Fr. Paul's Meditations for Church Year B

This scripture is a good example of the difference between rational and spiritual understanding. The rational could not understand how Jesus could be the Bread of life. For them, "bread" meant the "manna" that God gave during the Exodus. How could a person be bread? Jesus makes the compare and contrast difference.  Read more

This parable demonstrates the principle of the difference between what you think rationally and how you think spiritually. The rational commentaries generally miss the fact that the feeding of the 5,000 is the Passover feast. The disciples who followed Jesus to Capernaum missed the sign of the previous feeding. It is not all that bad, as most theologians who comment on the incident missed the sign as well. Spiritually, this was not primarily about the feeding of the 5,000. It was Jesus instituting the Eucharist according to John.  Read more

This parable is the principle between what you think rationally and how you think spiritually. If you read it rationally you will apply the principle to understand the scripture. If you read it spiritually you will apply the scripture to understand the principle. Rationally, this is John telling us the story of what Jesus did to feed the 5,000. Spiritually, this is Jesus wanting his disciples and us to understand the principle of the difference between a "what" and a "how."  Read more

In the lesson today Jesus was healing the people. Many wanted to touch His cloak. He could not keep telling them it was their faith. Let it happen. Why have apostles if it was not up to them to tell the people it was their faith that made them whole. Spirituality is not something you can teach. It cannot be explained rationally. It cannot be seen physically. It can only be pointed to and experienced.  Read more

John was the one who proclaimed Jesus to be the Lamb of God who took away the Sin of the World. John did not say "sins" but "Sin". Many miss this New Testament definition of "Sin". "Sin" is missing the mark. It is separation from God. It is the cause of all "sins". Sins are symptoms of this separation. When in the Presence of the Love of God, one does not want to commit "sins". We need to stop spending time on trying to take away the sins of the World. We need to have disciples who know that the Power of being in the Grace Presence is God's way of bringing Peace on the earth.  Read more

In Biblical times, when leaving Gentile cities, pious Jews often shook the dust from their feet to show their separation from Gentiles. While Israel was a holy land, the land of the Gentiles wasn't. Rational thinking judges us along with the people who reject the apostles' teaching. Jesus tells us if others refuse to listen to us, we get the right to judge them. The only thing we can do is to treat them as Gentiles. There can be no fellowship between them and us. We must leave and leave for good. This leads to self righteousness and condemnation of those who do not agree with us because, "Jesus said so!"  Read more

The rational looks at what is seen, the spiritual looks at what is unseen. The rational is thinking what happened and the spiritual is thinking how it happened. Spiritual understanding knows when we are in the Presence, we will see things differently than when we are out of the Presence. That is the main part of the teaching. We never really understand what the difference is until we actually experience both the rational and the spiritual.  Read more

Rational thinking can lead to a dead end. There are numerous rational details. Jesus was in the stern, asleep on a cushion, and his disciples had to wake him up. Where has rational thinking taken us? Was Jesus telling them to calm their own storms next time? Perhaps Mark wrote it for us to feel guilty because we have such little faith when the storms of life hit us. Rationally, that is about it.  Read more

The rational looks for what is at the center of the parable. It is the seed. The Kingdom of God is like a seed planted. Spiritually thinking, the Kingdom of God is the ground not the seed.  Read more

Rationally, we let our theology define the words of Jesus. Spiritually, we let the words of Jesus define our theology. It means looking at the Scripture for some new Wisdom. God's forgiveness through Jesus is always there. No matter what it is, we can always be forgiven.  Read more