Reflection
In or Out?
The Gospel readings for this Saturday and Sunday present an opprotunity for us to reflect on if we want Jesus in or life or out of life. I’ll explain what I mean. Yesterday, the Church celebrated the Feast of the Presentation of the Lord, the account of Mary and Joseph bringing the infant Jesus to the temple [...]
A life for a life
Have you ever heard someone say a good relationship is “50-50?” It implies both people are giving equally to ensure the wholeness (i.e. 100%) of the relationship. I am confident people who use that phrase mean well, and they are obviously concerned about mathematical correctness, but I think if relationships are truly going to be [...]
Keep your focus on Jesus
It is pretty easy for us to take our eyes off Jesus. It is only a slight change of direction that takes off the path to holiness. The following pictures, and a bit of technical, photography jargon, helps to illustrate that point. If you have never taken pictures using a professional grade camera, you may [...]
The difference between signs and miracles
In my estimation, signs are the markers along the road of life pointing us in the direction we are to go. Jesus was responsible for providing a number of signs pointing to God’s love and the Spirit’s presence among us, the most obvious of which are the sacraments. The Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC) [...]
Our existence as a story
For a good many people today, control is viewed as something to be seized. The more we have, the better off we are. We can be masters of our own destiny! I did an internet search for “get control of life” and saw pages that advertised how to get control of your life in six, [...]
Love your neighbor, save the world.
Today’s gospel reading is the well known “fishers of men” story in Luke’s Gospel. In the story, the disciples had spent the whole night fishing and didn’t catch anything. In the morning, Jesus goes out in a boat and meets them on the water, instructing them to throw in their nets for one more try. [...]
The importance of forgiving others
Jesus proclaims a serious admonition in today’s gospel (Mt 18:21-19:1), against those who choose not to forgive others. The text begins with Peter asking Jesus: ““Lord, if my brother sins against me, how often must I forgive him? As many as seven times?” The answer to why Peter asked specifically about forgiving someone seven times can [...]
Jesus on “the exception to the rule”
In today’s Gospel reading, Jesus and his disciples were “going through a field of grain on the sabbath” when the hungry disciples “began to pick the heads of grain and eat them.” The Pharisees saw this and challenged Jesus saying that what his disciples were doing was “unlawful to do on the sabbath.” The Pharisees’ charge [...]
These are the times that try men’s souls
There is no shortage of moaning and groaning among conservative commentators on the Supreme Court’s Obamacare decision. I was a little surprised by the decision (especially that Roberts was the swing vote) and more than a bit disappointed; however, all the gloom and doom caused me to remember Thomas Paine’s famous exhortation in The American [...]
God’s promise to bring Good News to the poor
This is a video of a talk I gave at my parish during our annual Novena to the Holy Spirit. The audio is just a bit quiet; you may have to turn up your volume a bit. God’s promise to the poor.m4v from Christopher Smith on Vimeo.
Where I hang out
Connect with Christopher on the following social media platforms.