Blog (Page 26)
Discerning God’s Voice
(From guest blogger Rev. Celie Katovitch. Rev. Celie has been a member of Spiritus Christi for 7 years. March 1 was her first day as a parish priest at Spiritus. ) What a beautiful trio of scripture readings we have for today. The first two harmonize around the theme of listening. First, the prophet Jeremiah speaks powerfully about the need to take time to incline “the ears of our hearts”— as the old phrase goes— toward God, so that we can…
Patterns That Are True
March 10 Readings – DT 4:1, 5-9; MT 5:17-19 Today we hear a few different messages. In Deuteronomy, Moses is addressing the people and encourages them not to forget what God’s done for them and brought them through. “Teach this to your children,” he says. Maybe that’s something to be mindful of today: Remember what God’s done for you or seen you through. Journal about it or talk to someone about it. This is all part of the practice of…
Am I Supposed to Forgive That?
March 9 Readings – DN 3:25, 34-43; MT 18:21-35 The Lenten readings spend a lot of time focused on mercy and forgiveness. They probably anticipated that we would need to keep hearing about it. To that end, I have really appreciated so many people who have been commenting on this blog – offering personal stories of difficulty with forgiving. This is a reality in our lives that we can’t just spiritualize or pretend doesn’t exist. Peter might be in the…
Embracing the Unexpected
(Post by guest blogger, Lauren Urzetta Frye, youth minister at Spiritus Christi Church and seminarian at Colgate Rochester Crozer Divinity School) March 8th Readings 2 Kings 5:1-15 and Luke 4: 24-30 In today’s readings we are presented with the motif of “the unexpected”, and I think it is more than safe to say we have all had our fair share of “the unexpected” throughout this past year. In the first reading, an unexpected essential character in the story is an…
Turning Tables
March 7 Readings – EX 20:1-17; 1 COR 1:22-25; JN 2:13-25 Today it might be important to work backwards with the readings, and I suspect that this commentary is sure to spark some thoughts and feelings… We hear today a very famous passage about Jesus and the money changers in the temple. Here we have one of the only recorded times when Jesus gets angry and damages property. Often this passage is read from a spiritualized viewpoint focusing on the…
Mercy
March 6 Readings – MI 7:14-15, 18-20; LK 15:1-3, 11-32 In today’s readings, mercy is the name of the game. Micah speaks of how God takes us back – time and time again – and then the gospel delivers the powerful story of the “prodigal son.” In the Muslim circles that I have moved in, I often hear the phrase, “Allah, the beneficient, the merciful” and it has always caught my attention. In fact the “personal” names for God in…
Family Stories
(Today’s guest blog is written by Shannon O’Donnell from Tacoma, WA – bio below) March 5 Reading: Genesis 37; Psalm 105; Matthew 21: 33-46 “Israel loved Joseph best.” “Uh oh,” says any sibling hearing this, “this isn’t going to end well.” Have you ever been at a gathering of relatives when someone starts to tell the story of a certain uncle? He might have even told the story on himself for years. He’s dead and gone, but families being what…
The Chasm Between Us
March 4 Readings – JER 17:5-10; LK 16:19-31 Jeremiah reflects to us what may be an all too common sentiment, “Cursed is the one who trusts in human beings.” While I do not, ultimately, believe that, it sure can feel that way sometimes. We put our trust in people and they let us down. And just when we hope someone is going to be different than the rest…ugh! And Luke’s gospel offers us the story of one person letting down…
Clean and Dirty Pain
March 3 Readings – JER 18:18-20; MT 20:17-28 A lot of us can probably relate to Jeremiah when he says, “Must good be repaid with evil?” Like Jeremiah, we have all probably tried to do what is right or help somebody only to have people treat us poorly, reject us and even want to hurt us in return. We become targeted somehow. And it hurts. Then in the gospel, Jesus is confronted (yet again) with people jockeying for power and…
Leadership
March 2 Readings – IS 1:10, 16-20; MT 23:1-12 I love the line from Isaiah where God says, “Come now, let us set things right!” The bible is ever about action and this is a wonderful Lenten mantra and reminder. Identify what isn’t right and get to work remedying it! I know it’s not always that easy, but the sentiment is something I hope we hold on to. Then in the gospel, Jesus talks about something that needs to be…
Mercy Made the Difference For Me
From Guest Blogger: Alvin Simpson (see bio below) Readings – DN 9:4B-10; LK 6:36-38 Jesus said to his disciples:“Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful. “Stop judging and you will not be judged. Stop condemning, and you will not be condemned. Forgive and you will be forgiven. Give and gifts will be given to you; a good measure, packed together, shaken down, and overflowing, will be poured into your lap. For the measure with which you measure will in…
Limits and Imagination
February 28 Readings – GN 22:1-2, 9A, 10-13, 15-18; ROM 8:31B-34; MK 9:2-10 The first reading from Genesis, tells us the story of Abraham who is asked to sacrifice his son, Isaac. I mention this story because – with some of the stories in the bible – I do not think that they are meant to be read literally and this one, in particular, has been problematic for our theology over the years. Why would God ask Abraham to sacrifice…