Category: Uncategorized

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Gospel: Matthew 19: 3-12

Some Pharisees approached Jesus, and tested him, saying,

“Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any cause whatever?”
He said in reply, “Have you not read that from the beginning
    the Creator made them male and female and said,
    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, man must not separate.” 
They said to him, “Then why did Moses command
that the man give the woman a bill of divorce and dismiss her?”
He said to them, “Because of the hardness of your hearts
Moses allowed you to divorce your wives,
but from the beginning it was not so.
I say to you, whoever divorces his wife
(unless the marriage is unlawful)
and marries another commits adultery.”
His disciples said to him,
“If that is the case of a man with his wife,
it is better not to marry.”
He answered, “Not all can accept this word,
but only those to whom that is granted.
Some are incapable of marriage because they were born so;
some, because they were made so by others;
some, because they have renounced marriage
for the sake of the Kingdom of heaven.
Whoever can accept this ought to accept it.”

The Gospel of the Lord.

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Today’s Gospel is tough. How do we understand it today?

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If your marriage is strong – if you’re living the ideal that our Lord sets before us – then give thanks to God… and to your spouse!

You’re an inspiration to many.

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If your marriage is on the rocks, know Jesus is with you. He wants your marriage to succeed just as much as you do.

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If you’ve endured the heartbreaking experience of divorce, then know that Jesus is still walking with you, he still loves you, and he still calls you to be his disciple.

We cannot avoid this unfortunate truth: sometimes relationships fail. It’s part of living in a fallen world.

But God never fails us. 

He is forever faithful, the Good Shepherd, who stands ready to place us on his shoulders when we fall and carry us forward. He’s a God who’s always looking for the next door to open.

The last thing the Lord would ever do is pick at our faults or rejoice in our failings. It’s simply not who he is. 

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As Christians, what the Lord asks of us is to extend the same mercy to others that he so often shows to us.

“For you shall be judged as you have judged,” Jesus says.

Instead of excluding those who’ve been deeply hurt already, perhaps today we can pray for the needs of many: couples who are firmly in love; couples who are struggling in their marriage; relationships that have ended; and those who hope to marry someday.

May the Lord guide us all along the path of healing and peace.

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Image credits: (1) KGW, How to Get Married During Covid-19 (2) Harvard Health (3) Brandon Cox

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Gospel: Matthew 18:21 – 19:1

Peter approached Jesus and asked him,
“Lord, if my brother sins against me,
how often must I forgive him?
As many as seven times?”
Jesus answered, “I say to you, not seven times but seventy-seven times.
That is why the Kingdom of heaven may be likened to a king
who decided to settle accounts with his servants.
When he began the accounting,
a debtor was brought before him who owed him a huge amount.
Since he had no way of paying it back,
his master ordered him to be sold,
along with his wife, his children, and all his property,
in payment of the debt.
At that, the servant fell down, did him homage, and said,
‘Be patient with me, and I will pay you back in full.’
Moved with compassion the master of that servant
let him go and forgave him the loan.
When that servant had left, he found one of his fellow servants
who owed him a much smaller amount.
He seized him and started to choke him, demanding,
‘Pay back what you owe.’
Falling to his knees, his fellow servant begged him,
‘Be patient with me, and I will pay you back.’
But he refused.
Instead, he had the fellow servant put in prison
until he paid back the debt.
Now when his fellow servants saw what had happened,
they were deeply disturbed,
and went to their master and reported the whole affair.
His master summoned him and said to him, ‘You wicked servant!
I forgave you your entire debt because you begged me to.
Should you not have had pity on your fellow servant,
as I had pity on you?’
Then in anger his master handed him over to the torturers
until he should pay back the whole debt.
So will my heavenly Father do to you,
unless each of you forgives his brother from his heart.”

When Jesus finished these words, he left Galilee
and went to the district of Judea across the Jordan.

The Gospel of the Lord.

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If you have ever played a video game, then you know that there is always a series of levels. 

The first level is the easiest, and the final level is the most difficult. Sometimes it takes multiple tries before you succeed in beating that final level… but if you do, then you have mastered the game.

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If Christianity were likened to a video game, then today’s Gospel would be the final level – forgive without limits.

If you can do this, then you’ve mastered Christianity.

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Is there someone I need to forgive?

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Even if we haven’t mastered Christianity, may the Lord give us the grace to try again today.

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Image credits: (1) Quotefancy (2) Laurie Blaikie, WordPress (3) Harris House

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Gospel: Matthew 22: 17-27

As Jesus and his disciples were gathering in Galilee,
Jesus said to them,
“The Son of Man is to be handed over to men,
and they will kill him, and he will be raised on the third day.”
And they were overwhelmed with grief.

When they came to Capernaum,
the collectors of the temple tax approached Peter and said,
“Does not your teacher pay the temple tax?”
“Yes,” he said. 
When he came into the house, before he had time to speak,
Jesus asked him, “What is your opinion, Simon?
From whom do the kings of the earth take tolls or census tax?
From their subjects or from foreigners?”
When he said, “From foreigners,” Jesus said to him,
“Then the subjects are exempt.
But that we may not offend them, go to the sea, drop in a hook,
and take the first fish that comes up. 
Open its mouth and you will find a coin worth twice the temple tax.
Give that to them for me and for you.”

The Gospel of the Lord.

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Edith Stein, whose feast day we celebrate today, represents everyone who suffers for who they are. 

In Edith’s case, she was born into a Jewish family in Poland at the turn of the 20^th century. 

After losing her faith in college, she rediscovered the Lord and converted to Catholicism, eventually becoming a Carmelite nun, right before the breakout of World War Two.

Shortly after the War began, she and the other nuns in her convent were shipped off to Auschwitz and gassed.

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Edith Stein was hated because she was Jewish…and, again, because she became Catholic.

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Throughout history, people have been targeted because of their skin color, their religion, their politics, their gender, and their economic or social status.

Edith Stein – and all the victims of hate – remind us that we must learn to transcend these boundaries that divide us, seeing each person as made in the image and likeness of God.

Common ground can always be found between people willing to compromise or to work for the common good.

This should be particularly true among Christians. “Wherever two or three are gathered in my name,” Jesus says, “I am there in the midst of them.”

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Do my words and actions foster unity? Do they ever divide?

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“Whatever you do to the least of these my brothers and sisters of mine,” Jesus says, whether at home, online, or in a gas chamber, “you do to me.”

Saint Edith Stein, pray for us.

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Image credits: (1) Honeybear Lane (2) United Nations Peacekeeping (3) Edith Stein Arrested, YouTube (4) Jen Norton Art Studio