What Belongs to God?
For 22 October 2023, Twenty Ninth Sunday in Ordinary Time, based on Matthew 22:15–21
For 22 October 2023, Twenty Ninth Sunday in Ordinary Time, based on Matthew 22:15–21
For 19 October 2023, Memorial of Saints John de Brébeuf and Isaac Jogues, priests, and their Companions, Martyrs, based on Matthew 28:16-20
For 16 October 2023, Monday of week 28 in Ordinary Time, based on Romans 1:1-7, Luke 11:29-32
Jonah is angry at God for not killing the Ninevites, and for killing a little gourd plant. Funny, the things we choose to care about.
When Jesus came to visit, Mary listened at his feet while Martha was "busy with many things." Are we "busy with many things" as a way to avoid actually listening to God?
Fr. Scott Steinkerchner, OP breaks open the readings for the Twenty Seventh Sunday of Ordinary Time, in which Jesus reworks Isaiah's parable of the vineyard, making the point that anyone is welcome in the vineyard of the Lord as long as they produce its harvest of justice.
In his letter to the Colossians, St. Paul tells us that Christ forgave all our transgressions, "obliterating the bond against us, with its legal claims." We can best celebrate that by forgiving one another insteading of using the law to blame one another.
St. Paul tells us that we have hope, because the dead will surely rise when Jesus returns. However, we still grieve their loss and the hole it leaves in our lives for now.
In the Book of Ruth, our heroine stood by her mother-in-law Naomi when the whole world left them bereft. For whom would we go the extra mile?