A widow in Jesus' time would have been one of the most outcast in society. With no man to own property, home, or bring in an income, she would be struggling to get by. And yet, with great humility and great courage, she still presents herself in the Temple, showing her brave faith. She trusts in God's word. She hopes in his promise. And she gives all that she has. While no one else may notice, Jesus does. He notices the ways in which we empty ourselves when we don't think we have more to give. Jesus sees. Jesus sees the mother who gets up for the sixth time in the middle of the night to comfort her crying baby. Jesus sees the father who takes up the daily grind to provide for his family, exhausted and wanting for a respite. Jesus sees the child who shares their Cheerios snack with a friend. Jesus sees us. And our reward for these moments of quiet humility and generosity will be great.
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34th Sunday in Ordinary Time—November...
From the cross Christ invites us to share in his reign. We participate in his kingship by sacrificing ourselves in love—by caring for the weak and the sick, by helping those in need, by sharing our time and our very selves with those around us. In the end, love itself proves to be stronger than e...
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33rd Sunday of Ordinary Time—November...
In our readings for this Sunday, the Church invites us to relfect on this call to approach each day as our last, to strive continually to hold absolutely nothing back from the Lord because we assume we'll have another chance tomorrow. We only have the present moment to give ourselves completely t...
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31st Sunday in Ordinary Time—November...
Today's Gospel has two parts that don't exactly seem to fit together. First Jesus is condemning the Scribes and Pharisees for the "hard burdens," they put on the people and then, all of a sudden, he says that we should not call anyone Father. What's going on here?
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