“I believe that friendship with God is open to all...How I express it may be like Martha one day, like Mary another. It may cause me to be honest in blunt, honest conversation like Abraham did one day, while I may doubt God’s work like Sarah the next...In any and all these things, it is the relationship that is important.”

Mary Ortwein. "Friends with God." A Catholic Moment. July 16, 2022

“sooner or later, we are probably ALL called to be loving in the face of the taunts, rejection, or out-and-out cruelty of others”

Mary Ortwein. "Tough Skin and Tender Heart." A Catholic Moment. January 29, 2022

"Suffering is an inevitable part of human existence. In itself suffering is bad, and God does not desire that man should suffer because it was not in his original plan. But it takes a different dimension when it is lived with faith in God. Jesus suffered not because it is good to suffer but because it is a necessary path to the redemption of man who brought suffering and death upon himself through sin. While..."

Fr. Lawrence Obilor. "The suffering Servant and the saving power of God." A Catholic Moment. September 12, 2021

"We have been getting a number of rousing challenges from Jesus in the past several weeks, as our readings have followed the progress of his ministry, and Jesus repeatedly makes clear that following him is not going to be easy in any way. This Sunday we get another challenge from Jesus to “fish or cut bait” in our relationship with him. Paradoxically, however, if we think we are going to preserve our lives and comfort..."

John Bergsma. "The Paradox of Discipleship." The Sacred Page. September 11, 2021

“No matter what type of suffering the world can throw at us, none of it can compare to what Jesus endured…for us. And he did not allow suffering to sidetrack His mission and His love of the Father…and His mission of sharing the Good News of the Father with anyone who would listen”

John Ciribassi. "Offer It Up." A Catholic Moment. April 3, 2021

“God asks for faithfulness through the good and the bad. However, sometimes in the good times we do not think we need God’s help, and in the bad times we can blame God for all that is wrong in our lives.”

Jillian Foster. "Nineteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time." Maryknoll Office for Global Concerns. August 7, 2022

"“Put up or shut up.” “Does she walk the talk?” Daily we use these phrases to ask whether people are sincere. Do we follow through with what we say? “What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone says he has faith but does not have works?” We all are familiar with this question from St. James in the second reading. Is the Judeo-Christian tradition of faith a litany of verbal values that move..."

Fr. Mike Gillgannon. "Twenty-fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time." Maryknoll Office for Global Concerns. September 12, 2021

“To share God’s love with others is in fact what Jesus asked Peter to do. And that is what God asks each of us to do as well, through both our words and our actions, today and every day.”

Fr. Sacha Bermundez-Goldman, SJ. "Third Sunday of Easter." Maryknoll Office for Global Concerns. April 14, 2019

“although pain is real, it becomes bearable when shared, when accompanied with love, care, and concern”

Kathryn Seib Vargas. "Palm Sunday." Maryknoll Office for Global Concerns. April 14, 2019

“Because Jesus is the compassion of God in person, he becomes totally approachable by those who suffer.”

Fr. James Kroeger, MM. "Twenty-ninth Sunday in Ordinary Time." Maryknoll Office for Global Concerns. October 21, 2018

“The transformation that comes along with forgiveness is not limited to only the individual or those “directly” affected by the act; on the contrary, forgiveness transforms the entire universe, the entire “body.””

Sr. Euphrasia Nyaki, MM. "Pentecost Sunday." Maryknoll Office for Global Concerns. May 15, 2016

"Today’s readings introduce Jesus as a prophet and explain how prophets and other messengers from God inevitably suffer rejection. The readings challenge us to face rejection and hardship with prophetic courage."

Fr. Lawrence Obilor. "The power of God versus human weaknesses." A Catholic Moment. July 4, 2021

"We can always triumph if we rely on the supreme power of God over destructive forces. John Newton used to be among the captains of the cargo ships carrying slaves from Africa to America. He never worried whether slave trade was right or wrong. It brought money, and that was just enough. One night during their sail, a raging storm blew hell at the sea."

Fr. Lawrence Obilor. "He calms our storms." A Catholic Moment. June 20, 2021

"The evangelists did not report the passion and death of Jesus just to stir our emotions rather they presented us Christ who gave up his life so that we might be saved. On this day, the Holy Mother, the Church celebrates the sixth Sunday of Lent known as both Palm Sunday and Passion Sunday. It is the beginning of what we traditionally know as the Holy Week. The week-long celebrations are meant to re-present to..."

Fr. Lawrence Obilor. "The Kenosis of Christ." A Catholic Moment. March 28, 2021

"How could the Messiah die? Despite a few mysterious prophetic texts that seemed to intimate this possibility, the idea that the Messiah could arrive and subsequently be killed was radically counter-intuitive to most first-century Jews. Yet the conviction of the early Christians, based on Jesus of Nazareth’s own teachings about himself, was that the radically counter-intuitive impossibility was actually prophesied, if one had the eyes to see and the ears to hear it in Israel’s..."

John Bergsma. "My God! Why Have You Forsaken Me?." The Sacred Page. March 25, 2021

"What conclusion do we usually draw when we reflect on the ‘whyness’ of human suffering? Naturally nobody desires suffering. It is scary to cohabit with it. It humiliates. This was the experience of Job in today’s first reading. However, the reading challenges us to avoid Job’s pessimistic and desperate view of life as a chain of pain and sufferings and to accept life with hope and optimism as a precious gift from God, using it..."

Fr. Lawrence Obilor. "God and the Suffering Humanity." A Catholic Moment.

"Life is difficult, but it is neither helpful nor virtuous to utter expressions of stoic fatalism. The true virtue, the true courage, is to maintain hope (and also love and joy) in the face of what can sometimes look and feel like an ocean of darkness. This Sunday’s readings raise the problem of the great sorrows of life, the reverses, difficulties, and especially illnesses that can seem to sap life of all joy. Yet in..."

John Bergsma. "Is Life a Drudgery?." The Sacred Page. February 7, 2021

“no single sacrifice and charity shown to the “Other” especially to the strangers, the homeless, the abandoned, the sick and all who cannot reciprocate our charity will go unrewarded. Our God takes account of every single charity we show to others.”

Fr. Lawrence Obilor. "God our guest." A Catholic Moment. July 21, 2019

“Mary is concerned about what Jesus can give to her, and sits soaking up his teaching. Martha is concerned with what she can do for Jesus, and is busy about serving the food.”

John Bergsma. "Entertaining God." The Sacred Page. July 18, 2019

“Jesus comes to us most powerfully in our weakest moments – in the uncertainty, the isolation, and the times of hurt. When we are in these times and we have the awareness that we need Him and no one else can help us – He comes to us.”

Joseph LaCombe. "Belief in His Mercy." A Catholic Moment. April 28, 2019

"These are wise words from the book of Wisdom today. So often we witness or experience bad things in the world, or suffer from afflictions and we may ask, “How can God let this happen?” Similarly, I remember a story about a tornado a couple years back and someone mentioned on Facebook how thankful they were to God that they and others were OK and did not get hit by the tornado."

Joseph LaCombe. "Just Have Faith." A Catholic Moment. July 1, 2018

"As I am writing this, we are sitting in the aftermath of another mass shooting and murder here in America. Nine people were killed in brutal fashion yesterday in Charleston, S.C., in their church of all places, conducting a peaceful and loving bible study. They were the victims of a hate crime, and an act of terrorism. Pure and simple."

Joseph LaCombe. "Calming the Global Storm." A Catholic Moment. June 21, 2015

“We need friendships and unity with all those who believe in Jesus Christ and his Father, to insulate us from the wolves of our own time”

Laura Kazlas. "Words of Peace, Love and Healing." A Catholic Moment. July 7, 2013

“He commands his disciples to love each other. We don’t choose who becomes a disciple. The Lord chooses them.”

Fr. Dermot Morrin. "Into the Darkness." Torch. May 11, 2022

“in addition to praying that God’s grace will put an end to some difficulty or suffering we may need to pray for God’s grace in our struggles with those difficulties and that suffering.”

Fr. Robert Ombres. "Hope and Realism." Torch. May 2, 2022

“God does not forget the innocent victim. Injustice and cruelty will not have the last word.”

Fr. John O’Connor. "Hope of the Innocents." Torch. March 15, 2022

“the glory of the Temple, the place God lives with his people, is only raised through travail.”

Fr. Bruno Clifton. "More than Worth the Cost." Torch. October 11, 2021

“could we not have the resurrection without the suffering and the dying?Evasion is not a way to salvation.”

Fr. Robert Ombres. "By Way of the Cross." Torch. September 6, 2021

"When medieval artists and icon painters of the Eastern Christian tradition portrayed Jesus about to be baptised by John the Baptist, they often portrayed all sorts of strange and menacing sea creatures in the waters in which Jesus stood. This symbolised that, in accepting baptism, Jesus was acting in solidarity with the human condition, not least what threatens us."

Fr. John O'Connor. "Tossed by the Waves." Torch. June 15, 2021

"‘Unless a wheat grain falls on the ground and dies, it remains alone.’ This mini-parable from Christ about the grain that dies, about losing our life in order to save it for eternity, forebodes his own impending death on the Cross. But how is it that we must die to avoid being alone? Isn’t it precisely death that makes us most completely alone?"

Fr. Matthew Jarvis. "Simplify My Heart." Torch. March 18, 2021

“Christians, like all other people, will suffer and die. Yet we will not do so alone, for the suffering Christ is with us...We can only overcome our fear of death and find healing for our pain if we are united with Christ on the cross.”

Fr. David Goodill. "Gripped by Fear." Torch. April 17, 2019

“We are not to gloat over disasters happening to others, thinking ourselves exempt from the possibility of facing imminent judgement. No, we are to repent, to orientate our lives towards God and live out his mercy.”

Fr. Peter Harries. "God Is.." Torch. March 21, 2019

“Through Christ’s passion and death, we learn how God holds back nothing in bringing about our salvation.”

Fr. Robert Gay. "Future Proof." Torch. September 12, 2018

"Today’s Gospel sets the scene for the forthcoming drama of Holy Week. Jesus is, in effect, telling his disciples both that his work of preaching is over and also – something difficult to grasp – that a final cosmic battle with Satan is about to begin. This battle will involve his death, but that death will be unimaginably fruitful in defeating evil and granting his followers access to eternal life."

Fr. John Patrick Kenrick. "Learning to Obey God." Torch. March 14, 2018

"Saint Peter must have felt relief by his experience of the Transfiguration. A few verses before in Mark’s Gospel he had really been deflated by Christ’s words to him. Why? Peter in a moment of revelation had publicly acknowledged that Jesus was the Messiah. And no doubt he had seen the implications of this announcement for himself. He could see himself as Christ’s right hand man in a thriving Kingdom of God. But then Jesus..."

Fr. David Sanders. "Light in the Darkness." Torch. February 21, 2018

"Poor old Job! You can't help feeling sorry for the man. Despite all his protestations and prayers, God seems to be ignoring his requests! Why, I wonder, does the Church introduce us to Job's suffering so early in this year's Liturgical Calendar, and so close to the beginning of Lent in ten days time? A reading from the prophet Job only appears once in the Sunday scripture readings, so why now? If my memory serves..."

Fr. Leo Edgar. "Poor Old Job!." Torch. January 31, 2018

"When it comes to clichés, perhaps one of the most archetypal of all is the cliché 'life is just one damned thing after another.' A cliché of course is a common expression that has lost all its freshness and meaning through overuse, and this is certainly true of the 'one damned thing' saying. Through frequent repetition over the last hundred years, this saying has become very dull, but what's more, repetition and dullness seem to..."

Fr. Robert Verrill. "No Clichés in Christ." Torch. February 3, 2015

“The reality is that conversion takes time and a lot of grace. It requires us not only to make up our minds that we want to change, but also for us to be willing to work patiently with God’s help to allow the change to happen.”

Fr. Robert Gay. "Daily Conversion." Torch. March 3, 2013

"John's Gospel is building to a show-down. You can feel the rising tension. The Pharisees are watching for an opportunity to attack Jesus. And as they complain in the verse immediately preceding our passage, Jesus is increasingly the focus of wider attention: 'the world has come after him'. At Cana, at the outset of his public ministry, Jesus told his Mother that his 'hour' had not yet come. Now, he tells us, it is here...."

Fr. Richard Finn. "Poison and Antidote." Torch. March 25, 2012

"In this Gospel we have Jesus talking in an unusual way to an unusual man. When we hear Jesus speaking, usually to crowds, it is loud and clear, even if he speaks always in parables. These are puzzles, simple stories, that we won't forget, but we have to grow to understand. John must have remembered this conversation with such an important person. The other occasion John remembered was the Last Supper discourse."

Fr. Duncan Campbell. "A Disciple." Torch. March 18, 2012

"'If anyone wants to be a follower of mine….' To me this is one of the most crucial statements in the whole of the Gospels. It forces me to ask myself how much it means to me to be a follower of Jesus. Am I prepared to give what it takes? We have read of Jesus asking his disciples, 'You, who do you say I am?' Peter's replied, 'You are the Christ!' with the title..."

Fr. Peter Clarke. "A Tortured Relationship." Torch. September 13, 2009

"Jesus is near his end in the gospel of today. The acclamation of Palm Sunday is over and the crowds melt away. Jewish plotting for his arrest is stealthily working. What precipitates his words, 'Now the hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified', is the approach for the first time in his ministry of Greeks (Gentiles) seeking him out. It was 'to gather into one the dispersed children of God' that..."

Fr. Theodore Taylor. "Keeping Company with the Lord." Torch. March 29, 2009

“This coming of the Son of Man in his death and resurrection is in fact the climax of history, and gives meaning to all that is, visible and invisible, and in particular to the distress that accompanies it”

Fr. Fabian Radcliffe. "The Coming of the Son of Man." Torch. December 3, 2006

"Some years back, just a few weeks after being ordained a priest, I found myself chaplain for a month at one of the London hospitals. One day I was called to the bedside of a young boy dying of cancer. His parents were there and we all sat together for the last few hours of his life."

Fr. Martin Ganeri. "Do You Not Care?." Torch. June 25, 2006

"In his grief Job takes a grim view of our lot. Genesis told how Adam and Eve had been created in God's image, to share in his rule, to co-operate freely in the creation. But now Job sees life as servitude. Sitting among the ashes of his past good fortune, he has come to see the world through the eyes of Israel's pagan neighbours and enemies. It was they who thought the gods made human..."

Fr. Richard Finn. "A New Sabbath." Torch. February 5, 2006

"When we became believers - we could say also for some of us, when we were invited to follow in the footsteps of St Dominic - it was not in order to follow a rule of life, however holy. It was to taste this joy. It was to be set free from the darkness that overshadows human living, set free to share a joy, a joy that no one can take from us. If we..."

Fr. Robert Eccles. "So great was their joy." Torch. May 4, 2003

“To be able to love and accept ourselves, to give someone else the support of love and maybe some guidance if it is needed, even to be able to make someone feel better about themselves, is to bring a kind of healing that is very real and very important. It may not be spectacular but it can still be a miracle.”

Fr. Gordian Marshall. "A Sermon that Heals." Torch. February 11, 2001