Let the preacher say, you have permission to be sad! In a book, When the Bartender Dims the Lights, Ron Evans writes: “There’s a line I came upon in the musings of a preacher: On a Sunday morning many of the people sitting before you are the walking wounded, and you need to give them…
The Sunday Gospel The prayer of the blind man, Bartimaeus, is a model of prayer. It is full of reverence, simplicity, trust and perseverance. It is the basis of what is known as the Jesus Prayer. This has always been popular in the Orthodox tradition but forgotten in the West until recent times. The prayer…
In the summer of 1854, US President Franklin Pierce sent Isaac Stevens to be governor of Washington Territory, a tract of land controlled by the federal government. Governor Stevens called for a meeting of Native chiefs to discuss the tension between the US government and the Natives. One of the tribes, the Yakima, was stubbornly…
The Sunday Gospel For the past few weeks, the Sunday readings from Mark’s Gospel set us on the road, following Jesus on the way towards his death and resurrection in Jerusalem. The Gospel each week is a challenge asking us are we true followers or not. Last week, you might remember, a rich young man…
As a child, I was taught that I had a guardian angel, a real angel given me by God to accompany me everywhere and protect me from danger. I remember a pious holy card given to me by my mother, showing a young boy playing dangerously close to the edge of a cliff and an…
The Sunday Gospel Jesus was setting out on a journey, a road that would ultimately lead him to Calvary as the suffering, serving Messiah. Are his followers prepared to overcome self-centred ways to follow him? Today’s second reading tells us that the Word of God is alive and active, as sharp as a sword, like…
In Walker Percy’s 1971 novel, Love Among the Ruins, his central character is a psychiatrist named Tom More. Dr More is a Catholic who is no longer practicing his faith, albeit he still believes. This is how he describes his situation: “I believe in God and the whole business but I love women best, music…
The Sunday Gospel Today’s Gospel (Mark 10: 2-16) is first of all about the sanctity of marriage between husband and wife, and then about the touch of God on their children. The background is a trick question about divorce in an attempt to trap Jesus. “Is it against the law for a man to divorce…
We need to pray even when that seems the most lifeless thing to do. That’s a counsel from Michael J. Buckley with which we need to challenge ourselves daily. In the face of real life, prayer can often seem like the most lifeless thing to do. What difference does prayer make? I will pray for…
The Sunday Gospel The Sunday Gospels these weeks are about Jesus on the way to Calvary and how his followers are to take up their crosses also. Today’s reading (Mark 9:38-43, 45, 47-48) is a challenge to be Christian not only in name but also in the way we live. Do I belong to Christ…
Fr Ronald Rolheiser