Tom McKenna, CM
Author
![Bottom Land (Mt 5:21)](https://b704496.smushcdn.com/704496/en/files/2022/10/mckenna-tom-reflections-featured-facebook-1.jpg?lossy=2&strip=1&webp=1)
Bottom Land (Mt 5:21)
We all know the phrase, “getting to the bottom of it.” It means digging down beneath the outside appearances to the inner core of something
![Bottom Land (Mt 5:21)](https://b704496.smushcdn.com/704496/en/files/2022/10/mckenna-tom-reflections-featured-facebook-1.jpg?lossy=2&strip=1&webp=1)
Who’s In/Out? (Mark 3:20-35)
I remember a man complaining that there was too much dissention in his family. He used a memorable phrase to describe their connections: “In a given month, who’s in and who’s out?”
![Bottom Land (Mt 5:21)](https://b704496.smushcdn.com/704496/en/files/2022/10/mckenna-tom-reflections-featured-facebook-1.jpg?lossy=2&strip=1&webp=1)
The Power For Oneness (1 Cor 12: 12-13)
The motto on the great seal of the United States is the Latin “E Pluribus Unum.” It’s translated: “Out of the Many, One.”
![Bottom Land (Mt 5:21)](https://b704496.smushcdn.com/704496/en/files/2022/10/mckenna-tom-reflections-featured-facebook-1.jpg?lossy=2&strip=1&webp=1)
Hearing the Voice (John 10:11-18)
I think people would worry if someone accused them of “hearing voices.” But the truth of the matter is that during each week, any number of voices are directed at us.
![Bottom Land (Mt 5:21)](https://b704496.smushcdn.com/704496/en/files/2022/10/mckenna-tom-reflections-featured-facebook-1.jpg?lossy=2&strip=1&webp=1)
Indwelling (John 14:21-26)
The Lord Jesus grew up in an agricultural setting, and so it’s no surprise that He draws on images that run through that world.
![Bottom Land (Mt 5:21)](https://b704496.smushcdn.com/704496/en/files/2022/10/mckenna-tom-reflections-featured-facebook-1.jpg?lossy=2&strip=1&webp=1)
The Shining Gaze (Ps 4:7a; Lk 24:36-80)
A favorite verse, Psalm 4, reads: “Lord, let your face shine upon us.” It summons up a very warm and private kind of experience that each of us in our own way can recognize.
![Bottom Land (Mt 5:21)](https://b704496.smushcdn.com/704496/en/files/2022/10/mckenna-tom-reflections-featured-facebook-1.jpg?lossy=2&strip=1&webp=1)
Solidarity – in Life, Death, and New Life (Mark 14:1-15:47)
A remark I once overheard: “I don’t mind suffering when nobody knows about it – as long as somebody knows about it!”
![Bottom Land (Mt 5:21)](https://b704496.smushcdn.com/704496/en/files/2022/10/mckenna-tom-reflections-featured-facebook-1.jpg?lossy=2&strip=1&webp=1)
John 3:16 – Read It!
If you’ve watched any sports events over the last decades, you’ve seen banners held high, calling attention to a famous passage in John’s Gospel.
![Bottom Land (Mt 5:21)](https://b704496.smushcdn.com/704496/en/files/2022/10/mckenna-tom-reflections-featured-facebook-1.jpg?lossy=2&strip=1&webp=1)
A Closer Walk (John 2:13-25)
Early in St. John’s gospel, we see Jesus resolutely striding into the outer courtyard of the Jerusalem Temple, a space bordering on what the Jewish people acknowledged to be God’s own Dwelling place.
![Bottom Land (Mt 5:21)](https://b704496.smushcdn.com/704496/en/files/2022/10/mckenna-tom-reflections-featured-facebook-1.jpg?lossy=2&strip=1&webp=1)
Gratitude: The Key (1 Cor. 9: 16-19; Mk.1:29-39)
A question: what is it that allows people to keep on giving? What is it that motivates someone who isn’t receiving any reward or payment to continue being generous?