Month: January 2008

Today’s Readings

Today’s gospel has got to have one of the scariest passages in the entire Bible!  The Lord tells us: “For there is nothing hidden except to be made visible; nothing is secret except to come to light.”

What?!  I don’t know about you, but I’m hoping that the Lord is just being poetic here and has no intention of being taken literally.  Just imagine what he means.  Everyone’s going to know everything about you:  your most private–and uncharitable–thoughts, your deepest, darkest secrets, things about yourselves that even you would prefer to forget and not think about. Imagine all these resurrected at the end of time and haunting you in full view of everyone!  The afterlife–wherever you end up with–is going to be pretty intolerable because of that!

“IS ANYTHING REALLY POSSIBLE WITH LOVE?” (Mk 4:1-20):  30 January 2008 (Wednesday)

Today’s Readings

Reading the familiar Parable of the Sower this morning reminded me of one of the last Tears for Fears songs.  It’s called “Sowing the Seeds of Love.”  Written by Roland Orzabal and Curt Smith, the song was No. 8 in the Billboard Charts in 1989.  Some critics claim the song is a rip-off of “I Am A Walrus,” but most do acknowledge it as a tribute to the Beatles.

As in other TFF songs, the lyrics are not easy to understand, but the refrain is a dead giveaway:  “Sowing the seeds of love.  Anything is possible when you’re sowing the seeds of love…”

“WHO ARE MY MOTHER AND BROTHERS?” (Mk 3:31-35): 29 January 2008 (Tuesday)

Today’s Readings

This photograph won the Pulitzer Prize in 1994 and has been described as the picture that “made the world weep.”  It was taken by a freelance South African photographer named Kevin Carter.

“IS IT ALL STRAW?” (Mk 3:22-30):  28 January 2008 (Thomas Aquinas, Monday)

Today’s Readings

Thomas Aquinas, whose feast we celebrate today, has been declared as the “Angelic and Universal Doctor of the Church” (Doctor Angelicus and Doctor Communis).  That’s one helluva title if you ask me!  But in his lifetime, Thomas carried another, less flattering title.  Because of his slowness and phenomenal silence, his classmates called him “The Big Dumb Ox.” Often mistaken for dullness, his silence made him the frequent victim of his classmates’ pranks. 

“DO I SIT IN DARKNESS?” (Mt 4:12-17):  27 January 2008 (3rd Sunday in Ordinary Time)

Today’s Readings

Today’s gospel reading tells us that when Jesus begins his ministry after the arrest of John, he fulfills Isaiah’s prophecy that “the people who sit in darkness have seen a great light.”   I think that’s a great image:  People sitting in darkness and then seeing light.

I remember when I was growing up, there was a huge oil crisis in the country, and as a result, we experienced frequent power interruptions.  We would have no choice but literally sit in the dark, usually around a lighted candle, and because there was nothing else to do, we would talk and play board games until the light finally went back on.