The Word

Have you ever noticed how often we hear the phrase ldquo I just love rdquo ldquo I just love to watch the sun set over the lake I just love the smell of the grease and the hum of the engines I just love the feeling of being in lsquo the zone rsquo I just love that dress on you

Whenever we travel on vacation we are dependent on the hospitality of others We may have to pay for it but the quality of their openness to us either enhances or detracts from our enjoyment Through hospitality we are made to feel as if we are at home And when we feel at home we want to stay In

The readings for today offer us two conflicting images One is of abundance and rejoicing the other is of the cross and self-denial One might think that these two images cannot be harmonized But if we look carefully at their messages we can see how they really do fit together Isaiah rsquo s mess

Dietrich Bonhoeffer a German Lutheran theologian wrote a series of reflections on the Sermon on the Mount entitled The Cost of Discipleship in which he maintained that discipleship requires us to make a fundamental decision to follow Jesus and to accept the conseuences of that decision His own r

This feast combines two previously separate celebrations Originally each feast concentrated on one aspect of the awesome mystery of the Eucharist Christ rsquo s body or his blood Joined with each other they bring together the depth and richness of this theology Looking first at important theme

On the old quiz show ldquo What rsquo s My Line rdquo a panel of celebrities tried to discover the occupation of a contestant who was required to answer their questions honestly but without revealing any pertinent clues The contestant won if the panel failed In today rsquo s Gospel Jesus asks

The blowing wind is a mysterious phenomenon It cannot be seen but its effects are constantly around us In the summer it can be a cooling touch on the skin while in the winter it can slap one hard in the face It carries the seeds that will eventually germinate into new forms of life yet it can

Legend tells us that St Patrick used the three-leafed shamrock to teach about the three persons in one God It is an ingenious pedagogical device very neat and understandable But it does little to explain the mystery we call God While the readings for today do not really describe the divine esse

We might be tempted to laugh at the naive optimism of Don Quixote who though considered ridiculous saw himself as a champion of the vulnerable But is he really so far removed from us As children we may have envisioned ourselves as an astronaut hero Miss America or the batter who wins the Worl

In the popular Christmastime movie ldquo Home Alone rdquo an inattentive family goes off on vacation not noticing the absence of one of their children Left behind with only his ingenuity the young boy fends off a pair of bungling burglars There are some touching moments to this film but it b