Canticle For the King

James Tissot's Get Thee Behind Me Satan

                                    I have been practicing Lectio Divina (prayerful reading and meditation on Scripture) long enough to know that the Holy Spirit always has something to teach me. However, what He teaches me is not always what I expect or what I think I need to be taught. Today's Gospel passage on the Parable of the Talents proved those two points perfectly, especially the second one. The usual lesson I receive from this passage still came through~ don't waste your God given gifts and that those gifts should return to God showing some growth in holiness. To make sure I heard Him, the Holy Spirit reinforced that point with this verse: "...at my coming, I should have received my own with interest." (Matt 25:27) Now I have to admit that this parable always makes me squirm in my pew a little. Am I using all that God has given me and earning Him interest in my holiness as well?  In my case, there is always room for improvement! But the lesson w

The amazing news of the Gospel is not that we receive Jesus into our lives, but that He has already received us into His. God often speaks to me through music. It happened again a day or two ago as I was driving to work. I heard these words: "The amazing news of the Gospel is not that we can receive Jesus into our lives, but that He has already received us into His." This line was actually spoken, not sung in Ryan Stevenson's song, The Gospel . The rest of the song is great too, but that one line stopped me dead in my tracks!(figuratively, as I was driving 😉) Yes, receiving Christ into our lives is awesome, but have we ever really thought deeply about Jesus receiving us into His? The theology of it, maybe, but what that means on a deep and personal level? Now that is something for some prayerful meditation! Photo by  Christoph Schmid  on  Unsplash

Herod feared John, knowing him to be a righteous and holy man... When he heard him speak he was very much perplexed, yet he liked to listen to him.  ~Mark 6:20 Caravaggio: Passion of John the Baptist I have read and heard this Gospel account of John the Baptist's death many times.  What struck me today was that while Herod was perplexed by John, he also liked to listen to him. Knowing what we do about King Herod, this seemingly positive spot is surprising. I was left with the question: "What if?" What if Herod had truly, sincerely listened to John? What if he had ignored Herodias? What if her daughter had disobeyed her? Would things have turned out differently? Perhaps, perhaps not. My questioning may have a bit of the Holy Spirit's prompting, but it is more the inquisitiveness of my nature. So in the end, these questions and their answers are not really important. It is John's unwavering loyalty to his mission, and his love for and loyalty to

SanAgustin by Baltasar del Aguila Today is the feast day of St. Augustine. If there is any saint who gives me great hope, it is Augustine. His early life reads like a soap opera, but thanks to God's grace, his mother, St. Monica's prayers and the preaching of St. Ambrose, Augustine not only converts to practice the Catholic faith, but would go on to become Bishop of Hippo and a Doctor of the Church. Each year on his feast day, the Order of Readings has us read an excerpt from St. Augustine's Confessions. It is one of the most beautiful writings in the entire book, as well as one of my favorites. As someone who left her faith for many years and then returned, I can relate to Augustine's words in this excerpt. I've read it many times, but glean something new with each reading. Urged to reflect upon myself, I entered under your guidance into the inmost depth of my soul. I was able to do so because you were my helper. When I read those opening lines today,

Christ Entrusts Peter With Keys of the Kingdom:Sistine Chapel

Christ and the Rich Young Man As I was reading and meditating on today's Gospel about the Rich Young Man, the verse that struck me most, and has stayed with me a good part of this day was "...he went away sorrowful." What exactly made him sorrowful? Was it simply the fact that he did not want to hear what Jesus said about selling his possessions and giving the money to the poor, or was it something deeper? In some ways, we are all the rich young man, and Jesus is telling us the same three things He told the young man in the Gospel: follow the commandments, sell all you have and give it away, and follow Me. However, those criteria may not mean the same thing for each one of us. As I tried to see how the Holy Spirit was applying this to my own life and circumstances, I saw the " sell all you have and give it away " speaking to me of holy detachment. I sometimes find myself not only being materially attached, but also spiritually attached. Sometimes I fin