Sunday, February 28, 2010
“How am I to know?” Abraham asks, seeking reassurance that God will give him the land. God makes a covenant with Abraham, sending fire into the deepest “terrifying” darkness.
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Saturday, February 27, 2010
Guilt? The gift of forgiving ourselves as God forgives, abundantly? Here is the verse that has bedeviled so many Christians: "Be you perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect." The Law, as Moses portrays it, is part of a covenant; we obey and God "treasures" us. Jesus goes beyond the Law which says, "Love your neighbor and hate your enemy, but I [Jesus] say: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you."
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Friday, February 26, 2010
God’s desire for us is that we turn from our ways and live. What might that mean in your life? Now?
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Thursday, February 25, 2010
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Wednesday, February 24, 2010
“The word of the Lord came to Jonah a second time…” God is faithful even when we are not. God does not give up, neither on Jonah nor on this large city of sinners.
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Tuesday, February 23, 2010
God through Isaiah assures us that the Word which goes forth from God’s mouth will not return empty. “It shall accomplish that which I purpose and succeed in the thing for which I sent it.
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Monday, February 22, 2010
Today’s psalm is so familiar, that on this feast of Peter’s chair (cathedra in Latin) in Rome, we might pray for the hierarchy in terms of our need for good shepherding. But our eyes are fixed on Jesus. How might he have prayed this psalm in the wilderness?
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Sunday, February 21, 2010
Moses reminds his people that their land flows with milk and honey, but Jesus is led by the Spirit into the wilderness. No milk and honey for him.
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Saturday, February 20, 2010
“’Why do you eat and drink with sinners?’” Jesus replied, ‘Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick do; I have come to call not the righteous but sinners to repentance.” (Matthew)
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Friday, February 19, 2010
“This is the fast I choose: to loose the bonds of injustice…to let the oppressed go free, to break every yoke…to share your bread with the hungry and bring the homeless poor into your house; when you see the naked cover them, and do not forget your own kin.” (Is)
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Thursday, February 18, 2010
“I have set before you life and death….Choose life so that you and your descendants may live, loving God and obeying God.”
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Wednesday, February 17, 2010
At last! The entrance antiphon begins: “Lord, you hate nothing that you have created.” If you still plan to give up candy or meat or whatever, remember that God loves candy, meat and all the good things of earth
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Tuesday, February 16, 2010
James states, and may we repeat it to those who suffer: God does not tempt us. Our temptation arises from our own desires, disordered desires, Ignatius Loyola would add.
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Monday, February 15, 2010
Again our readings lead us to Lent. James writes to those who face trials, and excoriates the rich. He exhorts his readers, us, to ask God to give us wisdom and deepen our faith
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Sunday February 14, 2010
If we needed a reminder that Lent arrives this week, we have it in the depiction of desert landscape, in a reminder that Lent ends in resurrection, and Jesus’ passionate warning that blessings and woes are our choice.
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Saturday, February 13, 2010
Picture it: Solomon’s two sons: Jeroboam is king of the northern kingdom of Israel (10 tribes) and Rehoboam king in the southern kingdom of Judah (2 tribes).
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Friday, February 12, 2010
As God promised, Solomon’s kingdom would be divided. To his son Jeroboam, “Solomon gave him charge over all the forced labor of the house of Joseph.”
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Thursday, February 11, 2010
Although there are no special readings for this feast, but because so much of our world is sick physically or sick at heart, we look at both readings through that lens
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Wednesday, February 10, 2010
The Queen of Sheba comes to Solomon’s court with “hard questions.” When he answers wisely, she praises him for his wealth and accomplishments.
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Tuesday, February 9, 2010
Solomon, in dedicating the temple, realizes that he needs forgiveness for thinking that God could be contained in such a house. He asks a poignant question: “Will God indeed dwell on the earth?”
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Monday, February 8, 2010
David must not have told Solomon of God’s reproach: “You will build me a house?” How dare we box God in?
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Sunday, February 7. 2010
The first Sunday reading is always chosen with the gospel, which is a continuous reading, in mind. The second reading is often a continuous reading without any linking. Today’s liturgy then is a work of art!
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Saturday, February 6, 2010
In his youth, Solomon was humble, asking God for wisdom, “an understanding mind to govern your people, able to discern…
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Friday, February 5, 2010
“John had been telling Herod…” There is persistence in prophets. John names the sin adultery.
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Thursday, February 4, 2010
David dies, blessing and warning his son Solomon to keep the Lord’s ways. “His kingdom was firmly established.”
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Wednesday, February 3, 2010
We meet a new prophet, Gad, accosting David, and in the gospel, Jesus refers to himself as a prophet.
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Tuesday, February 2, 2010
The “Lord” (Adonai) is what Jews call God, never using the sacred YHWH. Paradoxically on this feast when the Lord is presented to the Lord, it is a baby who is offered to God.
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Monday, February 1, 2010
Both readings mention stones. In David’s sorrow that his son Absalom has turned against him, a shouting man throws stones at David. David protects the wild man, wondering if indeed God has sent him to curse him.
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