Dear sisters and brothers in Christ, We imagine a king in a throne room, surrounded by gold and jewels and fawning courtiers, living a life of luxury and taking advantage of his subjects. This is not the Kingship of Jesus Christ. Even the secular kings of Jesus’ time did not fit this image. The king was expected to sit at the city gates and preside over disputes between his people. He was expected to lead his people into battle, protect them from aggressors, and rule justly over all. He was bound to his people, and they to him. Furthermore, the King of Israel was expected to behave with all the piety of a Levitical priest, offering sacrifice to God in the temple and leading his people
Dear sisters and brothers in Christ, I want to reflect on our first reading this Sunday, from the book of Proverbs. “When one finds a worthy wife, her value is far beyond pearls.” A hard-working spouse is a gift. No one wants to be the only one working in the relationship. We want a spouse worthy of our hard work who will work just as hard for our common good. This is not only true of happy human marriages, but reflects God’s desire for relationship with us. Christ repeatedly uses wedding imagery, calling Himself the Bridegroom and the Church the Bride. Thus we can read this passage as what is expected of us as Church in relationship to God. We are to be industrious and untiring in our
Dear sisters and brothers in Christ, What are we waiting for? The five foolish virgins in our Gospel parable ought to be prepared for the wedding feast. They are the bridesmaids awaiting the groom. Greeting the groom is their big responsibility, yet for some reason these five are not prepared. Why not? Who or what else are they waiting for? Jesus is trying to get our attention and help us prepare for heaven. We are the ones expecting His arrival (the Second Coming) and we must be prepared. This means doing the work of becoming holy now, here, in this life. Far too often we seem to treat our relationship with God as something we'll take care of when we're done having fun in life. "When I
Dear sisters and brothers in Christ, "Call no one on earth your father..." How often I hear this phrase used against Catholic priests! I have become fond of asking people to place it in context, just to see if they know what it really intends to teach. Our Lord Jesus was not against fatherhood, nor did He have anything against priesthood. Jesus wants us to keep our perspective focused on our relationship to our Heavenly Father. Priests ought to treat our salutation "father" as a call to holiness. We are called to remind people of God. We are called to be so humble that God's fatherhood shines through us. Likewise we are to give of ourselves for the good of others even at the expense of ou
