God creates each person for good works and provides everything needed for salvation. Scripture recounts the parable of a man who plans to live it up for years after a bountiful harvest but does not live even one more day. Jesus told the story, challenging the faithful not to store up earthly treasure at the expense of what matters to God. This week’s readings use various images for the Lord and His Church. Picture Jesus as the top, wedge-shaped stone that holds an arched entranceway together, central to the faithful who become part of a Churc

Jonah warned the Ninevites to repent, and they did. The Queen of Sheba heard about the wisdom of Solomon and went to him with questions. Jesus offered something greater—the key to understanding the law and prophets. Still, the Pharisees and scholars failed to listen to the knowledge He opened to them. Worse yet, those pedantic leaders prevented others from coming into Jesus’ way of seeing things. Skipping the ritual washing before a meal to help make His point, the Lord advised the Pharisees to work on cleansing evil from within themselves.

After a man named Job lost just about everything but faith, God rewarded him with a long line of descendants and a return to prosperity. Jesus chose 72 disciples to go ahead of Him to places He planned to visit. Whether people opened their homes to them or shut the doors in their faces, the Lord instructed the disciples to declare the Kingdom of heaven at hand. Doing great things in Jesus’ name does not confer greatness on His followers, but anyone invoking His name for help in doing good works has the Lord’s blessing. People grow up, and y

Pharisees and Herodians (a Jewish sect) asked Jesus about paying the Roman census tax in a veiled effort to get Him to deny either the sovereignty of God or of Caesar. The Lord said to give each his due. Sadducees tried to refute belief in resurrection to new life by asking whose wife a widow seven times over would be in heaven. Jesus said that the resurrected become like angels. Marriage on Earth doesn’t constrain the unlimited love in heaven. Observing a poor widow give all that she had to the temple treasury, Jesus pointed out that two sma

Finally, Jesus spoke to the Disciples in plain terms, and they realized that He knew absolutely everything. They believed in Him. When the Lord said that His friends would abandon Him anyway, the words must have stung. Jesus prayed for them, knowing that they would continue the work that He began on Earth. He prayed to the Father that the Disciples would be consecrated in truth, have oneness in love, and join Him in heavenly glory. During Jesus’ Passion, Peter denied Him three times, but the Risen Lord later gave him the opportunity to declar

No matter what, in life and death, the Risen Lord told the Disciples to testify to Him. He would soon go back to the Father but promised that it would work out for the best. Assured that the Holy Spirit would come to guide them, the Disciples still didn’t want Jesus to leave, even for a little while. The Lord had more to tell His friends than they could bear, but He did say that no one would take the rejoicing away when they saw Him again. When we miss loved ones gone before us and long to have them still alongside us, how does their love hel

Jesus told the Disciples that He would go to the Father but come back. He gave them His peace, a fragile gift in the face of fear about what would happen once He departed. Jesus said to remain in His love, keeping the Commandments and loving one another just as He loved them. In case they forgot lessons He taught, Jesus promised that the Holy Spirit would remind them. Reassuringly, our Savior invited them to picture Him as a vine. They would stay connected to Him like branches. Vines need pruning so that errant shoots and tangled stems don’t