Vincent van Gogh: “It is true there is an ebb and flow, but the sea remains the sea.”While our life is like the ebb and flow of the waters, God is steadfast and...
Homily: Twenty-second Sunday Year A Reading 1: Jeremiah did not want to be a prophet for the Lord, but he submitted to the will of God. Even though God told him that...
One of the sins Jesus condemns is hypocrisy. He says that is when people's lives are not consistent. On the outside they look holy and righteous, but on the inside they are prideful,...
Twenty-second Sunday Gospel AFrom that time on, Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer greatly from the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be...
There is a wise person of prayer who once wrote these words: “When I was young I was a revolutionary. My prayer to God was: ‘Lord, give me the energy to change the...
"There is no saint without a past, no sinner without a future." St. AugustineSt. Augustine was talking from personal experience. His past pre-conversion was not praise worthy. He was a man of the...
When the man came to Jesus and ask what must he do to gain eternal life, Jesus told his to review the basics of relationship with God and act on them. What are...
We are called to be guileless as followers of Jesus. Paul tells us that we are to speak the truth in all we say. Many of us struggle with what we call "the...
Homily Twenty-first Sunday Year A SEQ CHAPTER \h \r 1Isaiah in the first reading denounces Shebna because he has failed to use his position as the...
Thought of the Day August 23, 2023 Live in the present moment with gratitude
By spiritaflame 10:31 AM“Is there any affliction now endured by mankind that was not endured by our fathers before us? What sufferings of ours even bear comparison with what we know of their sufferings? And yet...
Twenty-first Sunday Gospel AJesus went into the region of Caesarea Philippi · It is called Caesarea Philippi to distinguish it from the town of Caesrea in Samaria. The former town was originally called Paneas...
There is a double side to freedom: freedom from and freedom to. We all want freedom from oppression, from the bondage of sin, from sickness, from poverty, from misunderstanding, etc. But do we...
Sometimes it is harder to receive a gift from another than to give a gift. This may be true in our relationship with God as well. Henri Nouwen said: " A gift only becomes...
Sometimes, we wonder why our prayers seem not to be heard by God. We persist in our prayers even though we are not getting the answer we are hoping for. God may be...
Homily Twentieth Sunday Year A Faith
By spiritaflame 10:35 AMHomily: Twentieth Sunday Year A Reading 1: Isaiah is speaking to his fellow Jews, who have not lived up to their covenant with Yahweh. He reminds them: observe and do what is...
Thought of the Day August 16, 2023 Forgiveness on Non-forgiveness, our Choice
By spiritaflame 10:28 AMSt. Clement of Alexandria said: “For the sake of each of us He laid down His life, worth no less than the universe. He demands of us in return our lives for the...
Twentieth Sunday Gospel AAt that time, Jesus withdrew to the region of Tyre and Sidon.· Tyre and Sidon are cities on the Mediterranean Sea in non-Jewish or pagan territory. · Jesus withdrew to...
On this Solemnity of the Assumption we celebrate the mysterious love of God for Mary. She was given many privileges and special graces. In lieu of her future grace as Mother of the...
"My beloved, may every fall, even if it is serious and habitual sin, always become for us a small step toward a higher degree of perfection. In fact, the only reason why the...
"Blessed are the pure of heart, they shall see God." A pure heart is utterly simple and focused. It simply wants on thing: to love God with one's whole heart and one's whole...
St. John Vianney: “We are beggars who must ask God for everything. How many people we can call back to God by our prayers! Ardent prayer addressed to God: this is man’s greatest...
Nineteenth Sunday Gospel AThen he made the disciples get into the boat and precede him to the other side, while he dismissed the crowds. After doing so, he went up on the mountain...
I remember hearing a
story of a man who was at sea alone in a small boat. A storm arose, battered
the little boat and threatened to overwhelm it. The man prayed. Then he
distinctly saw Jesus coming toward him, walking on the waters. Remembering the
story from the gospel, he cried out, “Lord, if it is you, order me to come to you
on the water.” “Come,” Jesus answered. So the man put on a life jacket, stepped
over the boat’s gunwale, stepped
onto the churning water and walked to Jesus. Jesus said to him, “Why did you doubt my word, O man of little faith?” “Lord, I
did not doubt your word!” the man protested. “Then why the life preserver,” Jesus asked. “Oh, that!” the man replied: “that was just in case.”
How many times in our relationship with God, we have a "just in case" backup plan. We say we trust the Lord in our words, but we show by our actions that we do not. If we can not trust the Lord without a "just in case", then we don't really trust in the Lord, but in our own efforts. For if the Lord is not real, "just in case" will mean nothing eternally. Surrendering to the Lord's providence involves total trust without any ifs ands or buts, no "just in case". That is scary. But that is what trusts involves.
There is a difference between being successful and bearing fruit. Jesus is calling his disciples not to be successful in the eyes of the world but fruitless spiritually. Rather, he invites us to...
St. Teresa of Avila said: “God deliver us from people who wish to serve Him yet who are mindful of their own honor.” What does that mean? When we want to be accepted...
Charles de Foucauld once wrote a prayer of abandonment that expresses beautifully the spiritual attitude we need to embrace:Father, I abandon myself into your hands,do with me what you will.Whatever you may do,...
Engraved on an old slab in the Cathedral in Germany, are these words: You call me Master, and obey me not. You call me Light, and see me not, You call me Way,...
Reflection on the Scriptures Eighteenth Sunday Gospel A The miraculous feeding of the crowd
By spiritaflame 10:40 AMEighteenth Sunday Gospel AWhen Jesus disembarked and saw the vast crowd, his heart was moved with pity for them, and he cured their sick. · When have we experienced a sense of compassion for...
The English author, C. S. Lewis, in one of his books, points out that when people become Christians, if they are not careful, their sinning often shifts from the overt, outward, visible sins...
