In today’s gospel reading from Luke Jesus puts another Pharisee in his place and offers him some practical advice to boot. He tells him how to win friends and influence people with one simple direction, which I’ll paraphrase: Never pay for first class; let it be a perk of frequent humility. If you sit in […]

Today’s readings give us God as a hands-on General. The first reading from Isaiah has Him recruiting troops (“They shall bring your brothers and sisters from all the nations as an offering to the Lord…’Some of these I will take as priests and Levites,’ says the Lord.”)  The second reading is Paul’s letter to the […]

The stereotypical image we have of old-style religious zealots is of someone dressed in sackcloth and ashes, warning people to “Repent!” In their own times if they weren’t called zealots they were called insane, or maybe even dangerous. Nevertheless, their message usually caught on with a handful of followers and in some cases their message […]

Today’s readings tell us about the nature of leadership. They tell us that leaders require faith—faith from those who are led by them as much as faith on the part of the leader. The first reading from the Book of Wisdom states “The night of the Passover was known beforehand to our fathers, that, with […]

“All things are vanity!” That’s what today’s first reading from Ecclesiastes tells us. And in this context it means futility. Not a very comforting thought for those of us who work to support their families. We like to think that what we do has purpose. What a downer. Then Paul tries to snap us out […]