https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/091626.cfm Dancing with Jesus Presidential campaigns can feel never-ending, with candidates more focused on attacking each other than on outlining their policies. The scribes and Pharisees refused to engage with either John the Baptist or Jesus. They rejected John’s strict call to repentance and also criticized Jesus for being too tolerant, sharing meals with sinners.

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/091526.cfm No Other Way Nothing is more devastating than a parent losing a child. Watching a child’s lifeless body is unimaginable, yet they often ask, “Why couldn’t it have been me?”   Today, we honor our Mother of Sorrows. Her resilience, despite being sinless, as she stood under her Son’s cross and shared in His suffering,

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/091426.cfm      Don’t Be Afraid of the Sting  In all Catholic Churches and Chapels worldwide, we celebrate the “Exaltation of the Cross,” an instrument of execution adopted by the Romans from the Chinese, who reserved it for the worst criminals.   How does God take something so evil and cruel and change it into the central

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/091326.cfm Forgiveness and Freedom Cheryl McGuinness learned this secret of mercy at the foot of a strange and terrible cross. She is the widow of the co-pilot of American Airlines Flight 11, which was hijacked and smashed into the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001.   That morning, she and her two teenage children cried and

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/091226.cfm Deep Roots  I know a friend whose neighbor’s tree fell on her house during a tropical storm. It was too top-heavy for its weak root system to stay upright in the high winds. Life’s storms also come occasionally in the form of losing a job, an illness, and daily frustrations.   Jesus, our Lord, is