[…] the desert, while I struggle to deny myself chocolate in a comfortable, temperature-controlled house with indoor plumbing. I guess it means I probably won't be saving the world anytime soon! This Sunday’s gospel comes on the heels of Jesus’ baptism in the Jordan by John. Subsequently, “[He] was led by the Spirit into the […]

[…] it? That's where I've been lately. And the thing God keeps saying to me is this: persevere in prayer.  There are situations in my life, in the world around us, that require steadfast, agonizing, unrelenting prayer.  I know, in my head, that our prayers matter to God. But sometimes, I've been so overwhelmed by […]

[…] if we want to call ourselves a friend of Christ.  By now, we might think we know what's coming. We've heard this before, right? We'll suffer, the world will hate us, we'll need to detach ourselves from our possessions, and we'll encounter division.  But then Jesus catches us off guard and says something seemingly […]

Dig Deeper into Sunday’s Gospel: Read Luke 14:1,7–14 I never expected to learn "How to Host a Proper Dinner Party" from the Bible. (Although I did find "How to Best Remove the Fat of a Bull Sin-Offering" in Leviticus 4:8!) Move over, Emily Post—Jesus is the next big etiquette influencer. All kidding aside, in this […]

[…] be lost with it. Or we worry that if we give something away now, we will regret it later. With our attachment to the things of this world, we fill closets, plastic bins, and basements to the brim, and when our plentifulness exceeds space inside our homes, we pay to store it elsewhere. In […]

[…] Deeper into Sunday’s Gospel: Read Luke 9:11–17 Life lately has felt like feeding the five thousand. In other words, it has felt impossible. Appliances and people are breaking all around me, the weather has not been cooperating with outdoor events, and writing has felt like sprinting through quicksand. On top of all this, people […]

[…] to break free from our own locked rooms—our places of fear and anxiety, complacency and apathy, bitterness and unforgiveness—and enter into the busy, fractured, sinful, and darkened world we inhabit. As we celebrate this bold outpouring of the Spirit upon our Church, the fulfilment of Jesus' promise to always be with us (Matthew 28:20), […]

[…] it. After all, a love that is not free is a love with conditions, which we all know is not love at all. But here’s the good news: regardless of which path they choose and voice to follow, God the Father, who is love, remains constant. Unlike our hands, His are steady. He does […]

[…] do more than give up our Friday latte. We have entered the desert, the interior fight, where we are called to resist the demands of the flesh, world, and devil. We will be challenged. We will feel uncomfortable. And that’s good. Lent is supposed to be hard. In fact, if Lent is not drastically […]

[…] moments of daily life—the more we will find Him. Like Anna, the more we find Him, the easier it becomes to let go of ourselves and the world and cling with hope to Him. We wait with Him in faith to desire His will over our own and remain confident in His promises and […]