25 October 2026 - the second is like it

 

Today's Readings
(Audio)

 

"Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?"

This test was not so much a trap in the sense that there were no obvious expectations for how he would answer incorrectly. It wasn't a setup where it seemed he could say nothing without upsetting someone or other. Instead it was more of an opportunity for him to make a statement about his basic message. If his basic message turned out to be wildly unorthodox then of course this would make everyone aware of that. If he was really focused on a minor rule or an obscure text people would see how that was not consistent with their religion as they understood it. In fact, if he brought forth something entirely novel that would be a sign in itself that he was not in continuity with what he come before in salvation history. And if there was nothing new about him, why all the fuss? But Jesus was like a master of a house "who brings out of his treasure what is new and what is old" (see Matthew 13:52). He did not come to abolish the law but to fulfill it, to bring forth the fullness of meaning that it always contained, but which was heretofore hidden by sin-darkened human minds.

You shall love the Lord, your God,
with all your heart,
with all your soul,
and with all your mind.

The first commandment, also summarized in the Shema prayer, was the obviously correct answer. It was not particularly surprising in itself. The Pharisees certainly might have easily agreed. But the way the Pharisees lived out the first and greatest commandment was often in stark opposition to love of neighbor. The way they obeyed seemed to suggest that that commandment was not at all like our related to love of neighbor. They often seemed to use love of God as an excuse to shirk on what would otherwise be their duty toward those around them. But this kind of division within the law was never what God intended. All of the commandments issued from the same divine heart which was itself undivided. Thus any insinuation that the commandments contradicted was actually an insult to God's heart, as though he himself had competing priorities.

The second is like it:
You shall love your neighbor as yourself.

Jesus understood the mind of God, since he was himself the word that fully expressed it. He knew that love of God would not be complete without including love for those who were made in the image of God. More to it, one could not actually do anything that was a benefit to God. He was already entirely self-sufficient and perfectly happy from all eternity. He had no need for creation. Rather, he made creation out of love. In order to express our own love and gratitude for such a gift we are meant to share his heart, his desire to see his creation blessed and thriving. This does not exclude or diminish the more religious and God-focused aspects of the law, since his creatures can in fact only thrive when they love God with all their heart, soul, and mind. Love for self and love for neighbor means that we want to be ordered toward the one in whom alone we find lasting joy. So it is really not a separate thing to love neighbor and to love God. They are different aspects of a single expression or activity, of which God remains the center. This was how Paul loved the Thessalonians, and why he was so happy to see them discovering God's purpose for them.

And you became imitators of us and of the Lord,
receiving the word in great affliction, with joy from the Holy Spirit,
so that you became a model for all the believers
in Macedonia and in Achaia.

 

 

Bob Fitts - One God

 

24 October 2026 - greater sinners?

Today's Readings

(Audio)

 

Do you think that because these Galileans suffered in this way 
they were greater sinners than all other Galileans?

Jesus explained that the tragedy of suffering was not necessarily connected to anyone's particular individual sin. Not every instance of people dying unexpectedly was a repeat of the judgment on Sodom. In most cases the people involved are not any more guilty than anyone else, which is not to say innocent. But every instance of unexpected death can serve as a wake up call for the rest of us, lest we be caught unawares.

But I tell you, if you do not repent,
you will all perish as they did!

Our guilt may not cause God to rain down judgment and smite us. But we nevertheless don't want to perish in our sin, even if we are no more guilty than everyone else. We are doubtlessly included among the "all" who have "sinned and fallen short of the glory of God" (see Romans 3:32) about whom Paul speaks. If we perish in this condition what might have otherwise been a momentary unexpected tragic event can potentially have eternal consequences. What Jesus was saying was not so much that we're mostly innocent as that we are all guilty to some degree and need to repent. 

‘For three years now I have come in search of fruit on this fig tree 
but have found none.
So cut it down.
Why should it exhaust the soil?’

The gardener is watching, waiting, and working, to see the fig tree bear fruit. But the fact of the matter is that we must respond to his care, and there is a finite amount of time in which we may do so. We do not know precisely when our own tree will but cut down. But if we never grow up from a parasitic existence of exhausting the soil it will be cut down eventually. If we do begin to bear fruit, regularly and reliable, relying on the grace we receive from Jesus and the power of his Spirit, we can hope for something that is more like a transplant at the end of our earthly journey.

What does bearing fruit look like? It looks like receiving the grace "given to each of us according to the measure of Christ’s gift" and using it to grow together in love "for building up the Body of Christ". We are warned by Paul against the potential obstacle of false doctrine that stems from "human trickery". This doctrine is tempting because it causes us to focus on ourselves rather than on our unity in Christ. But it is antithetical to bearing fruit as Christians. False doctrine prevents the possibility of "living the truth in love", since we can't do that without truth. But, grounded in solid doctrine, understanding it in a "mature" way allows us to "grow in every way into him who is the head, Christ". Then, at the end of our journey we may hope to fully express what the psalmist foresaw.

I rejoiced because they said to me,
“We will go up to the house of the LORD.”
And now we have set foot
within your gates, O Jerusalem.

 

 

Trevor Thomson - Rejoiced

 

23 October 2026 - now is the time

Today's Readings
(Audio)

 

You hypocrites!
You know how to interpret the appearance of the earth and the sky;
why do you not know how to interpret the present time?

We are good at noticing the subtle signs regarding things that we find interesting or useful. But we have an impressive ability to willfully ignore that which should be more obvious to us: the coming presence of the messiah into our midst. The sign of the messiah is not meant to merely suggest a minor change in the global climate. Rather, his coming indicates that history has moved into its final stage and that the end is near. It is now both possible and necessary to repent, and to bear fruit worthy of repentance. We must not, as many in Jerusalem did, miss the time of our visitation. We must not treat Jesus as though he merely came to hang out. He came to unleash his fiery love among us, about which he read yesterday. He came to do something inside of our hearts which motivated him enough to endure the pain of the cross. His presence was not a sign of immediate judgment on the world, but rather of impending judgment. He was the mercy that provided the time of grace when people were meant to repent and turn fully back to the Lord with all of their hearts. The fig tree was not immediately cut down for bearing no fruit. But if it continued to exhaust the soil without improvement it would be cut down eventually. We can summarize the foregoing by saying that the sign of the messiah means that the time is now. As Paul wrote:

Behold, now is the favorable time; behold, now is the day of salvation (see Second Corinthians 6:2).

Why now? Because it is preferable to pay our debt to God freely than to have it extracted from us forcibly, which in itself is far better than to leave matters eternally unsettled.

If you are to go with your opponent before a magistrate,
make an effort to settle the matter on the way;
otherwise your opponent will turn you over to the judge,
and the judge hand you over to the constable,
and the constable throw you into prison.

But wait. We know that the debt we owed our master is something that is fundamentally unrepayable. How are we supposed to resolve matters in time to avoid the punishment described? There is a sense in which we must repay the temporary consequences that are the results of our sin. If we have stolen something, we ought to return it, for instance. But what God is really looking to see from us is that we bear fruit. We do this, not from our own resources, but from his own abundance. In this way we can to some degree repay the love that he has shown us with love, love that is itself his gift.

I, a prisoner for the Lord,
urge you to live in a manner worthy of the call you have received,
with all humility and gentleness, with patience,
bearing with one another through love,
striving to preserve the unity of the spirit
through the bond of peace;  

 

Chris Tomlin - Give Us Clean Hands 

22 October 2026 - to set the earth on fire

 

Today's Readings
(Audio)

 

Do you think that I have come to establish peace on the earth?
No, I tell you, but rather division.

It seems safe to say that Jesus has desires that, at least on the surface, we don't share. When we think about a world that is rooted and grounded in love we place the importance of family near the top. Obviously, the unity among members of families would seem to be a key indicator as to whether or not families were thriving. A world of divided families would seem to be a world heading in precisely the wrong direction. But what we should recognize from all of this is not that Jesus is not loving, but that his love is different than ours, more like a fire, containing elements of transformation and purification. That love requires transformation we also garner from the much more amenable text we have today from Paul.

that he may grant you in accord with the riches of his glory
to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in the inner self,
and that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith

He did already dwell in the hearts of the Ephesians, but they needed to grow more if they wanted to become all they were meant to be as Christians, to have the strength to fully comprehend the all surpassing love of Christ. Why did it take strength? Well, for one thing, it was likely to sometimes go against their base instincts or assumptions about things, just as Jesus does for us in today's Gospel. But getting on the same page was Jesus was a vital prerequisite to living in a way that could lead to union with him, to being "filled with all the fullness of God".

It is not that Jesus desires disunity among families for its own sake. What he desires is that our unity be reestablished with him as the cornerstone. People and families contain both light and darkness. In ourselves we must recognize our divided nature so as to choose the light. In families too we need to understand where people stand, with Jesus and the light, or against him, not to reject those among us who choose to stand against him, but rather to know the specific loving response that is appropriate in their case. We stand apart, yes, but in order to help, in order to minister the love of Christ to them. What we must not do is treat family as such an absolute good that we wouldn't dare upset it even for the sake of the eternal souls of some of its members. Ultimately, all of us together being filled with the fullness of Christ is of infinitely more value than some momentary hurt feelings, if those happen to be a byproduct of honesty and faithfulness to the Lord.

There is a baptism with which I must be baptized

We all need more of the baptism of the Holy Spirit in our lives, so that we can have the dynamic motivating power of God guiding us, helping us to become more like him. For his own part Jesus looked forward, somehow, to the baptism of the cross which would allow this fire to be unleashed on the world. There is a close connection here since the Holy Spirit connects us to the paschal mystery of Jesus and makes the purifying power of his death present in our lives. It doesn't always feel like crucifixion when he helps us to conform ourselves to Christ. But neither does it always feel only and entirely pleasant. But just as Jesus desired the baptism of the cross for himself so too must we desire his cleansing fire to fill our own hearts. There may be difficult moments along the way. But it is leading to "more than all we ask or imagine".

 

Paul Wilbur - Let Your Fire Fall

 

21 October 2026 - dear prudence

Today's Readings
(Audio)

 

You also must be prepared,
for at an hour you do not expect, the Son of Man will come.

If we believe in Jesus we will live differently. If we only say we believe in him, or if that belief is shallow, and not integrated into our way of living, we will tend to forget about our faith. Whenever there are not immediate consequences for our lack of response to the Gospel it is possible for us to slip into complacency with sin. This is important because, in most cases during this life, there are not profound immediate consequences for such disobedience. This is not to say that there are no consequences at all. When we persist in sin we definitely fail to fully manifest the fruits of the Spirit. But the results of our vicious behavior don't always automatically remind us of our responsibility to Jesus. It is fairly easy to misinterpret the signals we receive from the results of our behavior, attributing them to chance, or otherwise ignoring them. The missing element that we need to remember is the closeness of Jesus, the fact that he could return at any moment. This truth is meant to help us connect every instant of our lives to a higher truth, and motivate us to live for a higher purpose.

Who, then, is the faithful and prudent steward
whom the master will put in charge of his servants
to distribute the food allowance at the proper time?

We may not have leadership positions in the Church. But for all of us, the Lord has some goods that he has entrusted, for the purpose of communicating them to others, a food allowance to share at the proper time. In order to retain awareness of this duty, and, in particular, to have any sense of what the proper time is in our specific case, we must be prudent. Prudence helps us connect the individual events of our lives to our higher purpose, acting wisely in the moment because of what we know about eternity. This is why we need to remember, to the degree of being preoccupied with, the nearness of Jesus, and the fact that at any moment his presence might break through into our lives. When this breakthrough happens it manifests as judgment and consequences, blessings for obedience, and punishment for disobedience. Prudence helps us to steer our ship toward our eternal destinies moment to moment. And these destinies can be defined in one of two categories: life with with Jesus in God forever, or life forever apart from that. No matter how cleverly we live our lives and plan our futures if we forget this truth we cannot be called prudent. We will be held accountable for all that we know and have been taught, excused only if the fault for our ignorance was not our own. What we have been given is not trivial, and we must respond.

This was according to the eternal purpose
that he accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord,
in whom we have boldness of speech
and confidence of access through faith in him.

 

Chris Tomlin - Even So Come

20 October 2026 - true girt

Today's Readings
(Audio)

 

Gird your loins and light your lamps
and be like servants who await their master’s return from a wedding,
ready to open immediately when he comes and knocks.

Jesus alluded to the Passover meal, since the people were instructed to eat that meal with their loins girt. Since they needed to be prepared for a nighttime journey it would have also been appropriate to have lamps ready. The Catholic Commentary on Sacred Scripture informs us that this "consistent with Jewish expectation that the messiah would come during the meal on Passover night"¹. The emphasis on the Exodus is stressed in a particular way in this same Gospel of Luke, when, during the Transfiguration, we read that what Jesus, Moses, and Elijah discussed was specifically about "his exodus that he was going to accomplish in Jerusalem" (see Luke 9:30). Notice the close connection between the Passover meal and the crucifixion. As in the mass, both elements, sacred banquet and sacrifice, are in play. The fact is that Jesus does return during the Paschal banquet of the New Covenant, and blessed are those servants who are watchful and alert to his coming.

Blessed are those servants
whom the master finds vigilant on his arrival.
Amen, I say to you, he will gird himself,
have them recline at table, and proceed to wait on them.

Can we see that, in the mass, it is Jesus himself, in the person of the priest who instructs us to recline at the table of the altar, and the proceeds to wait on us? Can we also see how easy it is to miss this hidden reality entirely? It is too easy to see the priest as just an ordinary person, and the bread and wine as common food, missing their supernatural significance entirely. We must take an active role if we are to be prepared. It is not enough to merely bring the intention of full, active, and conscious participation when we come to mass. We must already be living lives of charity (with our loins girt) and seeking heavenly wisdom (with our lamps lit) if we want to be open to everything that is available in the mass. The mass in turn provides the grace we need to live lives of charity and unites us with the one who is himself divine wisdom. This is meant to be a virtuous cycle propelling us onward and upward.

And should he come in the second or third watch
and find them prepared in this way,
blessed are those servants.

Jesus is aware that as something continues over time it becomes routine. It takes a more concerted effort to remain attentive over the course of a lifetime than it does at first. This is why he is particularly pleased with those who remain faithful over the long haul. It is not only his presence in the mass for which they prepare themselves, it is his coming for them at the end of their lives, and for all of us, at the end of the age, when he returns in glory. Therefore we must not be casual about it, as though we can be content with good enough when it comes to our relationship with the mass. It is still training for something more and greater yet to be revealed. And we want to be among the those about whom, when it happens, Jesus says "blessed are those servants".

1) Gadenz, Pablo T.. The Gospel of Luke (Catholic Commentary on Sacred Scripture): (A Catholic Bible Commentary on the New Testament by Trusted Catholic Biblical Scholars - CCSS) (p. 244). (Function). Kindle Edition. "

 

Patricia A Faussett - God And Man At Table Are Sat Down

  

19 October 2026 - the rich fool

Today's Readings

(Audio)

 

He asked himself, ‘What shall I do,
for I do not have space to store my harvest?’

Because the man in this parable thought his life consisted in possessions he had no higher frame of reference for putting them to use. The only one he could ask about what he ought to do with his excess was himself. His focus on possessions had made him fundamentally incapable of relationship, of asking anyone else, let alone God, what he could do with them, rather than simply letting them go to waste. He didn't want to know what others might say because his possessions were his top priority. He didn't want to risk that they might say something persuasive. And yet the reason he had to ask himself was because there was nothing obvious to be done with them. Nor, indeed, did he foresee any actual concrete need.

And he said, ‘This is what I shall do:
I shall tear down my barns and build larger ones.

His lack of a higher frame of reference actually rendered him a servant of his wealth rather than, as it should be, the other way around. Rather than his resources helping him to enjoy his life he was actually putting in extra unnecessary work to maintain more than his surplus. Greed is a particular form of sin and, as we have said, sin makes us stupid. 

Greed is also a form of idolatry. He thought that if he sacrificed enough to the idol of greed he could obtain happiness. His plan was so good, he thought, that such happiness would sustain him as far into the future as he was capable of thinking. Unfortunately this was not far enough. All sin has the tendency to narrow our horizons to the short-term benefits it promises. But even that narrow horizon has no guarantees. Without a proper hierarchy in our lives there is no way for us to be prepared when our life is demanded of us. There is no amount of effort or activity that can prepare for such an eventuality. Rather than trying to push back the terror of mortality through effort and distraction, remaining trapped in the "desires of our flesh" and "following the wishes of the flesh and the impulses", and therefore remaining "children of wrath", we must rely on the mercy God never ceases to bestow. New life is always available in Christ. And once we receive it we must let it, and not anything else, define us.

But God, who is rich in mercy,
because of the great love he had for us,
even when we were dead in our transgressions,
brought us to life with Christ (by grace you have been saved),
raised us up with him,
and seated us with him in the heavens in Christ Jesus,
that in the ages to come
he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace
in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus.

In a way that is the very opposite of sin, the grace of God opens our horizons to eternity and fills us with hope. Not only that, but even here and now we able begin to experience the blessings that we hope to receive in fullness one day. Even now, already, we are in some way seated "in the heavens". But far from rendering us useless or inert this makes us dynamic agents of divine love.

For we are his handiwork, created in Christ Jesus for good works
that God has prepared in advance,
that we should live in them.

 

Newsboys - Million Pieces (Kissin' Your Cares Goodbye)