Mass Reading & Meditation for November 6, 2009

Catholic Meditations
Meditation: Luke 16:1-8
As this parable opens, we see nothing commendable about this steward.
He has wasted his master’s money, probably using it for his own benefit instead of investing it on his master’s behalf. Yet by the end of the story, the master is commending him for acting prudently.
It’s important to understand that the steward [...]

Mass Reading & Meditation for November 5, 2009

Catholic Meditations
Meditation: Psalm 27
The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom do I fear? (Psalm 27:1)
David had a host of things to fear: enemies and foes coming “to devour” his flesh; armies encamped, and wars waged, against him; even the threat of disruption in his immediate family. But in the midst of all these [...]

Mass Reading & Meditation for November 4, 2009

Catholic Meditations
Meditation: Romans 13:8-10
Love is the fulfillment of the law. (Romans 13:10)
One day an expert of the law approached Jesus and wanted to know how to obtain eternal life. Jesus asked him what the law stated. The man explained that you must love God with your whole heart, mind, and strength, and also love your [...]

Mass Reading & Meditation for November 3, 2009

Catholic Meditations
Meditation: Romans 12:5-16
Architects have to plan with some idea of what their concept for a building is going to look like “in the flesh.”
They have to know that the materials they will use are durable and safe, and that the structure they are designing will be comfortable and practical for the people who are [...]

Mass Reading & Meditation for October 31, 2009

Catholic Meditations
Meditation: Romans 11:1-2, 11-12,25-29
The gifts and the call of God are irrevocable. (Romans 11:29)
St. Paul grieved deeply that many of his fellow Jews had not accepted the gospel message. Earlier in his letter to the Romans, Paul expressed “great sorrow and constant anguish in my heart” for the Jewish people, and even went so [...]

Mass Reading & Meditation for October 30, 2009

Catholic Meditations
Meditation: Luke 14:1-6
Once again, Jesus found himself in the middle of a controversy.
The Pharisees who confronted him held to a limited interpretation of God’s commands, which led them to suspect Jesus and look for any opportunity to trip him up. For his part, Jesus took their scrutiny as a chance to teach them about [...]

Mass Reading & Meditation for October 29, 2009

Catholic Meditations
Meditation: Luke 13:31-35
You will not see me until the time comes when you say, “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.” (Luke 13:35)
Have you ever tried to put yourself in this verse? Jesus so longs to gather us to him, and yet we refuse. We don’t have time. We’re too [...]

Mass Reading & Meditation for October 27, 2009

Catholic Meditations
Meditation: Romans 8:18-25
If we hope for what we do not see, we wait with endurance. (Romans 8:25)
Near nightfall, a solitary mountain climber slipped backward over a precipice but was able to break his fall by catching hold of a small rocky ledge. Hour after hour, he held on desperately, hoping that someone would come [...]

Mass Reading & Meditation for October 26, 2009

Catholic Meditations
Meditation: Romans 8:12-17
Adoption and slavery—what a contrast!
St. Paul used these images because he wanted to emphasize, in the strongest terms possible, the difference between living in “the flesh” and living in the Spirit.
When Paul talks about the flesh (Romans 8:12), he isn’t referring to our physical bodies—which were created by God and are “very [...]

Mass Reading & Meditation for October 24, 2009

Catholic Meditations
Meditation: Luke 13:1-9
How many parents do you know who, at one point or another, have had to threaten their child with some kind of serious consequence for bad behavior?
Hopefully the threat is given in love and from a desire to form the child properly. Good parents will do whatever is necessary to nurture and [...]