Fr. Jerry Schik, o.s.c.

We just heard the story of the Passion that took place nearly 2000 years ago, and we need to ask: How does it connect to our lives today? I believe that there are two connections: namely, our sinfulness and God’s mercy. It is a basic fact of life that we are sinful people. We are sinful in thought, word, and deed. When Pope Francis took office he began his speech by saying: “I am a sinner. ”St. John says it so well in the first chapter of his first letter: “If we say that we are without sin,...

My key word for today is SENT. When the People of God left Egypt, they spent 40 years in the Sinai Desert. Then they moved into the Promised Land. But life in the Promised Land was not all sweetness and light. The big problem was robbers. While they were tending their flocks, the robbers would come and steal things from their tents. The worst robbers of all were the Midianites. Why? Because they had domesticated the camel. When they robbed you, they took more than one or two things from your...

In today’s Gospel, Jesus wants his followers to be pure of heart. He wants us to behave correctly and to have our hearts in the right place. Our hearts should be oriented totally toward love. In God’s kingdom, good actions are a good start, but our thoughts and attitudes must also be pure and holy. Jesus takes the Ten Commandments and internalizes them, making them a matter of the heart. One day, he saw the Pharisees teaching the people to wash their cups and kettles in a certain way. The...