This reflection is based on Matthew 15:21-28.
Today’s Gospel story offers us an untypical portrait of Jesus–and 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 homily was based on Matthew 14:22-33.
This pandemic has a way of making you feel like you’re running out of solid ground. I mean, it’s been five months! Being an introvert, I don’t really mind the relative solitude. But so many people continue to fall prey to the virus, and many more are unable to pursue their means of livelihood.
There are days when you simply can’t help getting this sinking feeling that the world is running out of solid ground.
This homily is based on Matthew 14:13-21.
Like many of you, once in a while I would lapse into what I call the “quarantine state of mind.” It happens perhaps twice a week when in the midst of all this working from home, I sense them approaching–those pesky questions I’ve tried so hard not to think about all week.
It begins innocently enough: “How much longer will this last?” And then before I know it, the questions turn darker: “So what’s the point? What’s all this for anyway?”
This reflection is based on Matthew 13:44-46.
“Worthless” and “priceless”: These are two words in the English language that at first may seem synonymous, but they actually mean the exact 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 homily is based on Matthew 13:24-43.
It’s not easy to find a commencement speech that’s both wise and witty. But I think that’s exactly what J.K. Rowling, bestselling author of the “Harry Potter” series, delivered at Harvard on June 5, 2008. The title she gave the speech gives you a fairly good idea of the gems of wisdom that she offered the Harvard graduates: “The Fringe Benefits of Failure and the Importance of Imagination.” Even for non-Harry Potter fans, the speech is worth reading in full because despite the recent social media flak that she (unfairly) received, her words are more relevant than ever.
