Different Gifts, One Spirit

Pentecost (B)

It was Thanksgiving morning. While eight-year-old Sarah and her siblings were watching the Macy’s parade, their parents were preparing Thanksgiving dinner. When dinner was over, Sarah’s mother told the children, “Now that Christmas is only a month away, be sure to make a list of what you want Santa to give you.”

And so it happened! Sarah’s siblings made their lists, but Sarah didn’t. A week later, her mother asked her why she hadn’t made a list for Santa. Sarah replied, “But, Mom, if I tell Santa what I want, I’ll never know what he wanted to give me!”  Continue reading “Different Gifts, One Spirit”

Witnesses To The Resurrection

Seventh Sunday of Easter (B)   Acts 1:15-26

As we near the end of our journey through the Easter season this year, our first reading calls our attention to a moment very early in the Easter journey of the early Church. Earlier in this chapter, Jesus told his disciples to wait in Jerusalem for the promised outpouring of the Holy Spirit. After Jesus’ Ascension, those first followers of Jesus – the Apostles, Mary, some of Jesus’ relatives, and other disciples – are gathered specifically to wait and pray in anticipation of the fulfillment of this promise. We are told of only one other thing they actually did before this first Pentecost of the Church. It is here, in our first reading.

Continue reading “Witnesses To The Resurrection”

Boundaries

Sixth Sunday of Easter (B)   Acts 10:25-48

Something there is that doesn’t love a wall. – Robert Frost

Boundaries.

Every living thing, from the simplest one-cell amoeba to the complex organisms that we call our bodies, needs boundaries. The boundary separates what is included in the living thing from what is outside it. This boundary needs to be strong enough to enable the living thing to exist as a separate being, but not so strong that it keeps the living thing from interacting with the outside world.  Continue reading “Boundaries”