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Mary Ortwein. "God Seeks-We Find" A Catholic Moment. January 20, 2024 I think it was 2008. I was teaching a Catholic Marriage Education Program I had developed at a Smart Marriages Conference. One afternoon two men who had not been in the training came into my presentation room as I was packing up for the day. They asked if they could speak with me. I said yes.

Julie Lawler. "Twenty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time" Maryknoll Office for Global Concerns. September 4, 2022 Today’s gospel reading leads us to reflect on and examine our priorities. What is most important? It is hard to choose between God and other commitments, but God is inviting us to choose God above all else, possessions and relationships, so that we can have eternal life.

Fr. Euan Marley. "We Have Been This Way Before" Torch. April 5, 2022 In Exodus 14:19 we read, ‘Then the angel of God who went before the camp of Israel moved and went behind them; and the pillar of cloud moved from before them and stood behind them.’ What is happening is that the Egyptian army is pursuing the Israelites into the desert, and God, who has been ahead of them – in appearance at any rate – moves behind them. This is to show that he is protecting the Israelites as they pass through the Red Sea. The journey of Israel has begun, and for most of the journey God is seen to be ahead of them, leading them to the promised land. I wonder if the people of Israel ever felt they had truly finished that journey.

Fr. Lawrence Obilor. "The Danger of Possessions" A Catholic Moment. October 10, 2021 What is our idol? What is our wealth? What is it that we cannot let go? What are the things possessing us such that we have become prisoners of them, and by consequence going against the first commandment that seeks for unconditional priority to God? Why do we walk away sad? Those who have attained detachment towards worldly possessions will never walk away sad. Even if part of what they have or even the whole of it be sacrificed for the sake of Christ.

Fr. Lawrence Obilor. "You too follow Me!" A Catholic Moment. January 24, 2021 God’s call to discipleship is as old as creation itself. In every age, in every nation, in every race and langauge God calls and chooses men and women to sow the seed of His kingdom. The process is always God’s own initiative.

John Bergsma. "The Sunday of the Word of God!" The Sacred Page. January 22, 2021 In September of 2019, Pope Francis released an apostolic letter motu proprio “Aperuit Illis” designating the third Sunday of Ordinary Time—the Sunday on which the semi-continuous reading of the Gospel of the year begins—as “The Sunday of the Word of God,” and suggested that local parishes adopt some ceremonies or practices—like the presentation of Bibles to each family or to recently confirmed, etc.

Fr. Robert Ombres. "Living Provisionally" Torch. January 18, 2021 The readings for Mass today may seem impressive, but also very distant from us. We can admire from a distance whilst remaining unchanged. Jonah, for all his reluctance, was a prophet, and at great cost to himself as his life became disrupted by God.

Joseph LaCombe. "Let Jesus Lead the Way" A Catholic Moment. April 7, 2019 A few years ago, I was out in Palm Springs, California for a conference. I have been out there numerous times, and if you’re not familiar with the Palm Springs, it is in the Sonoran Desert in Southern California, nestled right next to the San Jacinto Mountains. It is truly a beautiful place, especially in the spring, and the mountains rise sharply out of the desert floor from an elevation of around 400’ up to almost 11,000 feet at the summit of Mount San Jacinto. They are a rugged chain, very rocky and the lower elevations covered in brush and cactus. But they are so beautiful.

Joseph LaCombe. "This Is Why He Came" A Catholic Moment. January 13, 2019 This is why He came. This is why Jesus was born a human, why He became one of us, and why He ultimately died for us. To fulfill these words from Isaiah.

Fr. Martin Ganeri. "Rabbuni!" Torch. October 24, 2018 This Sunday’s Gospel passage tells us of the physical healing of a blind man. The gift of sight. Yet it also sets out for us a journey of insight which the man undergoes as he comes into contact with Christ and which leads not just to his being healed of a bodily handicap, but to his becoming a full disciple of Christ, to his following Jesus ‘on the way,’ that ancient phrase for being a Christian. It is as a story of insight that what happens to the man born blind becomes a model for all of us as we seek to understand what it means for us to be ‘on the way’ to and with Christ.

Fr. Robert Ombres. "Captivated by Christ" Torch. January 17, 2018 Religion can be fascinating, and to be the follower of a religion has several attractions. There is an involvement with the supernatural, there are sacred books and a body of teachings to engage the mind, there are rituals and practices that create fellowship and have inspired art and music, there is guidance on right and wrong, and there are indications about life after death.

Fr. Peter Clarke. "Questionable Following of Jesus!" Torch. June 21, 2016 Jesus resolutely turned His face towards Jerusalem. With grim determination He journeyed towards His destiny which He knew would be far from congenial. This was in loving obedience to what His Heavenly Father required of Him…the horrific death by crucifixion. With unsurpassable divine love Jesus lay down His human life for the redemption of mankind.

Carolyn Trumble. "Third Sunday of Easter" Maryknoll Office for Global Concerns. April 10, 2016 Fear and uncertainty have a way of paralyzing us. Violence creates a climate of fear that can eliminate the trust and security we need in life. Violence has a very strong grip on the city of São Paulo, Brazil. About 50,000 homicides per year occur in Brazil, four times as many homicides per year than the United States. The United Nations considers a situation where a country that has more than 25,000 violent deaths per year as living in civil war.

Joseph LaCombe. "Drop the Nets…" A Catholic Moment. February 6, 2016 15 years ago, I sat on the Northeast coast of the United States, on a pier in Maine. It was a beautiful August day on the North Atlantic, and as I was up in Maine for training, we took a long lunch and went to the outskirts of town, and just across the road from a small country store and deli was a small pier where lobster and crab fisherman were coming in, emptying their pots. We took our lunch out to the pier and ate, and watched these men work.

Fr. Bruno Clifton. "The Gaze of Love" Torch. October 6, 2015 Let us have a look at the dynamic of this conversation the rich man has with Jesus. The first thing Mark makes sure to tell us is that this encounter interrupts Jesus ‘setting out on the way’ (v17). It is not a teaching moment, but the man is concerned enough to find the Lord, kneel before him and ask him the question that troubles him, even when Jesus has other things to do. So, it is highly unlikely to be a challenge to his authority or an attempt to trick him.

Fr. Lawrence Lew. "Love, And Do What You Will" Torch. December 16, 2012 “What shall we do?” Various groups of people go to John the Baptist to ask him for moral instruction because they recognize his wisdom and moral authority. In every age people have gone to ask their religious preachers and sages for moral guidance: “What shall we do?” Many of the world’s religions offer responses to this fundamental question on how we should order our lives, how we can live well as human beings.

Fr. Benjamin Earl. "Total Giving" Torch. October 14, 2012 Most of us have at some point been presented with a task that seemed impossible to us. Perhaps it might be sorting out family difficulties: one child is ill, another breaks a leg, the spouse gets stuck in snowstorm, and to cap it all a long-lost Australian aunt turns up on the doorstep unannounced. You get the picture. At this time of year, perhaps the impossible task is a new course of studies; perhaps a new job, or a crisis at work.

Fr. Simon Gaine. "Facing the Challenge" Torch. September 5, 2010 Jesus has had his disagreements with learned scribes and Pharisees along the way to Jerusalem, while the unlearned crowds are still enthusiastically behind him. He speaks to them not to destroy their zeal, but to temper it with something more characteristic of his opponents. The crowds did not know what this road to Jerusalem meant for Jesus, nor did they know what following after him really means. Jesus wants to inform their zeal with a dose of learned realism, warning them that anyone who does not bear the cross and follow after him cannot be his disciple.

Fr. Richard Ounsworth. "More Than Loud Hosannas" Torch. March 28, 2010 It’s often said that St Luke’s Gospel and the Acts of the Apostles are two volumes of a single work. Almost certainly they are written by the same author, and they obviously overlap. We might even go further and notice how the Gospel mostly consists of Jesus’s journey to Jerusalem – at least, that journey provides the backbone, as it were, of the Gospel, and then Acts portrays the outward journey, in a sort of symmetry.

Fr. Isidore Clarke. "Travelling Light" Torch. October 11, 2009 When I was much younger and more active I used to enjoy camping. I would carry all I needed in a rucksack. Sometimes I would walk several miles and on other occasions I would cycle much further. I soon learnt the need to travel as light as possible, taking only the basic necessities. A heavy load would have exhausted me. There was a certain freedom in this simple, uncluttered life-style. I think my experience of hiking and cycling to campsites sheds some light on today’s Gospel. The rich man was a good Jew, observing the Law.

Fr. John O'Connor. "Sheep Who Don't Follow the Herd" Torch. April 29, 2007 Sheep are often ridiculed for their lack of intelligence. This common perception was behind the cartoon I saw on a t-shirt recently, where two sheep are chatting, and one says to the other: ‘Sure, I follow the herd—not out of brainless obedience, mind you, but out of a deep and abiding respect for the concept of community.’

Fr. Duncan Campbell. "Believing is Seeing" Torch. October 29, 2006 The Gospel is about a beggar who was blind being instantly healed. It was enough to lift him out of such total destitution as we can hardly imagine today. We can be thankful that we live in such a different world. Society’s natural response today is to provide medical care for the sick and invalids, and support for the destitute. Stories of healing like this may have introduced such concern.

Fr. Duncan Campbell. "Answering the Call" Torch. January 22, 2006 The Gospel was written to help explain how there began a 'Christ' movement -- what has come to be the Church. It began with the son of a village odd-job man, or carpenter, walking past hard-working fishermen, calling on them to follow him.

Fr. Duncan Campbell. "Fishing" Torch. February 8, 2004 Jesus drew the crowds. He was an inspired speaker. He could make things exciting and possible. The people couldn’t read, so he summarised everything for them.

Fr. Fabian Radcliffe. "Repent! Again!" Torch. January 26, 2003 Only a few weeks ago we were in Advent, and we heard the message: Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is close at hand. So we prepared ourselves for the coming of Christ and celebrated it at Christmas. But now, suddenly, we find ourselves listening to the same message all over again.

St. John Paul II. "VERITATIS SPLENDOR" Vatican. August 6, 1993 The dialogue of Jesus with the rich young man, related in the nineteenth chapter of Saint Matthew's Gospel, can serve as a useful guide for listening once more in a lively and direct way to his moral teaching: