“Would that the Lord might bestow his spirit on them all!”  In our first reading today, we heard Joshua, Moses’ aide who would eventually succeed him, protest to Moses that Eldad and Medad were not present when the Spirit of God came and rested upon the rest of the elders, so they should not be prophesying.  Pay attention to Moses’ response: “Would that all the people of the LORD were prophets!  Would that the Lord might bestow his spirit on them all!”

And, in our Gospel, we heard John, the beloved […]

Do you consider yourself a competitive person?  Or maybe I should ask, in what area are you most competitive?  We’re all competitive, aren’t we?  Maybe you’re competitive in getting the best grades in your class or the biggest paycheck at work.  Maybe you compete to make the best pancakes in your family or tell the funniest joke.  We humans are naturally competitive.  After all, that’s what helps us survive in this very competitive world.

In our culture, we often base our identity and self-worth on whether or not we are the […]

“Who do you say that I am?”  This is an important question that we hear Jesus ask his disciples in today’s gospel.  It’s an important question that he asks each of us so let’s see how the encounter continues.  Peter answers correctly, “You are the Christ.”  Since this is the correct answer, we might wonder why Jesus immediately instructs the disciples not to tell anyone about him.  Why would he do that?  We all know that it’s because they had the wrong notion of who the Christ – the Messiah […]

Do you know what the word “Alleluia” means?  We just sang it with great joy as we prepared to hear the gospel proclaimed.  In fact, we sing it every Sunday except during the Season of Lent.  It’s a Hebrew word and it means “Praise God!”  It is joyous cry of praise of God that dates back to Old Testament times.  I wouldn’t be surprised if the man in today’s gospel passage went around singing “Alleluia!”  Can you imagine how the man in today’s Gospel account must have felt?  All his […]