Author name: Essjay Peatoo

Our scripture passages for today are continuations of readings from earlier this week.   They present a sharp contrast between those who are faithfully aware of God’s Word and God’s presence in their lives, and those whose pious actions are contradicted by their internal attitudes about their relationship with God.    St. Paul (1 Thessalonians […]

On Saturday, we began taking readings from the twenty-third chapter of Mathew’s Gospel.  In Chapter 23, Jesus delivers a severe indictment against the Pharisees and Scribes of his day, but not all of them.   (I will, for compaction, lump the Pharisees and Scribes together for the remainder of this Daily Reflection), Gamaliel, a man

We, for the past nine weeks, have been reading from the Old Testament.  We began with the 12th chapter of the book of Genesis and went through selected passages from each of the first eight books of the Bible in order: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, Joshua, Judges and Ruth. Today we return to the

Even though my brother and I bought a nice “little” farm when I was in my late 20s, I am basically a city boy.  I remember once asking a fellow parishioner at Sacred Heart, our little country church, literally in the middle of a corn field outside Roggen, Colorado, how large his family’s ranch might

Human drama is at the heart of the story of Ruth: the love between Ruth and Naomi, the anguish of those who lose everything, Ruth’s commitment to Naomi’s people, and the individual attempts to redeem the name of those who have passed. The pastoral elements of the barley harvest seem simply like a backdrop, like

Today, after leaving the Book of Judges behind, our Old Testament readings now take us into the Book of Ruth.  According to the Talmud (Jewish tradition), the prophet Samuel wrote this book. The text says nothing of the author, but whoever wrote it was a skilled storyteller. It has been called the most beautiful short

Continuing from the book of Judges (Judges 11:29-39), we have the story of Jephthah killing his own daughter, his only child, as a “burnt offering” to God. In Matthew’s Gospel (Matthew 22:1-14) we read about how guests who are invited to a prince’s wedding feast lay hold of the king’s messengers, mistreated and ultimately killed

Remember that yesterday I closed the Daily Reflection with a warning that we would revisit some of the disturbing stories in the Book of Judges.  Today, our readings take us into two disturbing stories, one in Judges and one in Matthew. Today’s Old Testament reading (Judges 9:6-15) begins with a puzzling parable that can be

I have a friend who is an evangelical Christian.  One afternoon several years ago, we were discussing our differing faiths, and he made the comment that he was a Christian, but Catholics were not Christian.  He said that every Sunday, the charismatic preacher he followed would delve into some reading from the gospel.  Catholics never

While I wouldn’t consider myself “rich” by any means, I am blessed to live a comfortable life. I live in a comfortable home, with my brother and sister, in a pleasant town with friendly neighbors.  I can afford to buy the types of food I like to eat, to take occasional road trips to nearby