Conversations with you

No one sews a piece of unshrunken cloth on an old cloak. If he does, its fullness pulls away, the new from the old, and the tear gets worse.  Mark 1:21-22 In today's Gospel we learn that Jesus came to bring something new into the world.  Personally,  I am reflecting on where Jesus learned the tact of sewing and how he came to understand the art of what happens when you sew something new on old clothing.   I can only imagine what Jesus childhood was like and try and understand as he learned some he knew everything.  It is mind blowing to try to comprehend this type of childhood.  We hear the one instance in the Bible when Joseph and Mary found him in the temple at the age of twelve where he was listening and asking questions to the teachers, but yet all were amazed at his understanding and answers.  Jesus is God but yet took on human form and in this person is supposed to be a child.    Son though he was, he learned obedience from what he...

 The people were astonished at his teaching, for he taught them as one having authority and not as the scribes.  Mark 1:22 Today's Gospel is a truth as to what we believe as Catholics, that Jesus is the source of our authority not as the scribes who Jesus tells us in Mark 12:38 'Beware of the scribes who like to walk around in long robes, and  like  personal greetings in the marketplaces'.   The rabii's quoted other authorities when they spoke, so they did not teach in the same way Jesus did.  I feel relativism is alive today just as it has been in every era of our times, what ever we say or hear is true so long as it fits into our beliefs or will benefit us.  We have no structure to what we believe, society has brainwashed us into following what ever we want to believe as true.  If I want to relate as a donkey today I am allowed to do just that with no push back from anyone.  As Catholics we need to uphold what is true and live by what ...

Nathanael said to him, “How do you know me?”  John 1:48 In today's Gospel reading we read of Nathaniel's denial that the Savior of the world can come from a place like Nazareth.  Eventually he did find out Jesus was born in Bethlehem which would fulfill what the prophets foretold.  We too believe in our world today that God doesn't know who I am or what I want.  We think we know what is best for our life.  Just as he saw Nathaniel sitting under the fig tree, Jesus knew us before we were born.  He knows everything about us, he knows our thoughts and what we are going to say before we say it.  Is there a Phillip in your life who is persistent in trying to get you to know Jesus more?  What are you afraid of?  Why won't you 'come and see' the greater things that Jesus has done and will do in your life?  We are alot like Nathaniel in his denial and put up or road blocks and drag our feet to resist our encounter with Jesus.   Lord Je...

Jesus turned and saw them following him and said to them, “What are you looking for?”  John 1:38 With what knowledge did they responded, 'Rabbi'?  There thoughts were filled with questions of who this really was that John the Baptist had pointed out to them.  And Jesus's response is the same response he says to us every day,  “Come, and you will see".  Jesus invites us in every moment of our life to come and see what we are truly missing in our lives.  We should not be afraid or doubt what Jesus will be able to accomplish in our lives if we give ourselves to him and follow his footsteps for our life.  Look at the lives of all the Saints and see what Jesus was able to accomplish in each of them.   Do you think for a moment that they did this on their own?   Lord, I believe that you are the Messiah, the Lamb of God come into the world to save us. Thank you for revealing yourself to us. I humbly offer you now my mind and heart to focus...

John answered them, “I baptize with water; but there is one among you whom you do not recognize, the one who is coming after me, whose sandal strap I am not worthy to untie.”   John 1:26-27 Today's Gospel is a culmination of John's life.  From the beginning of his life in the Canticle of Zechariah, John has been taught what his mission is, "And you, child, will be called prophet of the Most High, for you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways, to give his people knowledge of salvation through the forgiveness of their sins, because of the tender mercy of our God by which the daybreak from on high will visit us to shine on those who sit in darkness and death’s shadow, to guide our feet into the path of peace.” Luke 1:76‭-‬79. Imagine growing up as John the Baptist and his parents constant reminder, 'remember you are to go before the Lord and prepare His way.  I can only imagine the preparation they did for John as a child to make him ready to live in the desert an...