News – First 5 (Page 3)

This past Thursday we began our Lenten reading of Pope Francis’ Joy of the Gospel. In the first chapter Pope Francis outlines our cause for joy even in a troubled world and ailing Church: our personal encounter and relationship with Jesus. Francis observes that we ought to have a relationship with Jesus where we can say “Lord, I have let myself be deceived; in a thousand…

I think a big turn-off a lot of folks have with religion is the amount of rules there seems to be, or the checklist attitude that is taken to them. It can feel like an exhausting balancing act even for the devoted, much less for the newcomer, to view the commandments this way. Which is exactly why we shouldn’t. As the readings this week explore, God desires us to have a…

As I sit trying to write for this week I find myself unfocused. In the last 15 minutes I have re-read the passages over and over, sent text messages, written emails, opened and closed numerous time-waster browser tabs, spaced out staring at the wall, and made a cup of coffee. Pretty much anything but the thing I am trying to corral myself into doing! However, this…

What do you want most in the world? I imagine that perhaps in years past you would have given a different answer than what you’d say today. But at any point in the timeline of humanity, if you asked God that question, there would be only one answer: I want you! God desires a relationship with each and every one of us, and the readings today speak into just how far…

A lot of electronics have a pinhole somewhere on them. This is a button that can ‘restore your device to factory settings’ so if something goes wrong on it you could get a pin, press it, and reset the machine to (generally) restore it to how it was intended to be. In a lot of ways, this kind of restoration is similar to what happens at Baptism, and today’s readings can…