From Season to Season

 " He said to one of them in reply, 'My friend, I am not cheating you. Did you not agree with me for the usual daily wage? Take what is yours and go. What if I wish to give this last one the same as you?'" —Matthew 20:13-14 Even before the outbreak of the pandemic-when employment and economic uncertainty weren't as widespread as they are now-it wasn't uncommon to see groups of men and women standing in groups in the parking lots of hardware and home improvement stores like Home Depot and Lowes. I never gave them much thought until a friend explained who they were: these were day laborers who were hoping that a contractor or someone needing help with a home repair project would hire them for the day or, at the least, for a few hours.   These people are continuing a tradition that is found in nearly every culture and, as we see in this Sunday's Gospel , was certainly common in Jesus’ day. One of my Salvatorian confreres who had worked in Arizona an...

Peter approached Jesus and asked him, "Lord, if my brother sins against me, how often must I forgive? As many as seven times?" Jesus answered, "I say to you, not seven times but seventy-seven times.” —Matthew 18:21-22 A Benedictine monk whom I greatly admire and who has also become a good friend through the years once said to me, “The kindest thing you can do for some people is to give them something to be angry about.” Although we laughed at his insight at the time, over the years I’ve realized there is truth in his words. Sometimes, some people just want something to be angry about. Sometimes we are just looking for a fight. Other times—and I’m guilty of this—we look for an excuse to justify the chip we already have on our shoulder. And, the fact of the matter is, we generally don’t have far to look to find something to be angry about. Anger is a reality in life. However, as we know, anger is like any other emotion and can ultimately be used for good or fo...

Jesus said to his disciples:  "If your brother sins against you,  go and tell him fault between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have won over your brother."--Matthew 18:15 It can be easy for us to look back on the stories found in the gospels and imagine that those women and men listening to Jesus we ideal disciples, living in perfect harmony with one another. If we read the Acts of the Apostles and the letters of Saint Paul, however, we quickly realize that this idyllic community was never a reality. From the earliest days, the Church experienced divisions, disagreements, and dis-ease as believers tried to figure out how to live out the teachings of Jesus individually and as a community of believers. In fact, many of the difficulties we experience in our parishes or religious communities today are the same sorts of challenges faced by those first generations of Christians. The Gospel of Matthew was composed sometime around the year 85. By this time, the ...

  Please join us in offering a prayer of thanks: To learn more, visit: https://www.sds.org/apostleship/2020-francis-jordan To learn more about my ministry, Jordan Ministry Team (named for Venerable Francis Jordan), visit: www.jordanministryteam.org