Twenty-Third Sunday After Pentecost: If legalism fails, read the grace directions. Think Legalism: “Come” means to move from one place to another. Feel Grace: “Come” means to move from not feeling to feeling. Read more
Year C Twenty-Third Sunday After Pentecost Bottom Line Meditations
Posted by Paul Edwards (Fr. Paul) on Oct 14, 2013
Year C Twenty-Second Sunday After Pentecost Meditation
Posted by Paul Edwards (Fr. Paul) on Oct 10, 2013
Literal thinking sees this parable as a comparison between and the unjust judge and the God of justice. The parable of the widow and the recalcitrant judge is about the need to always pray and not to lose heart. Literal prayer needs to be persistent. Things to do are to say prayers, sing praise hymns, take communion and go on retreats. The problem is, that is not how it works. You can pray prayers, and not pray, sing praise hymns and not praise, be stuffed with Eucharistic bread or go on retreats and not be in communion with God. If it does not work once, it does not work at all. Jesus likes to quote Isaiah, “In vain you worship me. You worship with your lips but your heart is far from me.” Read more
Year C Twenty-Second Sunday After Pentecost Bottom Line Meditations
Posted by Paul Edwards on Oct 07, 2013
Twenty-Second Sunday After Pentecost: Grace gets you real friends and legalism gets you tough times! Think Legalism: “Watch over” means to see from above. Feel Grace: “Watch over” means to feel from within. Read more
Year C Twenty-First Sunday After Pentecost Meditation
Posted by Paul Edwards (Fr. Paul) on Oct 03, 2013
Did you catch the point of this story? Granted there are many minor points. There is the healing of the lepers, the one who came back to give thanks. There is Jesus telling him that his Faith has made him whole. What is the big point? Did you miss it? Read more
Year C Twenty-First Sunday After Pentecost Bottom Line Meditations
Posted by Paul Edwards (Fr. Paul) on Sep 30, 2013
Twenty-First Sunday After Pentecost: Never mistake legalism for grace. One wants you to make a living, the other helps you make a life! Think Legalism: “Remember” is to recall the event. Feel Grace: “Remember” is to feel the event. Read more
Year C Twentieth Sunday After Pentecost Meditation
Posted by Paul Edwards (Fr. Paul) on Sep 26, 2013
Grace understanding is about what faith is. It is not belief. Faith is the experience of the Presence of God’s grace in our life. The purpose of what Jesus told the disciples was to get them to pay attention to the faith they already had available to them. The disciples were right there with Jesus and were not open to the Presence of the grace of God. They, like us, cannot increase what unconditionally and inclusively is in all of us. Read more
Year C Twentieth Sunday After Pentecost Bottom Line Meditations
Posted by Paul Edwards (Fr. Paul) on Sep 23, 2013
Twentieth Sunday After Pentecost: When Grace has your heart, God has you! Think Legalism: “Righteous” are those who are always right. Feel Grace: “Righteous” are those who are in a right relationship with God. Read more
Year C Nineteenth Sunday After Pentecost Meditation
Posted by Paul Edwards (Fr. Paul) on Sep 19, 2013
In the story of Lazarus and the rich man, Lazarus mad it to Heaven and the rich man didn't. Why was Lazarus saved? What good did he do to deserve heaven? There is no evidence he was a believer. He may not have done anything evil, but he probably did not do much that was good. He did suffer much. Some Churches might say he did not have a snowball’s chance in Hell of making it to Heaven. Then why did Jesus have him make it? Read more
Year C Nineteenth Sunday After Pentecost Bottom Line Meditations
Posted by Paul Edwards (Fr. Paul) on Sep 16, 2013
Nineteenth Sunday After Pentecost: Romans 8:3 - For what the law was powerless to do because it was weakened by the flesh, God did by sending his own Son. Never mistake legalism for grace. One wants you to make a living, the other helps you make a life! Think Legalism: “Those who Love me” is loving God to be delivered. Feel Grace: “Those who Love me” are those who feel the Love of God. Read more
Year C Eighteenth Sunday After Pentecost Meditation
Posted by Paul Edwards (Fr. Paul) on Sep 12, 2013
Literal thinking deals with what is written to discover how to think. Grace understanding deals with how to think to discover what is written. The literal starts with what it reads to discover the spiritual meaning. Grace starts with the spiritual feeling of being in the Presence before it starts to read. The Parable is about a rich man who finds his servant is cheating him of his profits. Jesus summarized the parable by saying, “I tell you, make friends for yourselves by means of dishonest wealth so that when it is gone, they may welcome you into their eternal homes.” Some people are shocked because it seems as if Jesus is commending the shrewdness of the servant in cheating his master. Read more
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