Podcast

Transforming the world may sound like a tall order for just one person. But imagine the good that can happen when each of us takes on the role of missioner and proclaims the joy of our faith. That’s what we celebrate today on World Mission Sunday: the good we have accomplished… and the good yet to be.Our calling in baptism is to go beyond our p...

“Rather, whoever wishes to be great among you will be your servant; For the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many.”Mark 10:43-45Servant leadership is our meditation of the day… the calling we each have to play a lead role in responding to God’s presence in the world by imitating Christ h...

“Amen, I say to you, there is no one who has given up house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or lands for my sake and for the sake of the gospel who will not receive a hundreds times more now in this present age.”Mark 10:29-30Give a lot. Receive a lot in return. I think that is what Mark’s Gospel is trying to tell us tod...

We know they have a special place in our lives. But what is it about children that makes them so privileged in our world?For God, it’s their innocence—something Jesus says we adults should emulate if we wish to enter the Kingdom. For us, I think it’s their vulnerability. Whether we are concerned because a child is ours through parenthood or f...

Traditional Western theology, according to O’Murchu, has been rooted in an understanding of sinful humanity in a flawed creation. Over the centuries this paradigm has engendered co-dependent relationships among the people of God. Even worse has been an imperial image of God, which, after Constantine, which affirmed imperial models of human author...

Today’s scripture offers us a “Moses moment,” if you will, an insight into good leadership when it really counts.Two of the men who had left Egypt with Moses were visited by the spirit and began to prophesy in camp. That alarmed a young man who told Moses to intervene and have them stop. But Moses answered by saying, “Are you jealous for my...

“They came to Capernaum and, once inside the house, he began to ask them, “What were you arguing about on the way?” But they remained silent.” Mark 9:33-34The song says: “Let there be peace on earth, and let it begin with me.” What could be simpler—or more profound?This Tuesday, people the world over will celebrate the International D...

“But who do you say that I am?” Mark 8:29The question of the day may surprise you: Who is Jesus? Is he a prophet? A great teacher? A political disruptor? Is he really the Messiah?In today’s Gospel, Peter recognizes Jesus as the Christ, and says so reassuringly. But when Jesus tells his disciples—for the first time—that the Son of Man must...

For most of this nation’s history, religious socialists made their case to a population that was, for the most part, hospitable to religion and resistant to socialism. Today, those trends are moving in opposite directions. A majority of young people and persons of color in the U.S. express support for socialism. At the same time, even as religiou...

I love a saying commonly attributed to Benjamin Franklin: “Doing your best means never stop trying.” It’s the striving that distinguishes what we do in life—and as believers, it also means the way we share our gifts with the less fortunate.Tomorrow is Labor Day, a great American holiday that honors the workers and the strivers who labor eac...

“One who does justice will live in the presence of the Lord.”Responsorial Psalm 15We often talk about justice with words that “feel right” to us—words of balance and proportionality. Tit-for-tat. Insult for injury. But what exactly is the right response to a human failing, including ones we ourselves commit? What will satisfy an injury, i...

“We have come to believe and are convinced that you are the Holy One of God.”John 6:69 The apostles started to have doubts. Could they accept the things Jesus was saying? Today’s Gospel is a good starting point for our weekly meditation. After all, we have doubts, too… Isn’t the “formula for success” too hard at times? Maybe even a li...