Archives for October 2021

The scribe said to him, “Well said, teacher, you are right in saying, ‘He is One and there is no other than He.’ And ‘to love him with all your heart, with all your understanding, with all your strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself’ is worth more than all burnt offerings and sacrifices.” And when Jesus saw that he answered with understanding, He said to him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” And no one dared to ask him any more questions. (Mk 12:32-34) This weekend’s Gospel contains a beautiful conversation between a scribe and Jesus about the most important things of our faith: love of God and love of neighbor.  The scribe listens to Jesus and agrees that love of God and neighbor “is worth more than any burnt offering or sacrifice.”  And Jesus tells the scribe: … [Read more...]

The scribe said to him, “Well said, teacher, you are right in saying, ‘He is One and there is no other than He.’ And ‘to love him with all your heart, with all your understanding, with all your strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself’ is worth more than all burnt offerings and sacrifices.” And when Jesus saw that he answered with understanding, He said to him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” And no one dared to ask him any more questions. (Mk 12:32-34) This weekend’s Gospel contains a beautiful conversation between a scribe and Jesus about the most important things of our faith: love of God and love of neighbor.  The scribe listens to Jesus and agrees that love of God and neighbor “is worth more than any burnt offering or sacrifice.”  And Jesus tells the scribe: … [Read more...]

“Rather, whoever wishes to be great among you will be your servant; whoever wishes to be first among you will be the slave of all.  For the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many.”  (Mk 10:43-45) Jesus presents us with a paradox in the Gospel today.  If we want to be great, we need to be a servant.  He turns earthly ideas of greatness on their head. This paradox of Jesus reminds me of a story told to me by one of my professors in seminary, a famous author named Fr. John Fullenbach.  One summer, during a break in the university year, Father Fullenbach decided to spend some with working in Calcutta with Blessed Mother Teresa and her sisters.  On the first day he found himself walking with a sister through the worst slums of Calcutta … [Read more...]

“Children, how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God!  It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for one who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.”  (Mk 10:25-26) Before I entered seminary, I heard a homily preached on this Gospel passage.  The priest explained that one of the gates to enter Jerusalem that was called the “eye of the needle.”  Camels could only go through the “eye of the needle” if they were crawling on their knees and stripped of baggage.  The implication was that we only get to Heaven “on our knees” and free of attachment to possessions.  At the time, it seemed like a good explanation.  But when I was in seminary studying Sacred Scripture, I learned there was no such gate.  His cute story was a complete fabrication! However, there are … [Read more...]

“But from the beginning of creation, God made them male and female. For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.  So they are no longer two but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, no human being must separate.”  (Mk 10:6-9) “Marriage is the intimate, exclusive, indissoluble communion of life and love entered by man and woman at the design of the Creator for the purpose of their own good and the procreation and education of children; this covenant between baptized persons has been raised by Christ the Lord to the dignity of a Sacrament.”  Gaudium et Spes, 48 Sacred Scripture begins with the creation of man and woman in the image and likeness of God and concludes with a vision of the “wedding feast … [Read more...]