Year: 2020

“In today’s passage the apostles John and Peter come to Samaria to follow up on Phillip’s work. To add to their surprise and amazement, even the local sorcerer is baptized, and when he misunderstands the nature of their work, repents and asks for their prayers. It must have been confusing and disorienting, yet very exciting, for Philip, John, and Peter to see faith in Jesus take hold among Samaritans, even as persecutions continued back in Jerusalem. These stories from the early days of the Church show how, in the midst of a crisis that threatened the very lives of the early Christians, the message of Jesus continued to spread.”

“And Jesus took the children (and the teachers, school administrators, school staff, cooks, bus drivers, janitors, parents, grandparents) in his arms, placed his hands on them and blessed them.” (Mark 10:16)

“Our road to salvation is a much easier one. Baptism. The Sacraments. The teaching of the Church. But there is, as Shakespeare would say, the rub. Our humanness.”

“This level of listening is, for me, the sign of Jesus’ divinity.  Only God listens so well.  He allowed the Canaanite to speak to him and he listened to what she had to say.  He allowed himself to be astounded by it and to learn — and he made the change at lightning speed.”