2025 archive of Reflections
Fr. Jo's Reflection for the 18th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C, August 3, 2025
Posted by John Wolf on 8/01/25
A sign outside one Church reads: “Do not wait for the hearse to take you to Church.” They’re words for one who has no room for God. Wealth and possessions are typically blessings from God. If you’re wealthy, count it a blessing from God. Yet, possessions can assume such ... Read More »
Fr. Jo's Reflection for the 17th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C, July 27, 2025
Posted by John Wolf on 7/25/25
You wouldn’t think that the dialogue between Abraham and God in the first reading was prayer. Yet, we can sense how Abraham’s bromance with God was certainly a lofty dialogue, where tenderness, veneration, and boldness fuse admirably together (Motte). Though Jesus taught His disciples the “Our Father” as a ... Read More »
Fr. Jo's Reflection for the 16th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C, July 20, 2025
Posted by John Wolf on 7/18/25
Who in your life is a stranger? The baby in the womb that has been judged unwanted? The person with a different political position or opinion? The immigrant next door who plays his music loud? Do you know that there’re blessings associated with tolerating or appreciating them, welcoming and ... Read More »
Fr. Jo's Reflection for the 15th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C, July 13, 2025
Posted by John Wolf on 7/12/25
Though the distance from Jerusalem to Jericho is merely 15 miles, the hazardous road takes a traveler from a height of approximately 2500 feet above sea level to a depth of 800 feet below. The traveler endures dusty desert terrains before meeting the plush green fields of the “City ... Read More »
Fr. Jo's Reflection for the 14th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C, July 6, 2025
Posted by John Wolf on 7/02/25
During their Totuus Tuus program, a group of young facilitators of the summer catechesis taught the children a game called: “How to spot a disciple.” A child dresses up and played Peter nailed upside down the cross. Another dresses like Paul with the sword of the man who beheaded ... Read More »
Fr. Jo's Reflection for Saints Peter and Paul, Apostles, Year C, June 29, 2025
Posted by John Wolf on 6/28/25
“All saints are equal, but some are more equal than others.” Today, we celebrate the feast of the two greatest apostles, Peter and Paul. To accord them high ranks among the saints is not just to sound Orwellian or depict the chicanery of democratic socialism and the hypocrisy that ... Read More »
Fr. Jo's Reflection for the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ, Year C, June 22, 2025
Posted by John Wolf on 6/21/25
It was shocking when a few years ago, I told my RCIA (now OCIA) class, during our discussion on the Eucharist, that we are a cultic people. I could see their eyes double in size, and read the movement of their tight lips—“We belong to a cult?” In an ... Read More »
Fr. Jo's Reflection for the Most Holy Trinity, Year C, June 15, 2025
Posted by John Wolf on 6/13/25
A fellow passenger seated next to me on a train ride from Frankfurt to Vienna engaged me in a somewhat heated debate. He was a British tourist, and like me, he was visiting Vienna for a musical concert at the Mozart’s Hall. We first shared each others love for ... Read More »
Fr. Jo's Reflection for Pentecost Sunday, Year C, June 8, 2025
Posted by John Wolf on 6/06/25
One thousand nine hundred and ninety two (1992) years is the count. That’s how long it has been since the Catholic Church came to birth, and today is her birthday. Before that first Pentecost day, the Church had lived in the ‘womb’ of the Spirit and had undergone varied ... Read More »
Fr. Jo's Reflection for the Ascension of the Lord, Year C, June 1, 2025
Posted by John Wolf on 5/31/25
Coaches always sound the warning to runners in relay races that it’s less important how fast a member of the relay team runs. Rather, the critical aspect of a relay race is the passing on of the baton from one runner to the other. More relay races are won ... Read More »