Saturday, July 25, 2020
James and John, the sons of Zebedee—called Boanerges by Jesus, meaning the sons of thunder—are among the first followers of Jesus. James is the first apostle to die, and John is known to us as the one Jesus loves. But do they really imagine they'll have the...
Friday, July 24, 2020
Thomas á Kempis wrote The Imitation of Christ, a spiritual handbook, between 1418 and 1427. Reflective of his vocation as a priest living in a community of other priests, his devotional meditations placed a strong focus on cultivating an interior spiritual life, with...
Thursday, July 23, 2020
From the Archives: December 4, 1943We recently learned of a striking experience on the islands of the Inland Sea near Japan. A sailor approached a priest and asked him to call upon a friend in deep spiritual need. ….(View this reading and more resources for...
Wednesday, July 22, 2020
Mary's inability to recognize Jesus doesn't surprise me. Flowing tears and swollen eyes and the overwhelming noise of grief make it hard for any of us to see clearly. She doesn’t see the awful thing she is expecting to see, the sight she has prepared herself...
Tuesday, July 21, 2020
Maria Skobtsova lived a full life in her fifty-three years. Part of the cultural elite in Saint Petersburg, Russia, she was a poet, theology student, mayor, social activist, immigrant, resister of Nazis, and finally, a nun who would only submit to a religious rule if...
Monday, July 20, 2020
Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Amelia Jenks Bloomer, Sojourner Truth, and Harriet Ross Tubman: Each of these remarkable women exemplify love of neighbor. Elizabeth Cady Stanton called on the church to stop using scripture to justify the oppression of women....
Sunday, July 19, 2020
You are expecting what has been promised—and one day, you will be on your feet cheering and kissing all the babies and giving all the high fives; the fireworks and confetti and balloons and champagne will flutter and fizz. This is hope. Even if it looks...
Saturday, July 18, 2020
In today’s readings, the children of Israel are on the cusp of entering the Promised Land, the place they have been heading toward for forty long years. The psalms compare physical thirst and hunger to longing for God’s grace and mercy, leaning into God’s promises...
Friday, July 17, 2020
Jesus teaches us that compassion begets compassion. I'm not sure what sparked a shift within me, but I clearly remember standing in a checkout line in Target and making a choice to be really kind to a very clearly distracted cashier. This prompted a...
Thursday, July 16, 2020
From the Archives: August 6, 1945“Inasmuch as ye did it…ye did it unto me.” Man judges the outside and can be deceived. God searches the heart. Man’s pardon can be bought and sometimes must be bought. God gave his son…..(View this reading and more resources for...
