.   Today’s reading (Matt18:15-20) is about the delicate matter of how to correct somebody who is going off the rails.  Facing another person is one of the toughest parts of loving care.  Genuine love includes…

In Times of Darkness In today’s Gospel (Matt 15:21-28) a troubled mother pleads with Jesus to cure her tormented daughter.  We are surprised to read that he answered her not a word.  It’s so unlike Jesus.   But he knew what he was doing.  He was drawing out deeper depths of her faith.  A passage from…