Mary M. McGlone

Scripture for Life: Imagine what it would feel like to have genuine sympathy for the "wise and learned," who rely on themselves, compelled to make a show of their prestige. Imagine laying down all those heavy burdens!

Today, as we prepare to celebrate July 4, we might ask ourselves some of the following questions: "Who are the prophets in our society? Who is calling us to a deeper living of the Gospel? Whose need reminds us of the fragility of all life and our universal need for solidarity?"

Scripture for Life: Jesus would probably remind us that our greatest powers do not come from our physical or intellectual prowess but from the attitudes that motivate our actions. 

Scripture for Life: Taking the invitation and challenge of today's Gospel to heart, we will do all we can to be and become a church of disciples who continue the mission of Jesus.

Scripture for Life: Where does this feast invite us to go? Like the entire Gospel of John, it invites us to venture beyond what we see and to imbibe Christ's invitation to communion.

Scripture for Life: The Scriptures offer tremendous help in our search to know what God is like, not because they give us a clear answer, but precisely because they do not.

Scripture for Life: At Pentecost in the 21st century, when no part of the world is unreachable and every language is translatable in an instant, it is time to appreciate the "blessed awareness that we are all part of one another."

Scripture for Life: As we celebrate the feast of the Ascension of the Lord, the Scriptures teach us that genuine faith is a way of life in community.

In the long run, the promises Jesus made us, his invitation into union with God through Christ, are not about us. That union, the grace of baptism, the communion of the Eucharist, are all for the sake of mission.

Scripture for Life: Today's Gospel and second reading address situations of tension in the midst of diversity, showing how it can lead to something new and deeper than any of the participants would have imagined.

Scripture for Life: Just as people of Jesus' day missed the point, many today remain unaware or insufficiently concerned about how we are shaping the future of our planet.

On this Sunday, Mary and the other disciples would probably tell us, "Be careful about asking for God's mercy! It comes with the uncomfortable grace of a vocation."

Scripture for Life: The call to "seek what is above" is not an appeal to abandon this life, but to believe that Christ and his resurrection have revealed that everything is oriented to union with God.

The opening liturgy of Holy Week calls us to be stouthearted. It reminds us that the godliness to which we would naturally cling has nothing to do with the God of Jesus.

Scripture for Life: The Scriptures urge us to practice living faith, to allow the Spirit of Christ to free us from any fear that focuses us on our own well-being as if it could be separated from that of others.

This Sunday, we can't help but hear this Gospel as an invitation to scrutinize our perspectives, sort through our presuppositions and see what should be discarded and what new insights might be hidden in unexpected, even unwanted places.

Scripture for Life: Salvation happens when we attend to God's thirst and respond with personal hospitality. Once we have been affected by a relationship with God, it automatically begins to flow into all our other relationships.

Scripture for Life: The mystery of the Transfiguration, Jesus' self-revelation as God's beloved, offers us more than just a glimpse of his divine vocation. Jesus' appearance as God's beloved, his revelation of divinity in humanity, gives us a preview of our own destiny.

Scripture for Life: Jesus' temptations were not a one-time event, nor simply an experience in the desert and then Gethsemane. They summarize all the ways he and any of us can distort our vocation to be images of God.

Scripture for Life: Jesus' examples of relational holiness came from his day-to-day experience. Our challenge is to imitate their cleverness in our own time and circumstances.