This reflection is based on Matthew 16:13-20.
In our Gospel reading, our Lord conducts an informal two-item survey of sorts among his disciples. The survey has two similar-sounding but significantly different questions.
The first question is: “Who do people say that I am?” And the second: “Who do you say that I am?”
While the first question immediately elicits responses, the second one leaves the disciples stumped and speechless–until Simon Peter blurts out his answer.
This reflection is based on Matthew 15:21-28.
Today’s Gospel story offers us an untypical portrait of Jesus–and for most of us, an unwelcome one as well. A distressed Canaanite woman approaches the Lord and requests His healing for her sick daughter. “Have pity on me!” she cried out. “My daughter is tormented by a demon.”
This reflection is based on Matthew 14:13-21.
I couldn’t help but laugh out loud when a good friend shared this picture with me.
At first glance, they look like laboratory beakers–the type that come imprinted with measurement lines, those that you probably last laid your hands on way back in High School Chemistry–unless of course, you went on to train as a Chemist.
This reflection is based on Matthew 13:44-46.
“Worthless” and “priceless”: These are two words in the English language that at first may sound synonymous, but they actually mean exactly the opposite of each other.
“Worthless” can be taken quite literally–it means something that has no worth, plain and simple. “Priceless,” on the other hand, must not be taken literally because it refers to something that is so extremely valuable that you can’t ever tag a price to it. Because he can’t take them with him, a dying man’s riches are worthless as he lies in his deathbed, but the love of the people who have spent the last few days and nights by his side, holding his hand and praying for him–that’s priceless. “Priceless” is a word we reserve precisely for the stuff that money can’t buy.
This reflection is based on Matthew 13:24-43.
Last week I caught a film called “Finding Vivian Maier” on my flight to Toronto. It’s a fascinating documentary on an immensely gifted but secret photographer. She worked as a nanny during the day. Think Mary Poppins without her umbrella but armed instead with a Rolleiflex.