Today, we are invited to reflect on the freedom of total surrender through the luminous example of Saint Clare of Assisi. In today’s passage from the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus calls us to a radical conversion of heart and reminds us that greatness in the Kingdom of Heaven belongs to…
Recently, during a bedtime conversation about faith, my 11-year-old son mentioned a theory he had found online that the Christian story was something “made up” by ancient Romans to govern their state. When I heard this, I nearly laughed out loud. “Who on earth,” I asked, “would ever come up…
The readings of this Sunday invite us to confront one of the most difficult experiences of faith: the experience of God’s presence when God seems absent. There are moments when we pray and hear no answer, when the storms of life become stronger than our courage, and when we begin…
Faith is often imagined as something strong, unwavering, and extraordinary. We tend to admire people whose confidence in God seems unshakable, believing that they possess a kind of spiritual certainty beyond the reach of ordinary believers. Yet the Gospel passage from Matthew 17:14b–20 presents a surprisingly different understanding of faith.…
“If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. For he that will save his life, shall lose it: and he that shall lose his life for my sake, shall find it. For what doth it profit a man, if…
Today’s feast recalls that moment when, shortly before His passion, Christ revealed His glory to His three closest Apostles. Jesus knew that His suffering and death would be a cause of scandal to them, and so He prepared them in advance by showing them the glory that was hidden beneath…
Today’s Gospel reminded me of an experience I had when I was a parochial vicar. A lady, quite distressed, came to my office. Her son had just been diagnosed with cancer, and she asked if I could visit him. I told her that I certainly could and then asked how…
So Jesus said to them, “Amen, amen, I say to you, it was not Moses who gave the bread from heaven; my Father gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is that which comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” So they…
In the Gospel, Saint Peter experiences what we can call a deep crisis of faith, which in some way speaks to our own daily struggles as well. When Jesus invites him onto the water, Peter starts with bold confidence. However, the moment he shifts his gaze from Christ who is…
It feels like the world is divided into those who love leftovers and those who don’t care much about them. I am not a food aficionado, so I’ll avoid the debate. I do know that sometimes I lean towards leftovers, and other times I crave something fresh. Generally, leftovers come…