In a Lukan parable, Jesus uses the image of “storing,” accumulating and building up a certain quality inside one’s heart.
McKenna
The Body and Blood of Christ (Exodus 24:3-8; Mk 14:22-26)
by Tom McKenna, CM | June 2, 2021 | Formation, Reflections | 0 Comments
There are actions that in their very enactment communicate more depth and meaning than the words that surround them.
Experiencing The Spirit’s Descent (Acts 10: 25-48)
by Tom McKenna, CM | May 19, 2021 | Formation, Reflections | 0 Comments
When we meet love in our lives, we are experiencing The Spirit.
Setting Out (Acts 9:1-20)
by Tom McKenna, CM | May 5, 2021 | Formation, Reflections | 0 Comments
As far as beginnings go, we’d have to look far and wide to find something more dramatic than the one portrayed in chapter 9 of the Acts of the Apostles: Paul knocked over and blinded on that Damascus road.
“First Generation Disciples”(John 10: 14-15)
by Tom McKenna, CM | April 21, 2021 | Formation, Reflections | 2 Comments
“Handing on the tradition” is a phrase often connected with matters of faith.
Moving Ahead (Jeremiah 1:17-19)
by Tom McKenna, CM | Feb 23, 2022 | Formation, Reflections
“Call,” a notion that figures prominently in the Scriptures, God summoning people to change direction. Heading nowhere in particular, someone senses an inner prod to take some new course.
One More (Luke 5:1-11)
by Tom McKenna, CM | Feb 9, 2022 | Formation, Reflections
I can imagine Peter’s consternation when Jesus challenges him to head out one more time. Likely shaking his head, Peter nonetheless gives his “ok, one more!”
Vincentian Discernment: Following The Leader
by Tom McKenna, CM | Mar 29, 2017 | Formation, Reflections
Vincentian Discernment: Following The Leader (Genesis 11:1-9) One of the keys to the story of the tower of Babel is the contrast in it between two lines of thought, one in the incident itself and the other coming a few chapters later in Genesis. In the first the...
Gospel Stretching: Wideness
by Tom McKenna, CM | Mar 15, 2017 | Formation, Reflections
Gospel Stretching (Mark 6:1-6) There’s a wideness in God’s mercy, like the wideness of the Sea. So begins the famous hymn written by Frederick Faber two centuries ago. Freeing and refreshing and life-giving and promising as it sounds, wideness can...
Talk, Speech, Deed
by Tom McKenna, CM | Mar 1, 2017 | Formation, Reflections
Talk, Speech, Deed (1 Cor 2: 1-5) In one of the many commentaries on the quality of the rhetoric in the recent campaign, I came across a distinction I had never thought of – the difference between talk and speech. Talk, whatever comes to you on the spot, or from off...
Repenting From Fear to Trust
by Tom McKenna, CM | Feb 15, 2017 | Formation, Reflections
Repenting From Fear to Trust (Matthew 4: 17) In Matthew’s fourth chapter we come across what you might call the very first word in Jesus' very first sermon, Repent! Which means at base “to turn around.” And so the gospel, “From that time on, Jesus began to...
A Family Gift: Practical Integrity
by Tom McKenna, CM | Feb 1, 2017 | Formation, Reflections
A Family Gift: Practical Integrity (Mk 3:1-6) If you were hired as the Public Relations director for the Jerusalem Pharisees and Scribes mentioned in Mark, you wouldn’t want this section of the gospel to get too much circulation. In their confrontations with Jesus,...
Heavenly Gaze
by Tom McKenna, CM | Jan 18, 2017 | Formation, Reflections
A scene setter. You’re out in the cold night fields, keeping close watch over your flock. And suddenly this light is shining at you and all around you. From out of this radiance a voice of an angel sings out news about the infant in swaddling clothes lying in a...
Sensing Grace
by Tom McKenna, CM | Jan 4, 2017 | Formation, Reflections
Sensing Grace (Lk: 1:26-38) The angel Gabriel reveals to Mary that she’s “full of grace.” And so the question, what is this “grace” that Mary is filled with? There are few better answers to be had than the one in the five words that follow. “The Lord is with you!”...
Attuned To The Fear of the Lord
by Tom McKenna, CM | Dec 21, 2016 | Formation, Reflections
Attuned To “The Fear of the Lord” (Isaiah 11:1-5; Lk. 10: 21) In Isaiah’s description of the special one God will send (“A shoot from the stump of Jesse”), he lists a number of qualities this person will have. Wisdom, understanding, strength, and so forth. But one of...
Counsel for An Anxious Time
by Tom McKenna, CM | Dec 7, 2016 | Formation, Reflections
Counsel for An Anxious Time (Lk. 17:20-25) All through Luke’s gospel, the underlying movement is towards Jerusalem. From the beginning that’s where Jesus is heading, and as He gets closer the pace picks up and the tensions rise. This is not only because of the...