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A Banana Peel Away from Hell’s Chasm

There’s a fine line between comedy and tragedy—but always an important moral in both. The parable of the rich man who winds up in hell while the poor man he ignored to death ends up in God’s eternal presence is…

Our Generation is Moved like Jagger

Pleased to meet you Hope you guessed my name, oh yeah but what’s confusing you Is just the nature of my game. Mick Jagger could have had Jesus in mind when he wrote “Sympathy for the Devil.” At least he…

Redeeming Worthless Coupons

A coupon has no intrinsic worth other than the value a manufacturer prints on it. A penny isn’t intrinsically worth a cent but its maker vouches for that value. A debit card’s worth goes up and down, depending on the…

The Master’s Apprentice

Business people could learn a lot about management from Jesus. He wasn’t just a carpenter; he was a craftsman who knew something about planning a project. Good planning requires wisdom, which is the theme of today’s readings. Poor planning and…

Be humble—but don’t be a jerk about it.

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…

God Loves the Heart of a Good Soldier

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…

Jesus the Pyrotechnician

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…

Treasure Doesn’t Grow on Trees

“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…

Persistent Prayer Breaks our Bonds

Why should we pray? That’s a question children ask their parents all the time—and one we often ask ourselves when our faith flags during tough times. But a more important question is “How should we pray?”  The answer to how…