Twenty-fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Fourteen years ago, we were given a cross to carry. But instead of bearing it as God did, we thought as humans do and sought to nail someone to it. We needed vengeance. Someone had to pay, even if those someones did nothing to cause our pain. Afghanistan. Pakistan. Iraq. Syria. What sort of works have we done in the last fourteen years? And what sort of faith have they demonstrated? Which parts of this era are covered by our cries of "Never Forget"? And which ones will we happily relegate to the dustbin of history? But here is the great thing about crosses: it is never too late to take them up. No, we cannot close Pandora's box. We can, however, clean up just a little bit of the death and disruption we unleashed upon the world. Yes, this will mean sacrifice of some kind. But what price are we willing to pay so that we might finally "walk before the Lord, in the land of the living"?

Isaiah 50:5-9; Psalms 116:1-9; James 2:14-18; Mark 8:27-35

Twenty-fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Isaiah 50:5-9; James 2:14-18; Mark 8:27-35

"You are thinking not as God does, but as human beings do." These words should give us pause. It wasn't just Peter who had false expectations of the Christ. If that was so during Jesus' own lifetime, how much more so is it today? There are lots of preachers, and politicians, with lots of details on the "works" God desires most, and the kinds of crosses we should "take up." What kind of faith are they encouraging us to live? And what kind of salvation are they promising in return?

Twenty-fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time

James 2: 14-18; Mark 8: 27-35

Pretty simple today: faith is lived, not just contemplated. We must act on what we believe, or we are as good as dead. Yes, this will most likely require sacrifice, but this plane of existence we occupy is only a temporary pit stop on our way to something more wonderful than we can imagine. So what do we have to lose?