These words from Saint Paul to Timothy in today’s reading are a wonderfully encouraging summary of the Christian life.
Today’s readings, as we begin the season of Lent, give us two special reminders that will help us on our journey: Who God is and who we are as human beings.
In today’s Gospel, Jesus begins what scholars call the “antitheses” in the Sermon on the Mount. He says: “You have heard that it was said… but I say to you.”
It is no accident that Jesus presented his beatitudes on a mountain.
Zebulun and Naphtali were sons of Jacob, and the leaders of two of the 12 tribes of Israel. The lands settled by their descendants were in the most northern part of Israel.
Anyone here who has ever been a part of a pickup basketball, football or baseball game as a youth and was not overly athletic knows the anguish of hoping and praying not to be the last one chosen.
