Separation and Seekers

The texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary today challenge us to contemplate the nature of our choice of fullness of life and the consequences of our choice.

Separation with Seeking

The Reading from the Letter of Paul to the Romans exhorts Freedom from Sin and Life in God.

* [6:20] You were free from righteousness: expressed ironically, for such freedom is really tyranny. The commercial metaphors in Rom 6:21–23 add up only one way: sin is a bad bargain.

* [6:22] Sanctification: or holiness. (Romans, CHAPTER 6 | USCCB, n.d.)

Psalm 1 proclaims Two Ways of Life.

* [Psalm 1] A preface to the whole Book of Psalms, contrasting with striking similes the destiny of the good and the wicked. The Psalm views life as activity, as choosing either the good or the bad. Each “way” brings its inevitable consequences. The wise through their good actions will experience rootedness and life, and the wicked, rootlessness and death. (Psalms, PSALM 1 | USCCB, n.d.)

In the Gospel of Luke, Jesus identifies His Way as a Cause of Division.*

* [12:49–53] Jesus’ proclamation of the kingdom is a refining and purifying fire. His message that meets with acceptance or rejection will be a source of conflict and dissension even within families.

* [12:50] Baptism: i.e., his death. (Luke, CHAPTER 12 | USCCB, n.d.)

Jane Stein comments that the Gospel from Luke gives us a challenging dimension of discipleship. Jesus declares that His coming is not simply to bring a superficial peace but to set the world on fire with God’s love and truth—a fire that purifies, unsettles, and divides.

Taken together, these scriptures do not paint a comfortable picture of discipleship. They remind us that to follow Christ is to choose deliberately: life over death, sanctification over sin, rootedness in God’s word over drifting with the winds of the world, radical fidelity to Jesus above all earthly loyalties. This reality may be jarring, but with it comes the promise that living as servants of God leads to freedom, flourishing, and eternal life. As the psalm assures us, blessed indeed are those whose hope is in the Lord. (Stein, n.d.)

Don Schwager quotes “The fire of the Gospel and being baptized in the Holy Spirit,” by Cyril of Alexandria (376-444 AD).

"

We affirm that the fire that Christ sent out is for humanity's salvation and profit. May God grant that all our hearts be full of this. The fire is the saving message of the Gospel and the power of its commandments. We were cold and dead because of sin and in ignorance of him who by nature is truly God. The gospel ignites all of us on earth to a life of piety and makes us fervent in spirit, according to the expression of blessed Paul (Romans 12:11). Besides this, we are also made partakers of the Holy Spirit, who is like fire within us. We have been baptized with fire and the Holy Spirit. We have learned the way from what Christ says to us. Listen to his words: 'Truly I say to you, that except a man be born of water and spirit, he cannot see the kingdom of God' (John 3:5). It is the divinely inspired Scripture's custom to give the name of fire sometimes to the divine and sacred words and to the efficacy and power which is by the Holy Spirit by which we are made fervent in spirit." (excerpt from COMMENTARY ON LUKE, HOMILY 94) (Schwager, n.d.)

Friar Jude Winkler comments that the Romans passage declares we have to live the Law of Christ in our bodies to Gentiles who did not live a life of purity and sexual morality. We are called to respond to the dignity that God gives us. The wages of sin is death and the gift of God is life, worthy of what God called us to be and not a degraded life of pleasure and comfort.  Luke challenging because Jesus did not come to bring peace His message will create division in the world. A life of love will be rejected. No good deed goes unpunished. Very few Arrested? Enough evidence to convict? Friar Jude reflects on the daily struggle to live a Christian life, as the martyrdom of pinpricks, of St. Therese of Lisieux where love and care may be thought have one be a push over or weak by society.

Fr. Mike Schmitz begins to wrap up 1 Maccabees, Fr. Mike directs our attention to how 2 Maccabees will tell the same story in a different way. In Sirach, we are encouraged to know our own hearts, so that we can know our strengths, weaknesses, and where we might need healing. The readings are 1 Maccabees 15, Sirach 36-37, and Proverbs 23:26-28. 

Father Richard Rohr, OFM, introduces Author Cassidy Hall who describes the solidarity she feels with other contemplatives who continue to explore new ways of understanding themselves, their lives, and God. Her quest led her to the wide and evolving lineage of Christian contemplation—from Thomas Merton’s writings to the wisdom of the desert fathers and mothers, to the work of Dr. Barbara Holmes.

We come from all walks of life, cultures, and markers of identity. There is a unity in our uniqueness, and that common thread binds us together, allowing us to recognize each other…. As I learned from more diverse voices, I came to understand Christian contemplation as a living tradition. The word living insinuates an ongoing, even growing nature. Life necessitates space, breathing room, and an openness to change. That which is living cannot exist in a place of complete certitude—to do so would be to count it dead: not continuing, not evolving, not ever-becoming. In this way, contemplation is its own spiritual paradox, one of tradition and change, stillness and action. (Rohr, n.d.)

We ponder the separation between the view of a world gifted to seekers by God for the full life of all and the disruptive decisions that bring destruction and conflict in the pursuit of personal privilege and power.

References

Luke, CHAPTER 12 | USCCB. (n.d.). Daily Readings. Retrieved October 23, 2025, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/luke/12?49 

Psalms, PSALM 1 | USCCB. (n.d.). Daily Readings. Retrieved October 23, 2025, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/psalms/1?1 

Rohr, R. (n.d.). Daily Meditations — Center for Action and Contemplation. CAC.org. Retrieved October 23, 2025, from https://cac.org/daily-meditations/a-community-of-seekers/ 

Romans, CHAPTER 6 | USCCB. (n.d.). Daily Readings. Retrieved October 23, 2025, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/romans/6?19 

Schwager, D. (n.d.). I Came to Cast Fire upon the Earth. Daily Scripture Readings and Meditations – Daily Scripture Readings and Meditations. Retrieved October 23, 2025, from https://www.dailyscripture.net/daily-meditation/ 

Stein, J. (n.d.). Daily Reflection. Creighton Online Ministries: Home. Retrieved October 23, 2025, from https://onlineministries.creighton.edu/daily-reflections/daily-reflection-october-23-2025 

Failure to Love

The texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary today exhort us to accept the invitation to full life through our relationship to Christ and our love for our neighbours.

Seeing the Need

The reading from the Prophet Jeremiah proclaims True Wisdom.

c. [17:5] Ps 146:2–3.

d. [17:7] Ps 1:3.

e. [17:8] Is 58:11.

f. [17:10] Jer 32:19; 1 Sm 16:7; Eccl 12:14. (Jeremiah, CHAPTER 17 | USCCB, n.d.)

Psalm 1 contrasts The Two Ways.

* [Psalm 1] A preface to the whole Book of Psalms, contrasting with striking similes the destiny of the good and the wicked. The Psalm views life as activity, as choosing either the good or the bad. Each “way” brings its inevitable consequences. The wise through their good actions will experience rootedness and life, and the wicked, rootlessness and death. (Psalms, PSALM 1 | USCCB, n.d.)

The Gospel of Luke presents the Parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus.

* [16:19–31] The parable of the rich man and Lazarus again illustrates Luke’s concern with Jesus’ attitude toward the rich and the poor. The reversal of the fates of the rich man and Lazarus (Lk 16:22–23) illustrates the teachings of Jesus in Luke’s “Sermon on the Plain” (Lk 6:20–21, 24–25).

* [16:19] The oldest Greek manuscript of Luke dating from ca. A.D. 175–225 records the name of the rich man as an abbreviated form of “Nineveh,” but there is very little textual support in other manuscripts for this reading. “Dives” of popular tradition is the Latin Vulgate’s translation for “rich man” (Lk 16:19–31).

* [16:23] The netherworld: see note on Lk 10:15.

* [16:30–31] A foreshadowing in Luke’s gospel of the rejection of the call to repentance even after Jesus’ resurrection. (Luke, CHAPTER 16 | USCCB, n.d.)

Jay Carney comments that in Dilexit Nos, his recent encyclical on the Sacred Heart of Jesus, Pope Francis reminds Christians that the heart is the center of the human person. It is the “locus of sincerity” that reflects our “true intentions,” the “naked truth about ourselves” that encompasses who we really are (DN 5). Our hearts are created by Love and for love. Such love is demonstrated first and foremost not in emotions, intentions, theological explanations, or even prayers, but rather “by concrete actions” (DN 33). “Heartlessness”—the failure to bother to love— thus stands at the origin of sin in a “world [that] is losing its heart” (DN 22).

For Luke’s Rich Man, the road to hell is paved in heartlessness. Despite the persistent calls of Israel’s prophets to care for the widow, orphan, alien, and the poor, the Rich Man has “dined sumptuously each day” with no regard for the Lazarus who lays at his door. His heart is “turned away from the Lord,” as Jeremiah cries out in the first reading, precisely because he disregards the immediate needs of his neighbor in need. He has failed to bother to love. (Carney, n.d.)

Don Schwager quotes “Creator of both rich and poor,” by Augustine of Hippo, 3540-430 A.D.

"God made both the rich and the poor. So the rich and the poor are born alike. You meet one another as you walk on the way together. Do not oppress or defraud anyone. One may be needy and another may have plenty. But the Lord is the maker of them both. Through the person who has, He helps the one who needs - and through the person who does not have, He tests the one who has." (excerpt from Sermon 35, 7) (Schwager, 2025)

The Word Among Us Meditation on Jeremiah 17:5-10 comets that reflecting on this passage, Pope Francis noted, “We all have this weakness, this frail tendency to place our hopes in ourselves or in our friends or in human possibilities alone, and we forget the Lord” (Morning Meditation, March 20, 2014).

The more we are able to trust in the Lord, especially in difficult times, the more we will be rooted in his life, just like that tree in today’s reading. Not only will we survive in times of heat and drought, but we will also be able to bear fruit for him and his kingdom (Jeremiah 17:8). That’s because we are drawing on God’s abundant grace rather than relying on our own meager resources—and what a blessing that is!

“Lord Jesus, help me to quiet my soul and turn to you first in every challenge I face.” (Meditation on Jeremiah 17:5-10, n.d.)

Friar Jude Winkler comments that Jeremiah exhorts us not to trust human hearts but to trust in the Lord. Our survival in “dry seasons” is through connection to the Lord. Friar Jude notes that Luke alerts us to the warnings that nudge us to attend to the needs of others.

Fr. Richard Rohr, OFM, introduces Theologian Karen González who recalls meeting a woman who acted with compassion, regardless of her outspoken beliefs about specific policies. 

According to Jesus’s explanation … it is the good deed that counts, not the yes with good intentions…. [Mrs. Fisher] was doing God’s will, but did she believe God’s words about welcoming and doing justice for the immigrant?  

It is impossible for me to know, because I never saw her again. Yet, I would not be surprised if she had, because it has been my experience that we often practice ourselves into new ways of being and believing. I always thought that belief precedes action, and sometimes it does. But all too often, it is practices that shape us, that change our beliefs and help us internalize them in ways that are transformative. We learn by doing. I wonder if Mrs. Fisher now proclaims hospitality in addition to practicing hospitality. I hope so. (Rohr, n.d.)

We implore the Spirit to guide us to choose compassion over indifference when we have an opportunity to help our brothers and sisters in need.

References

Carney, J. (n.d.). Daily Reflection Of Creighton University's Online Ministries. Creighton University's Online Ministries. Retrieved March 20, 2025, from https://onlineministries.creighton.edu/CollaborativeMinistry/032025.html 

Jeremiah, CHAPTER 17 | USCCB. (n.d.). Daily Bible Readings. Retrieved March 20, 2025, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/jeremiah/17?5 

Luke, CHAPTER 16 | USCCB. (n.d.). Daily Bible Readings. Retrieved March 20, 2025, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/luke/16?19 

Meditation on Jeremiah 17:5-10. (n.d.). Word Among Us. Retrieved March 20, 2025, from https://wau.org/meditations/2025/03/20/1229839/ 

Psalms, PSALM 1 | USCCB. (n.d.). Daily Bible Readings. Retrieved March 20, 2025, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/psalms/1?1 

Rohr, R. (n.d.). Faithful to Compassion. CAC Daily Meditations. Retrieved March 20, 2025, from https://cac.org/daily-meditations/faithful-to-compassion/ 

Schwager, D. (2025, March 20). Lazarus Was Carried to Abraham's Bosom. Daily Scripture net. https://www.dailyscripture.net/daily-meditation/?ds_year=2025&date=mar20

Daily Decisions

The texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary today challenge us to consider the choices we have to make daily as we continue our journey as disciples of Christ.

Decisions for Life

The reading from the Book of Deuteronomy presents the Choice Before Israel.

j. [30:15] Dt 11:26–28; Jer 21:8.

k. [30:16] Dt 4:1; 8:1; 11:22.

l. [30:17–18] Dt 5:7; 6:4; 8:19–20.

m. [30:19] Dt 4:26; 11:26–28; 28:2, 15; 31:28.

n. [30:20] Dt 1:8; 4:1, 40. (Deuteronomy, CHAPTER 30, n.d.)

Psalm 1 presents the Two Ways.

* [Psalm 1] A preface to the whole Book of Psalms, contrasting with striking similes the destiny of the good and the wicked. The Psalm views life as activity, as choosing either the good or the bad. Each “way” brings its inevitable consequences. The wise through their good actions will experience rootedness and life, and the wicked, rootlessness and death. (Psalms, PSALM 1 | USCCB, n.d.)

The Gospel of Luke presents the First Prediction of the Passion and the Conditions of Discipleship. 

* [9:23] Daily: this is a Lucan addition to a saying of Jesus, removing the saying from a context that envisioned the imminent suffering and death of the disciple of Jesus (as does the saying in Mk 8:34–35) to one that focuses on the demands of daily Christian existence. (Luke, CHAPTER 9, n.d.)

Don Schwager quotes “God calls us to conversion,” by Augustine of Hippo, 354-430 AD.

"God calls us to correct ourselves and invites us to do penance. He calls us through the wonderful gifts of his creation, and he calls us by granting time for life. He calls us through the reader and through the preacher. He calls us with the innermost force of our thoughts. He calls us with the scourge of punishment, and he calls us with the mercy of his consolation." (excerpt from Commentary on Psalm 102, 16) (Schwager, n.d.)

The Word Among Us Meditation on Luke 9:22-25 comments that in today’s Gospel, Jesus tells his listeners that in order to follow him, they must “take up [their] cross daily” (Luke 9:23). He knows that as we embrace our cross, we are doing things that can be hard and uncomfortable. We choose humility when we would like to win an argument. We reject the temptations of comparison and jealousy when we are scrolling on social media. In some ways, taking up our cross is the spiritual version of going to the gym. We are “training” ourselves to choose a path that is often difficult and that goes against our fallen desires but that reaps a multitude of benefits.

Every day, you have opportunities to bear your cross. You often don’t have to look further than your first interaction with another person! The Lord sees your desires and your efforts, and he promises to reward your choices to love, to give, to humble yourself, and to pick up your cross today—in whatever form it presents itself.

“Lord, I want to follow you. Show me how to embrace my cross today and receive all that you have for me.” (Meditation on Luke 9:22-25, 2025)

Friar Jude Winkler comments on the theme in Deuteronomy that we must choose between life in observance and death in refusal of the Law of God. A Covenant declares both blessings and curses. Jesus refers to Himself using text from Daniel 7 as the Son of Man and includes the description of the Suffering Servant from deutero-Isaiah, meek and buried among robbers. We “take up our Cross” as we surrender the things that cause loss of life and become signs and sacraments through our death to self.

Fr. Richard Rohr, OFM, introduces artist and organizer Stephen Pavey who finds parallels between Israel during the prophet Amos’ time (8th century BCE) and the United States today. In chapter 5, Amos begins a lament, or cry of sorrow, against this way of life: “There will be wailing in all the streets” (5:16). In our own day, the prophet Callie Greer, who lives in Selma, Alabama, and organizes with the Poor People’s Campaign, tells the nation, “You must let me wail.” In February 2020, she testified to her pain and oppression at a public gathering in Selma: years earlier, her daughter had died in her arms due to poverty and lack of health care. Callie cried out, “You must let me wail for the children I’ve lost to poverty and will never get back, wail for all the children we mothers have lost. I won’t waste my pain. I hope I make you feel uncomfortable. I hope I make you feel angry. I’m wailing because my babies are no more.” [1] Richard Rohr reflects on Jesus’ blessing for those who weep.

Jesus did not intend his statement “Blessed are those who weep” (Luke 6:21) to be sentimentalized or remain unnoticed. Hard-heartedness, or what Zechariah and other prophets called “hearts of flint,” prevented the people from hearing the law and the words that YHWH had sent by the Spirit. A heart of stone cannot recognize the empires it builds and the empires it worships. Lamentation does. It moves us through anger and sadness, empowering us to truly hear and respond to the always-tragic now.  

The prophet Ezekiel says: “I shall give you a new heart, and put a new spirit in you; I shall remove the heart of stone from your bodies and give you a heart of flesh instead. I shall put my spirit in you…. You shall be my people and I will be your God” (Ezekiel 36:26–28). This is the organ transplant that we all long for, the interior religiosity that all spirituality seeks. (Rohr, n.d.)

We seek the assistance of the Spirit to contemplate the new heart with which we are to make decisions on our journey to act like Jesus in our attitudes and actions to bring truth, love and compassion to our encounters with all humanity.

References

Deuteronomy, CHAPTER 30. (n.d.). USCCB. Retrieved March 6, 2025, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/deuteronomy/30?15 

Dilly, B. (2025, March 6). Creighton U. Daily Reflection. Online Ministries. Retrieved March 6, 2025, from https://onlineministries.creighton.edu/CollaborativeMinistry/030625.html 

Luke, CHAPTER 9. (n.d.). USCCB. Retrieved March 6, 2025, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/luke/9?22 

Meditation on Luke 9:22-25. (2025, March 6). The Word Among Us. Retrieved March 6, 2025, from https://wau.org/meditations/2025/03/06/1221931/ 

Psalms, PSALM 1 | USCCB. (n.d.). Daily Readings. Retrieved March 6, 2025, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/psalms/1?1 

Rohr, R. (n.d.). Lamenting All That’s Lost. Center for Action and Contemplation. Retrieved March 6, 2025, from https://cac.org/daily-meditations/lamenting-all-thats-lost/ 

Schwager, D. (n.d.). Take up Your Cross Daily and Follow Christ. Daily Scripture Readings and Meditations – Daily Scripture Readings and Meditations. Retrieved March 6, 2025, from https://www.dailyscripture.net/daily-meditation/?ds_year=2025&date=mar6