Category Archives: Ordinary Time 2020

Jul 30 2020

The Lot Marked Out For Me Is My Delight

Click here for daily readings The lot marked out for me is my delight. This was a passage from Psalm 16 that was written on a piece of paper given to me in a meeting around the year 1996. For the past almost twenty-five years, ...

Jul 29 2020

Being a Mary in a Martha World

Click here for daily readings Mary is so humble, anointing Jesus’ feet. Mary is so contemplative. “We should all be like Mary,” I say to myself as I skim the Gospel at rapid speed while listening to a podcast ...

Jul 28 2020

The Miracle of the Scarlet Thread

Click here for daily readings The Talmud is filled with ancient Jewish teachings that existed as an oral tradition at the time of Christ. It describes the details of an unusual event, a miracle, that was said to occur annually ...

Jul 27 2020

Do Not Forget the Lord

Click here for daily readings Today is one of those days where we can feel chastised by the readings. We first hear of how the Lord will “allow the pride of Judah to rot, the great pride of Jerusalem” (Jeremiah 13:9...

Jul 26 2020

Discipleship Has a Price

Click here for daily readings What is our mission as Christians? You might respond by quoting Matthew 28:19-20, “Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, ...

Jul 25 2020

What’s the Point?

Click here for daily readings It is so easy to lose our focus. Like the mother of James and John, it is so-so easy to become infatuated with the world’s definition of success and to completely miss the point. We are fami...

Jul 24 2020

God’s Proposal

Click here for daily readings Store up in your minds the Lord’s words, which you receive through your ears, for the Word of the Lord is the nourishment of the mind. Be careful that the seed received through your ears rem...

Jul 23 2020

How Lucky We Are To Be Alive Right Now

Click here for daily readings “They look but do not see and hear but do not listen or understand.” I know I’ve been there in my spiritual life. Sometimes we have these things called plans and they end up being ...

Jul 22 2020

The Magdalene and the Bride

Click here for daily readings In college I had the great blessing of taking a course on the Old Testament with renowned Biblical scholar Dr. John Bergsma. What I learned in that class fundamentally changed my life, especially th...

Jul 21 2020

Making Our Way Home

Click here for daily readings This is a short but somewhat confusing Gospel, wherein Jesus seems to casually dismiss his own family, even his own mother! “Who is my mother? …. Here are my mother and my brothers. Fo...

Jul 20 2020

Signs and Wonders

Click here for daily readings Have you ever thought about how many processes are involved just to bring us one simple breath or a heartbeat? This is commonplace knowledge for a med student and beyond the realm of most of us, bu...

Jul 19 2020

The Vineyard of Faith

Click here for daily readings Today’s Gospel message is one that I struggle with quite often. I find myself saying, “I got here first” or “I’ve been waiting longer”. Sometimes I ask myself, &...

Jul 18 2020

The Perfect Will of God

Click here for daily readings A will, a desperate attempt to put things in order and give the loved ones in our lives their due if anything were to happen to us. Free will, that messy and confusing thing which allows for wars, d...

Jul 17 2020

I Desire Mercy, Not Sacrifice

Click here for daily readings Yes, it is a Friday and today’s Gospel is about the sabbath law. The Catholic Catechism refers to sabbath law directly in number 2173: “The Gospel reports many incidents when Jesus was a...

Jul 16 2020

Finding Rest in Hope

Click here for daily readings I’m having a pretty easy plague season. I read the news and I know that out there are people who are very sick, who are dying or who have died, who have recently lost someone close to them. I ...

Jul 15 2020

Form and Function

Click here for daily readings In the study of science, form and function refers to the relationship between the structure of a thing and the way it functions. Today’s Gospel reading gives us a beautiful opportunity to look...

Jul 14 2020

Saintlike Courage

Click here for daily readings “Take care you remain tranquil and do not fear; let not your courage fail.” This line, from today’s first reading, perfectly sums up the saint whose memorial we celebrate today &nd...

Jul 13 2020

Fighting for Good

Click here for daily readings For the most part, I am someone that avoids confrontation. I don’t like making a scene and am terrible about internalizing arguments instead of being vocal. More recently, I have had conversa...

Jul 12 2020

Already But Not YET

Click here for daily readings “I consider that the sufferings of this present time are as nothing compared with the glory to be revealed for us.” What hope we have from today’s second reading. We are in a stra...

Jul 11 2020

Our Mediator

Click here for daily readings In the beginning, we hear that God creates the heavens and earth. It seems like we have grasped what that means, but really take a second to think about. In the beginning, God creates us to be with...