Everyone who looks at a woman with lust has already committed adultery. Just a glance—sometimes that’s all it takes to lead us into sin.   Whether it’s lust or greed or anger, we know how our disordered desires can affect us.   It can be discouraging to see how easily sinful or unclean thoughts can spring into our minds and then lead us to sin. Yes, one glance can lead you down the road of temptation.   But just as your eyes can get you into...

Unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees . . .  Infomercials.   Self-improvement websites.   Pop psychology books and slogans.   It seems that everywhere you turn, you are encouraged not to think too deeply about life and its challenges.   Just find the quick answer, and you’ll be happy. But the quick-and-easy approach to life doesn’t work when it comes to living out our call to discipleship, does it?   Try though...

Call louder. . . . Perhaps he is asleep and must be awakened.  What do you do to get someone’s attention?   Shout?   Jump up and down?   Shake them?   Sometimes nothing works, and that’s exactly what happened in today’s first reading. The prophets of Baal tried everything to rouse their god:  they shouted and hopped around their altar for hours;  they even slashed themselves with swords, to no avail.   Of course, we know that Baal didn’t...

Your light must shine before others. Everyone loves to see a rainbow etched in the sky right after a rainstorm.   The prism effect of colors splashed across a line of clouds never ceases to amaze us.   Science tells us that it is actually white light from the sun that separates into a spectrum of colors as it passes through water in the atmosphere. Scripture  speaks of Jesus’ light as one that “must shine before others” in a way that glorifies...

Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God. Have you ever met someone who has a knack for putting people at ease?  When everyone else is arguing, they are calm.  When everyone else is reacting, they are peacefully sizing up the situation.  They seem to know exactly how to defuse tension and get people talking to each other. It seems that St. Barnabas was such a person.   Scripture tells us that when the recently...

The Lord our God is Lord alone Hear, O Israel!   The Lord our God is Lord alone!   You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength. Every morning, the first thing that Jews in ancient Israel did was recite the prayer above, a prayer called the Shema.   It’s also the prayer that is written on a small piece of parchment and fixed to their doorposts for them to touch every...