Living While Dying

​First, we human beings do not like to lose abilities, to grow older and be less able to accomplish what used to be taken for granted.  And yet I think that this is one of God’s special gifts to us as we age and diminish.  We are mortal, we are limited, we are fragile—and still we are in God’s hands.  The more frail we get, the more we have to trust in the God of Love who will never abandon us – but who asks us to trust Him through thick and thin.   

► Watch the video

Worthless Slaves

​When we do good for others, when we push ourselves to put the needs of others ahead of ourselves, when we, in short, fulfill some of the demands of being disciples, we are simply doing what flows from faith. And, in faith, we have complete confidence that God overlooks nothing and that, indeed, Our God has promised us eternal life wrapped in His perfect Love if we trust in Him and walk, as best we can, in the light of His Son and by the power of His Spirit.

► Watch the video

Praying for the Parousia

Catholics pray at every Eucharist for the end of the world.  For we pray a prayer of belief and trust that somewhere ahead of us, Jesus will come a second time and this world as we know it will be replaced. We call this second coming of Jesus the Parousia. Of course, we have no idea when this will happen; we are as much in the dark as the generations before us who were convinced that they were on the edge of destruction and transformation.

► Watch the video

Gossip

​“Judge not, lest you be judged,” says Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount.  I think he is giving us a double caution.  First, don’t jump to conclusions.  Every human being is something of a mystery, even to themselves.  Sharing with others and learning from experience is often more revealing than jumping to conclusions long before you know the person.  And, second, we need to be humble about judgements that often pigeon-hole people so that it doesn’t matter what they do or how they change, we react to them because we think we REALLY know who they are. 

► Watch the video

Suffering

Those who are suffering may often be the greatest teachers to the rest of us as they accept their suffering or offer it for others or radiate the gentle presence of Christ.  Faith and hope and trust in God are treasures shared through the witness of those who are suffering. And if we are too busy trying to explain the supposed reasons behind the suffering, we may miss some of the most profound lessons of life.

► Watch the video