On Friday night, Orin and I and the band performed a concert to help kickoff a Luke:18 retreat for middle-schoolers in Belleville, IL. The show went really well, due in large part to the enthusiasm of the teens. To be honest, the leaders of this particular retreat program have invited us to do this very…
Category: bible
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The Liturgical Composers Forum: Pointing to Jesus
Starting tonight, Orin (today’s blogger) will again be attending the 20th annual Liturgical Composers Forum in suburban St. Louis. This gathering was begun by Fr. John Foley, SJ two decades ago, at the time a program of the now largely non-existent Center for Liturgy at SLU. These few days bring together some of the most familiar…
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Comparison is the Thief of Joy
One of the reasons I want to blog regularly is so that I can have a place to document my faith journey. All of us are called through our baptism to be ministers of the Gospel. I believe that in sharing my experience of trying to live Christ each and every day, I am in…
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Rejoice! We Know How This Ends.
Last week, it was Shannon’s turn to offer a few thoughts on the Sunday Mass readings for Any Given Sunday. We offer them to you today as this week’s Jesus-Justice-Joy reflection… I work in a parish in Fulton, MO. This past Sunday, our high school students met for a faith formation class. During the session,…
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Seeing in the Dark
I’d like to begin this week with the song, To Know Darkness, beautifully written by Orin and included on our 2007 album, Walk Away Different. Take a moment to listen to the song. I’ve included the lyrics here as well— God our Father, we long to see you as you are. If we seek you…
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NCYC Is Special. Here’s Why…
This past week, Orin and I had the great privilege of serving in a variety of roles at the National Catholic Youth Conference in Indianapolis. For much of Thursday, Friday and Saturday, he and I were on a dead-run hosting the Music and Message Stage, leading music at two Masses, and even getting to do…
bible, catholicism, JesusJusticeJoy, Justice, prayer, reflection, scripture
A Matthew 25 Kind of Readiness
I don’t know about you, but when I think about Jesus, I prefer to think of sinner-pardonin’, loaves and fishes multiplyin’, ear-healin’ Jesus. It makes me uncomfortable to think about table-turnin’, Peter-scoldin’, Gehenna-throwin’-into Jesus. Jesus is supposed to be nice, right? Surely a God who loves us wouldn’t ever turn us away, right? RIGHT?! Well,…
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Living The Justice of the Sunday Scriptures
Hi all. Shannon and Orin both are contributors at anygivensundayproject.org once or twice and year, and in fact have back-to-back reflections on the Sunday scriptures there right now. Orin wrote a bit about yesterday’s challenging Gospel passage, and Shannon wrote about this coming Sunday’s readings. We’ve posted theme here as well. But, keep visiting anygivensundayproject.org…