Fr. Bob’s Weekly Reflections

Our gospel today is the third instance in which Luke tells us that Jesus ate with the Pharisees. It must have been an unusual event.  Luke says that they watched him closely. However, it seems that Jesus was also observing them. He gently teases the other guests about what he had observed.

Discipline is a bad word, none of us really like it; it conjures up something arduous and painful. To choose a life of discipline is to choose the narrow way.

It is always a temptation to preach the Gospel of Jesus in a selective manner.

There is a novel called The Man Who Lost Himself; in one scene the main character of the story trails a man to Paris.

One day long ago, someone interrupted Jesus with a question any of us might find ourselves asking. Parents had died and there is an estate to settle.

In Eugene O’Neill’s play, “The Great God Brown,” we see a man on his deathbed and he is frightened.

In some ways, this Martha and Mary story can be annoying to many of us. You do not want to be seen as too much like Martha; ignoring the guest or like passive Mary.

We hear about a famous road in today’s gospel, the road to Jericho. The road from Jerusalem to Jericho was a favorite haunt for robbers and outlaws.

In the first reading, Isaiah tells us in graphic language what Jerusalem meant to the Jews. It was the center of worship, the center of their lives.

It is obvious from today’s gospel that Jesus is not promising us a rose garden. He cannot even promise His followers a place to lay their heads.