Fr. Paul's Meditations for Church Year B

Why did Jesus tell this story among so many others He could have told? Remember, all of the Gospel Scripture is what others saw Jesus do or say. This is the only Scripture where Jesus tells us what He did. After all, He and Satan were the only ones there in the Wilderness.  Read more

Spiritual understanding does not need sites, or exercises or pilgrimages to find the Joy of the Presence. Suddenly a cloud covered them all. When the cloud was gone there was only Jesus. That is all we need! That is all we have! His Presence is the unconditional and inclusive grace of God.  Read more

Our God is not a loveless power, nor a powerless love. Our God is the Power that is in Love. God loves us too much to leave us where we are.  Read more

Rational understanding acts on its feelings about what happens. Spiritual understanding acts on how it feels in what happens.  Read more

Rational understanding attempts to love others so God will love us. Spiritual understanding knows Jesus loved us by being in the Fathers Love. We must be in the Love of God before we try to love others. Do you understand the difference between trying to love someone to be loved and being loved in order to love someone?  Read more

Why did the disciples respond immediately when Jesus called them? Rational understanding would say Peter, Andrew, John and James all knew Jesus. It was as if they had grown up together, played in the sand, and worked in the carpenter's shop. Spiritual understanding would say, give me a break! They did not live that close to each other. They may have seen Him afar. But you cannot tell me they immediately left their nets to follow him because they were the "best of friends". Come off of it! There was something else going on there.  Read more

Sometimes we get deeper insights when we treat the scripture in CIA fashion. We check out the usual suspects, examine the evidence rationally and then look for the clues consciously. Today's scripture calls for such an investigation.  Read more

Today could be called "Baptism Sunday". It is a time in the church when many, from adults to babies, are baptized into the community of Christians. When people become Christians many times they move on in their life from the baptism event. Rarely is it ever celebrated as we celebrate other significant times in our life. When was the last time you celebrated your baptism?  Read more

The Wise Men did not discover Jesus. He was not lost. They were the ones who were lost. Forget wanting to look for Jesus. He is not lost. We are. His Presence is right here within us. We need to learn to use our conscious faculty to discover His Light.  Read more

Today, we do not have the choir, the crowd or the candles. We have a mostly empty church, as most already went to the Mass last night. There are unlit candles circling the church, perhaps flowers that need watering, with pieces of paper the alter guild might have missed after going deep into the night sprucing things up. This is a wonder full time. I like to call it a "no frills service".  Read more