News - September 2022 RSS Feed

Feast of Saints, Michael, Gabriel & Raphael, archangels Paul Brian Campbell, S.J.

“Like the deer that yearns for running streams, so my soul is yearning for you, my God.” - Psalm 42 My apartment building faces the Hudson River.  Often, I see deer come from the woods, run through the garden and leap towards the river for their fill of water.

“He Spent the Night in Prayer” - In the gospel reading from the beginning of chapter six today, the Lord inaugurates his Sermon on the Plain, as it is known in Luke (in Mt 5 it is the Sermon on the Mount). In Luke’s account, Jesus prepares both for appointing the twelve and his sermon by spending the night alone in prayer.

“Stretch Out Your Hand” (Luke 6:10b) - Faith often requires an uncomfortable & vulnerable response to God’s Word. When we think about taking a “leap of faith” we may not think it will require us to feel weak or afraid, but sometimes it does.

“I Came to Call Sinners” - We pick up the Gospel of Luke today after yesterday’s calling of Peter (which I confess I wish was today’s passage!) immediately after the call of Levi which we did not hear of during the liturgies this week. We also did not hear of both the healing of the leper as well as the healing of the paralytic let down through the roof.

“I am a fool for Christ. Whose fool are you?” [Brother Andrew] - We arrive at the concluding part of St. Paul’s admonition to the Corinthians that he outlined at the beginning of the Epistle: “For the word of the Cross is foolishness to those who are perishing. But it is the power of God to us who are being saved.” [1 Cor 1:18]