News - February 2022 RSS Feed

Sometimes fruit may look good at first glance. Closer inspection, however, reveals that it's bruised or even...rotten! People can be the same way. But true character is usually revealed by a person's speech, especially unguarded speech.

Acting against our human inclinations is difficult, requiring a death to self. For example, it's natural and easy to love people who love you and treat you well, but not easy at all to love those who don't. That is the lesson in today's readings - David sparing the life of Saul, and Jesus' teaching on loving our enemies.

So, is it "Who do you trust?" or "Whom do you trust?" I know that whom is correct (objective case) but it seems that who is more and more commonly used (offending my grammatical ear). At any rate, that is the question before us today, "In whom do you put your trust?" Is our basic trust in the Lord or in other persons or things?

Have you ever felt unworthy to speak, write, or testify for the Lord? If so, join the club! Everybody is tempted to feel that way. We know what we are. St Paul says, "I am what I am." But we also know that God doesn't call the qualified, but rather he qualifies the called. Today we see examples of great men of God who felt unworthy of their mission - Isaiah, Paul, and Peter - and how God accepted them and used them in mighty ways.

"Behold the days are coming, says the Lord God, when I will send a famine on the land; not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord. They shall wander from sea to sea, and from north to east, they shall run to and fro, to seek the word of the Lord, but they shall not find it" (Amos 8:11-12). There are certain Scripture passages that "chill my soul," that is to say, they are able penetrate my inner being and make a greater than usual impact within me. This is one of those passages.