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I’m not a fan of water. Our bad relationship started in my youth while I was taking swim lessons. I was taking the lessons because my mom, who was afraid of water and never learned to swim, wanted to make sure that my sisters and I would be safe anytime we were around water.
Saint Paul tells us that it’s not up to us to judge the value of someone else’s religious observances. That’s God’s prerogative. Serving him is what’s important.
St. Martin de Porres (1579-1639) was born to an unwed African-Native Peruvian mother, and under Peruvian law his ethnicity and illegitimacy disqualified Martin from life as a religious.
“Transition comes to everyone,” Sister Jannette Pruitt, OSF, says “and when it does, I trust in God and try to take life one day at a time.”
In this week’s Gospel, Jesus tells the crowds that the small donation of a widow was greater than the large sums of money donated by the wealthy.
It’s important for each of us in the community to share generously in order for our local Church—as well as the global Church—to do the work of the Kingdom.
We are called to pay a price for our discipleship just as Jesus’ first disciples were. Our price may not require heroic self-sacrifice, but it does demand consistent, hard-nosed dedication.
Picturing the prophet Ezekiel prophesying and watching a valley of dry bones come back to life is a compelling image (Ezekiel 37:1–14).
The condition of the departed is not meaningless. They are at peace and enjoy the hope of immortality. God looks after them just as he will look after us.
The Catholic Saints have left us volumes of knowledge and inspiration to satisfy us.
