For 16 August 2024, Friday of week 19 in Ordinary Time, based on Ezekiel 16:1-15, 60, 63

For 9 August 2024, Friday of week 18 in Ordinary Time, based on Matthew 16:24-28

On this Feast of the Transfiguration, we remember that great event where Jesus' clothes were transformed dazzlingly white and God spoke through the cloud "This is my beloved Son. Listen to him." Listening to Jesus is the heart of Christianity, and God gives us these spiritual experiences not to rest in them, but to strengthen us as listeners who act on what we hear.

The prophet Hananiah told the people what they wanted to hear. The Prophet Jeremiah told them the truth. Do we search for the truth or listen to those who tell us what we want to hear? The truth is sometimes comforting and sometimes challenging, but our hope can only lie in the truth. So if you want hope, search for the truth.

After God led the people out of Egypt, they complained because they were hungry. So God gave them manna and quail to eat in the desert. Can we trust that God will provide and go forth into the unknown with confidence, or do we drag our feet and long for a past that is gone?

Fr. Scott Steinkerchner, OP and Fr. Michael Fones, OP break open the readings for the Eighteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time. Paul challenges us to give up our "futile" way of thinking, where we rely only on our own resources. Jesus challenges us to believe in him rather than some magic formula. Exodus challenges us to trust God to lead us into a better life. <br>
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Readings: Exodus 16:2–4, 12–15; Ephesians 4:17, 20–24; John 6:24–35

Fr. Scott Steinkerchner, OP breaks open the word for the Seventeenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, pondering Paul's words that we should live a life worthy of the call of the One God who is over all and in all, acknowledging that if God is in us, then God is in our enemies and in all of creation. Thus, we must share the blessings we receive from God with others, even when we think them small, and God will make sure they enough for all.<br>
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Readings: 2 Kings 4:42–44, Ephesians 4:1–6, John 6:1–15

For 16 July 2024, Tuesday of week 15 in Ordinary Time, based on Isaiah 7:1-9

For 13 July 2024, Saturday of the 14th week in Ordinary Time, based on Isaiah 6:1-8

Jesus was a popular preacher, except in his own hometown, where he was rejected and amazed at the people's lack of faith such that "he could work no miracle there, though he cured a few sick people by laying his hands on them." Faith is a communal dynamic with an individual component such that even when the majority rejects a particular belief, a few individuals can still choose to believe and be healed.