Saints Sergius and Bacchus Chapel
Palm Springs, California
God doesn’t operate within a merit economy where everyone gets exactly what’s due them. God operates within a grace economy, where everyone receives not only what’s due, but more. The question was never whether the landowner was fair. The question is: is your eye evil because he is good?
The debt forgiven was billions; the debt refused was thousands. Jesus’s parable isn’t only about an ungrateful servant — it’s about compassion received and compassion withheld. Failures in compassion are, in the end, failures in gratitude. And the torturers we’re handed over to wear our own face.
Punishment purchases compliance at the cost of resentment. It cannot bring about metanoia. Before we confront someone’s wrong, we have to ask: does it need to be said? Does it need to be said by me? Does it need to be said now? Correction, rightly practiced, seeks conversion, not vengeance.
Give in to the voice that says you’re too weak, not good enough, settle for the easier way — or take up your cross and go through your fears into the life of the Spirit. Karl Rahner called it the fundamental option. For all of us, the choice is the same: death or life. Choose life.
Peter confesses, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God” — but did he even understand what he was saying? Between Shebna and Eliakim, between Pan and Yahweh, between the good popes and the self-serving ones, Scripture keeps handing us dichotomy rather than clarity. Growth doesn’t come from certainty, but from the willingness to sit with what we don’t fully understand.
There are no winners without losers — that’s how human exclusivity works. But that’s not how God sees it. The Canaanite woman, an outsider in every category, receives what Peter, the insider, was just found wanting in: great faith, rewarded without regard to status, nationality, or standing.
We expect God to fix what’s wrong. But our Scriptures show us that we encounter the power of God not in the solution, but in the difficulty itself — not in the wind, earthquake, or fire, but in a still, small voice; not calming the storm from a distance, but walking through it and saying, “Come. Do not be afraid. It is I.”
Took, blessed, broke, gave — the four eucharistic words. Jesus took not the disciples’ abundance, but their poverty, and blessed what was there rather than complaining about what wasn’t. Eucharist as trust: giving from our little, believing God will make it enough.
The Greek word Jesus uses for “meek” — praus — is the word for a tamed horse: strength controlled and directed, not weakness. Zechariah’s king, the Father’s little ones, and Christ’s easy yoke all point to the same radical truth: let go, trust God.
What keeps us from opening our hearts to others? Fear — fear of not living up to expectations. But baptism has already put that old, anxious self to death. The freedom we live in now bears two fruits: discernment and hospitality. Even a cup of cold water, attentively given, carries immense value.
“Fear no one,” Jesus tells the Twelve. Not a promise of immunity from harm or pain — but the assurance that we’re never truly alone. The Father is involved in every sparrow’s fall, and the same Word who suffered on the cross is one with our suffering still.
“Responsibility” — responsibility begins with the inability to turn a blind eye to others’ pain and sorrow. A Christian is not compassionate because they feel like they’re supposed to be, but because, like Jesus, they cannot do otherwise.
“I love you so much, I could just eat you all up.” If you’ve ever had that experience, then today’s feast of the Body and Blood of Christ should make perfect sense to you.
“It is the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, echoing the love of God the Father, drawing us into the communion of the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of love and unending life.”
Second Sunday of Lent Scripture Readings Out of the whole liturgical year of following Jesus through his words and deeds, Lent stops all that and invites us to focus on […]
"Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets. I have come not to abolish but to fulfill”
"You are the light of the world. A city set on a mountain cannot be hidden."
“He began to teach them, saying: ‘Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.’”
Third Sunday Scripture Readings We’re seeing something here in today’s Gospel passage that we need to keep in the back of our minds throughout this coming liturgical year. We’re following […]
“Now I have seen and testified that he is the Son of God.”