10 Minutes with Jesus

God does reward us in so many ways, above all by making us his children, but today’s gospel reminds us of our duty to serve, without expecting reward. We should lose all sense of entitlement and seek to be servants of God and others, not privileged princes or princesses.

Jesus clearly distinguishes between temptation and sin. In a way, temptations shouldn't bother us since they are allowed by God for our spiritual growth. Psalm 139 helps us to realize that God knows everything that happens to us, inside and out. This realization is a great source of confidence and peace.

Seemingly every parable deals with the challenge of time: we only have so much of it, and Jesus wants us to use it wisely. How are we carrying this precious gift of time: like the wise virgins who go prepared to the wedding feast?

St. Paul spends a long time greeting people by name at the end of the letter to the Romans which is a sign of the heart that we should each have in affection for the Christian community. But also, the long goodbye should be something we employ in our prayer every so often of not running away as soon as the time sounds but out of love stalling on our way out.

10-11-23 Humble but Great (MM) Humbleness is a virtue

The feast of the Lateran Basilica helps us to connect to our roots and also to the churches that have been important to us along the way. The purification of the place of worship is also an invitation to me to purity my soul in order to worship God

Luke 14:25–33. Jesus gives conditions without which it is impossible to be his disciple. Without them, we won't be able to cross the finish line and make it to Heaven. Jesus gives analogies that can be summarized as "Don't bite off more than you can chew," and "Don't start fights if you can't finish them."

Lk 14:15 “One of those at table with Jesus said to him, "Blessed is the one who will dine in the Kingdom of God."” In Scripture, there are many references to Heaven as the Eternal Banquet. During this month of November in which we pray for the faithful departed, we also pray about the fact that we will die. Let us remember frequently that God calls us to Heaven, the Eternal Banquet!

Luke 14, 12-14: When you give a lunch or a dinner, do not ask your friends, brothers, relations or rich neighbours, for fear they repay your courtesy by inviting you in return. No; when you have a party, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind; that they cannot pay you back means that you are fortunate, because repayment will be made to you when the virtuous rise again.”

All of us are afflicted by vanity. The solution to vanity is to be able to laugh at ourselves, and only care about the approval of God, and of no other "audience".

Looking around us it is easy to get discouraged, it seems as if the temptation to despair grows with each passing day. Thanks be to God, Our Father, who knows that we need to hear a word of encouragement. Today, He wants us to hear how this is all part of His Plan, that we His co-workers in His Work of Salvation are to love and witness to His Love even to those who are enemies of the Gospel as the...

“Not only does the Gospel reveal to us the mercy of God: it also enjoins upon us to be merciful on our part. The merciful are above all pleasing to God; in fact, our mercifulness is the condition on which we in our turn may find mercy in the eyes of God.”

Our culture hides death and hides from death, our Church faces death and prays for the dead because of our hope in Christ.

The Beatitudes are the portrait of Christ and also the portrait of every saint. They sketch the portrait of true happiness since holiness is the way of peace

Jesus speaks about a mustard seen 'thrown' and some yeast that was 'mixed'. Both descriptions reveal the hiddenness of Jesus's mission, and how we're now called to imitate some of that hiddenness.

Many times we finds excuses to not do what is right. That's hypocrisy

As Christians we can take for granted the fact that love is fundamental to our faith. When Jesus was asked what was the greatest commandment, he could have given all sorts of answers. But he made love of God and neighbor the very foundation of Christianity. This should never cease to strike us and lead us to see ways we can truly make LOVE the inspiration and driving force of all we do.

St. Simon and St. Jude were among the twelve apostles of Jesus. Yet, compared to other apostles, they were relatively "minor figures." Great members of a great team, they were nevertheless "role players" compared to the big shots. We should all accept our roles, assigned to us by God, whether "great" or seemingly ordinary.

As human beings we are pretty smart at predicting certain things, but tend to be foolish (and hypocritical) about other things that really matter. Jesus is inviting us to see the urgency of the present moment, and address the needs of charity that should be lived, in view of something we can all predict: death and judgement.

25-10-23 Says the Lord to his steward (MM) 25-10-23 Says the Lord to his steward (MM)

Jesus has come to cast fire upon the earth and at first this may be difficult and painful for our sinfulness to be burned away but over time we can really begin to embrace the divine horizons of what can be given over to the Love of God.

Reflecting on the service that Jesus calls us to we see his mercy and love for us is far greater than anything we can do for him.

Luke 12:13–34. Excessive worry about the future is incompatible with trust in God's fatherly providence. It also makes us selfish and anxious. Better learn from the ravens and lilies.

Mt 22:15-21 - Jesus is tested by the Pharisees regarding paying the census tax to Caesar or not. We read that they are amazed at his answer. Let us foster this amazement and awe of God in the big things and in the little things.

From Luke 12, 8-12: Everyone who says a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but he who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven." Confidence in getting up again after our falls.