Saturday, March 13, 2010
Repetition is good, and so we pray Psalm 51 often during Lent, Another prayer highly recommended by Jesus is not the recounting of our good deeds to God like the Pharisee in today’s gospel but this, from the one standing at the back of the temple: “God, be merciful to me, a sinner!”
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Friday, March 12, 2010
Through Hosea, God promises, “I will love them freely.” Then God cries out in the psalm: “Oh that you would listen to me! I would feed you with the finest wheat and with honey from the rock I would satisfy you!”
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Thursday, March 11, 2010
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Wednesday, March 10, 2010
Jesus teaches: “Whoever breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kin-dom of heaven…” Notice, the law-breaker is still included in the kin-dom. Jesus is so inclusive!
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Tuesday, March 9, 2010
“Peter came to Jesus and said, “Lord, if a brother or sister sins against me, how often should I forgive? As many as seven times? Jesus said to him, “Not seven times, I tell you, but seventy-seven times.” Peter who wears his emotions on his face and in his big mouth, must be easily offended.
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Monday, March 8, 2010
As we move along in Lent, our readings show the hostility building against Jesus. Naaman the Syrian, healed in the waters of the Jordan, becomes an object lesson as Jesus challenges the narrowness of his hometown folk.
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Sunday, March 8, 2010
We may have a subtle theme this week: holy ground. Moses is in the wilderness when he encounters God in the burning bush and is instructed to take off his shoes on holy ground
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Saturday, March 6, 2010
We all could probably re-tell the story of the Prodigal Son and most of us have heard that it is really the father who is prodigal, meaning extravagant, welcoming the son who has wasted everything “on dissolute living.” So let us focus on the elder son to whom the father says: “My child, you are always with me and all that I have is yours.”
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Friday, March 5, 2010
“Pit” is an operative word this week. Jesus was put in a pit, a deep hole just the size of a man, according to the tour guide in Israel who pointed out Jesus’ possible prison.
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Thursday, March 4, 2010
“Jesus told this parable to those among the Pharisees who loved money: ‘There was a rich man who dressed in purple and fine linen and feasted sumptuously every day. At his gate lay a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores, who longed to satisfy his hunger with what fell from the rich man’s table…”
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Wednesday, March 3, 2010
Jeremiah prays, much in the style of Jesus. He prays for his enemies: “Pay attention to me, Lord. Listen to what my adversaries say….They have dug a pit for my life. Remember how I stood before you to speak good for them, to turn away your wrath from them.”
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Tuesday, March 2, 2010
Some of you complain when our liturgists pick and choose the verses from a long text like the opening chapter of Isaiah. So reach for your Bible and read the whole, including the verses missing above.
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Monday, March 1, 2010
Last week I broke my own resolution for Lent. I will focus on only a part of one reading, encouraging you to read the whole passage slowly and preferably aloud. So I begin again, and so can you with what you hope to offer God this season.
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