The Impatient Son
An essential part of human nature is wanting things NOW, even if — maybe especially if — we aren’t ready for them. It’s almost a defining feature of childhood: the toddler wanting to run and climb before he is steady on his feet; the teenager testing every rule and limit in search of her impending […]
Grace Period
Jesus begins this teaching with a clear statement: Suffering is not God’s punishment, nor is success a sign of special blessing. Life is littered with unexpected pain, but those things do not reveal the nature of God.* But Jesus’ parable of the barren fig tree leaves me wondering. Not so much about the protective […]
Flores
The caption for this week’s reading*, Jesus’ Sorrow for Jerusalem, resonates in my bones. My past few weeks have felt like a whirlwind—filled with uncertainty, outrage, and moments of exhaustion. My friends and I remind each other to be kind, to embody community, and to hold one another with tenderness. In this week’s gospel, we […]
This Is (Not) a Test
When I was in elementary school in 1950s Los Angeles, we would practice hiding under our desks and covering our heads whenever the teacher would shout “Drop” so that we would know what to do if there were an earthquake or a nuclear bomb. And at 10am on the last Friday of every month, the […]