[RCL] Revelation 7:9-17; Psalm 34:1-10, 22; 1 John 3:1-3; Matthew 5:1-12 Today we celebrate the Feast of All Saints, one of the principal feasts in the life of the church. All Saints’ is a day when we recall the enduring beauty of the faithful, both living and departed, and when we profess that, somehow, we…

Do you sometimes get turned off by “religion talk”? Or do you think that the vocabulary and jargon used by many Christians somehow makes an ordinary idea so religious that it doesn’t apply in day-to-day living? Such a word is “grace.” It sounds so pious and out of reach. So when a prayer, one of…

RCL: Exodus 20:1-4, 7-9, 12-20; Psalm 19; Philippians 3:4b-14; Matthew 21:33-46 Exodus 20:1-4, 7-9, 12-20 There’s something about the Ten Commandments that engages my Inner Child. Not a fun, playful Inner Child, but a child who is very keenly invested in rules: Children naturally are interested in rulemaking, rule-keeping, and rule-enforcement. When I read the…

There are many truths of which the full meaning cannot be realized until personal experience has brought it home. John Stuart Mill Sitting at a table in the lunchroom at work the other day, a small group of people began talking about the movie Titanic. One person in the group had not yet seen this phenomenon…

LCR: Isaías 35:1–10; Salmo 146:4–9 LOC; Santiago 5:7–10; Mateo 11:2–11 Encarcelado por órdenes de Herodes, Juan el Bautista tiene urgencia de saber si Jesús es el Mesías esperado. Para saberlo, envía una comitiva a donde se encontraba. La pregunta es simple: ¿Eres tú el que ha de venir o debemos esperar a otro? La respuesta…

LCR: Ezequiel 34:11–16, 20–24; Salmo 95:1–7a; Efesios 1:15–23; San Mateo 25:31–46 Se acerca el final de este año 2023, estamos a un mes del día de Navidad y a un poco más del inicio de un nuevo año; ya se respira un aire navideño en muchas de nuestras ciudades. Con el fin de año llega…

Isn’t today’s gospel reading the darndest parable? The whole thing just sort of jerks along, and doesn’t quite work – especially when you get to the poor fellow who is tossed into the outer darkness for violating the dress code. Puzzling. Let’s unpack it a little and maybe make it a bit easier to grasp….

LCR: 2 Reyes 5:1-3, 7-15c; Salmo 111; 2 Timoteo 2:8-15; San Lucas 17: 11-19 Unidos en la adversidad y agradecidos en la prosperidad. La respuesta a nuestras oraciones llega de donde menos esperamos y de las formas más asombrosas, pero a la vez más sencillas que pudiéramos imaginar. Dios está actuando permanentemente en nuestra historia…

Have you ever tried to explain to a friend, who has never visited, about your home town? It can be a bit disconcerting when you start to describe what for you is so familiar and heart warming, and you look up to see descending over your friend’s eyes a haze, the eyelids starting to droop,…

The ancients used to call sight, “The Queen of the Senses.” I suspect this enthronement of the sense of sight is still understandable to us. After all, what is lovelier than seeing the orange fire of the sky at sunrise? What is more beautiful than the burning leaves of autumn? What touches our hearts more…