Luke’s 19th chapter begins with a story of “two people looking.”
vincentian spirituality
65th Anniversary of Vincentian Brother Alfred Smith’s Service
To keep God’s people safe and alive in their battle against Amalek, Moses has to hold his arms high in the air for a very long while.
Stand Up and Go! (2 Kings, 5:14-17; Lk 17:11-19)
For all of us who have been through the pandemic, we know first-hand how disease and sickness have a way of separating us, how they can isolate and cut us off from the rest of life.
The Grace of Visibility
The Grace of Visibility (James 2: 1-5) America Magazine (8/06/18) recently featured an article entitled “Becoming Invisible.” The author observes how in both the early and ending years of life, a person is less visible to the surrounding world. A newly born looking...
The Planted Word
The Planted Word (James 1: 17-27) Early in the last century, a boy came home from school to tell his mother how he had thrown snow balls at a homeless man lying drunk in the winter street. Taking him aside, she drove home reasons why he should never demean...
Swept Up Into
Swept Up Into (Amos 7: 15-15; Ephesians 1: 10-14; Mark 6:7-9) Years ago I was part of a raft trip down a river that was mostly tranquil but which every once in a while would hit rapids. Then what was a calm, sit-back-and-enjoy-the-scenery stream turned into...
Up on Your Feet!
Up on Your Feet! (Ez 2:2 Mark 6:1-6) If you were to paint a picture of the prophet Ezekiel as he first appears in the Bible, you might have him sitting back in a recliner, at peace with himself and confident that the way he saw his world was the way the world truly...
Acting For Equality — in Faith
Acting For Equality -- in Faith (2 Corinthians 8:13; Mk 5: 25-34) If you’re looking for a topical subject in the Scriptures, you wouldn’t have to go much further than the one Paul brings up in a request to the Corinthians. He’s asking them to help their poorer...
Embrace What God is Doing
Embrace What God is Doing (Rom 5:1-2) To appreciate the revolutionary thrust of Paul’s message, I think of the story of a young man whose inner voice kept repeating, “You’re not good enough.” Responding to this, he felt he had to keep demonstrating that he had...
Trinitarian Nearness
Trinitarian Nearness (Rom. 8; Mt. 28) A woman once told me a lesson she had learned during the last days of her husband’s life. He had all the medical attention possible with hospice workers around the clock. But in those last days, she said, all he really wanted was...
The Face of Forgiveness
The Face of Forgiveness (Psalm 4) In perhaps an awkward way of putting it, one of the psalms has us asking a favor from a face – the face of God. “Lord let your face shine upon us” and a little later, “Let the light of Your face shine upon us.” (Ps. 4). The phenomenon...
On Pruning Vines
On Pruning Vines (John 15) In his letter to the Church in Rome, St. Paul asserts, “All things work together unto good for those who love God.” (Rom. 8:28) No matter what kinds of things happen, both good and indeed bad, good will rise on the other side of it. It’s a...
