In the Gospel reading for the Twenty Second Sunday in Ordinary Time, from Luke 14:1, 7-14, Jesus speaks two parables. The first deals with honor, embarrassment, humility and exaltation. In the NRSV, ...

Today we consider the second part of Jesus second instruction about prayer in Luke 18. The parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector reminds us that God hears the prayers of some surprising ...

David Brooks reflects on the parable of the Prodigal Son. You know it, right? Jesus told it to illustrate what the Kingdom of Heaven is like, and tells the story about a young man who asks his father ...

Sunday, Oct. 23, is the 30th Sunday in Ordinary Time. Mass readings: Sirach 35:12-14, 16-18; Psalm 34:2-3, 17-18, 19, 23; 2 Timothy 4:6-8, 16-18; Luke 18:9-14. There’s an old saying that goes, “Faults ...

To get the point of this powerful and perplexing, but also, if read aright, humorous parable, you have to remember that dining protocol in the ancient world for the upper strata of society was a ...

On Sunday Pope Francis stressed the priceless value of encountering Jesus, noting that Jesus' parables speak of those who are willing to trade everything for the Kingdom of God. "He who knows Jesus, ...

Today, God’s word speaks to us through Sirach and the Lucan Jesus -- and the theme of this word is humility. “Humility” is derived from the Latin word humus or earth; the humble person has his or her ...

Jesus’ parables – short stories with moral lessons – were likewise designed to afflict, to draw us in but leave us uncomfortable. These teachings can be read as being about divine love and salvation, ...

Obviously, in our lessons today -- God’s Word that we are listening to carefully -- we are being instructed about humility. This is a virtue that I think many of us have some trouble with -- even ...

Pope Francis warned against trying to co-opt the Word of God for one's own purposes as did the Pharisees, urging prayer and humility instead, in his homily for Friday's Mass. "This is the tragedy of ...