The Better Part

Luke 18.9-14 Listen here to the Gospel and Reflectio n (Adults, this week we hear another moral parable. Our 3-6 year olds do not need to hear this yet. But as small little people, they know how to be in right-relationship with God.) In the Word of God, we often hear about prayer. We know that prayer is listening to God and talking to God. We know that we can pray with our words and we can pray with our bodies, too. In the Gospel for this Sunday, Jesus tells a parable about t

Luke 18.9-14 Listen here to the Gospel and Reflectio n In the Gospel for this Sunday, Jesus tells a parable about how we should be when we pray. We remember that parables are little stories to help us understand. In this parable, there are two people who go to the Temple to pray. The Temple is the most holy place in all Jerusalem, in all of Israel, because in the Temple, behind the great gold doors of the Tabernacle, is the Holy of Holies. Only a certain holy priest on a cert

Luke 18.9-14 Listen here to the Gospel and Reflectio n In the Gospel for this Sunday, Jesus tells another parable about prayer. We know that prayer is conversation with God, both listening and speaking. Conversation deepens relationships. This parable, then we can say, is about relationship with God . “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The people listening to Jesus know Pharisees and tax collectors. Pharisees are good people

Luke 18:1-8 Listen here to the Gospel and Reflectio n (Adults, petitionary prayer is not natural to 3-6 year olds. Their prayer is characterized by thanksgiving and praise. This reflection focuses on how our lives can be prayer.) In the Gospel for this Sunday, Jesus tells us something about prayer. Some people say that prayer is "talking to God." That is true—prayer  can be  talking to God. But we have to wonder if prayer is only  talking to God. "Jesus told them a parable ab

Luke 18:1-8 Listen here to the Gospel and Reflectio n In the Gospel for this Sunday, Jesus tells us a parable about prayer. We know that parables are stories, little mysteries that invite us to ask the question: What more  can Jesus mean? “In a certain city there was a judge who neither feared God nor had respect for people. In that city there was a widow who kept coming to him and saying, ‘Grant me justice against my opponent.’ There are two people in this parable: a judge—s

Luke 18:1-8 Listen here to the Gospel and Reflectio n In the Gospel for this Sunday, Jesus tells us a parable about prayer. We know there are different kinds of prayer, different reasons for praying. We can pray in thanksgiving for the blessings we enjoy. We can praise God, telling all the world how great and good God is. The kind of prayer that most people know, though, is prayers of petition or intercession—asking for God's help for ourselves or for someone else. This is th

Luke 11.1-13   Listen here to the Gospel and Reflectio n Already we know that prayer is listening to God and talking to God. Already we...

Luke 11.1-13   Listen here to the Gospel and Reflectio n Prayer is a mystery. We know that prayer is conversation with God. God speaks....

Luke 11.1-13   Listen here to the Gospel and Reflectio n In order to have a relationship with someone, we know that we have to spend time...

Abbreviated reading for 3-6 year olds ( full reading: John 8.1-11 ) Click here to listen to the Gospel and Reflection (Adults, the...

Luke 9.28b-36   Click here to listen to the Gospel and Reflection In the Gospel for this Sunday, Jesus needs time to pray. He wants to...

Luke 9.28b-36   Click here to listen to the Gospel and Reflection Many times in St. Luke's Gospel, we hear about Jesus praying. In the...

Luke 9.28b-36   Click here to listen to the Gospel and Reflection Every year, on the second Sunday of Lent, we hear about the...

Luke 2.22-40 Click here to listen to the Gospel and Reflectio n Today, it seems we move back in time! We thought we left the Christmas...

John 2.1-12   Click here to listen here to the Gospel and Reflectio n We know that when two people love  each other very much, they get...

Luke 3.15-16, 21-22   Click here to listen here to the Gospel and Reflectio n S till we celebrate the feast of Christmas! This is the...

Luke 3.15-16, 21-22   Click here to listen here to the Gospel and Reflectio n Soon we will come to the end of the Christmas season, but...

Luke 3.15-16, 21-22   Click here to listen here to the Gospel and Reflectio n At the close of the Christmas season, we leave the secret...

Luke 1.39-45   Listen here to the Gospel and Reflectio n This Sunday we light all four candles on the Advent wreath. The feast arrives...

Mark 6.30-34 Click here to listen to the Podcast Last week, we listened to Jesus call twelve of his friends to be apostles—people who get...