Love God

10-31-2021Weekly Reflection© J. S. Paluch Company

As we near the end of the liturgical year we listen to Gospel readings from the final stage of Jesus’ ministry—his teaching in Jerusalem. This Sunday Jesus is in conversation with one of the scribes of the temple. In a rare occurrence Jesus and the scribe agree on the two greatest commandments—to love God with all your being and to love your neighbor as yourself.

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Recognizing Jesus

10-24-2021Weekly Reflection© J. S. Paluch Company

The star of today’s Gospel is a panhandler. Bartimaeus is blind, yes, but he is probably also homeless and filthy, a real nuisance to respectable citizens. Even so, it is Bartimaeus who recognizes Jesus as the Messiah, places all his faith in him, throws aside everything he has (his cloak), begs him for mercy, receives new vision, and follows Jesus on the way to suffering and death in Jerusalem. How desperate will we have to get before we can do the same?

The Humanity of Jesus Christ

10-17-2021Weekly Reflection© J. S. Paluch Company

All three readings today support—each in its own way, of course—a reflection on the humanity of Jesus Christ and how that humanity played a key role in the drama of our salvation. Although not chosen specifically to coordinate with the other two readings, today’s second reading does in fact carry forward the theme of Christ’s humanity in a remarkable way.

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Gifts

10-10-2021Weekly Reflection© J. S. Paluch Company

In today’s readings, we discover that materialwealth alone does not keep us from discipleship.We will see that there are other gifts more important than material wealth, but even so, it is howwe use our gifts that matters most.

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The Barriers that Separate Us

10-03-2021Weekly Reflection© J. S. Paluch Company

We live in a society that has many technological avenues for stimulation and entertainment, one in which the urban population exceeds the nonurban. It is curious that loneliness is a prevalent malady. It is easy to reach out and touch someone, we are told.

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