Mary M. McGlone

Scripture for Life: When we envision all that happens in this story, we begin to realize that the Feast of the Holy Family is really not about a nuclear family of two parents and an only child, but a celebration of human community.

Scripture for Life: From the time of the Exodus until the days of Solomon, the God of Israel was believed to dwell in a tent among the people. The wandering Israelites encountered God’s glory in the cloud hovering around that mobile abode.

Scripture for Life: What genuine hope might God be offering us now? We need to contemplate 2020 with the eyes of a prophet, discerning the ways God has acted in our midst.

Scripture for Life: An old St. Nicholas Day tradition in Germany and Poland had children dress up like bishops and go out begging for alms for the poor — a surprisingly on-target approach to what God has in mind for the future of humanity.

Scripture for Life: Today's feast is celebrated under the leave-nothing-understated title of The Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe.

Scripture for Life: The attitudes that allow for abuse of creation are the same that sanction the denigration of certain people on the basis of categories like age, gender, nationality, citizenship and, most especially, race.

Scripture for Life: Our society excels at helping us avoid confronting the friend St. Francis called Sister Death and her little cousins, Disappointment and Suffering.

Scripture for Life: Saints are set apart by the fact that, like Jesus and Mary, they have accepted their life as a vocation to holiness, an opportunity to receive and spread God's limitless love.

Scripture for Life: The alien, widow and orphan, the people most in need at our borders and in our midst, are the people through whom God wants to free us from the confines of our own tribes and idols.

Scripture for Life: Every 12 years, liturgical and civic calendars coincide to give us these readings in the weeks before a presidential election. These Scriptures encourage us to consider church and state.

Scripture for Life: When Jesus talked about the king who prepared the wedding feast, he was depicting how God longs to share divine joy with humanity. But the king in Jesus’ story quickly became a tragic character.

Scripture for Life: Jesus was warning his critics that time was short for them to come around to collaborate with what God was offering through him. Pope Francis is giving the world a similarly urgent message today.

Scripture for Life: No matter how individualist our culture, it is still a culture, a way of organizing our common life. We both inherit and construct our society.

Scripture for Life: Today's Gospel might be the most un-American of all Jesus' parables. This story of equal pay for vastly unequal work just doesn't sit right. How to evaluate the economic justice of this tale?

Scripture for Life: Today's Liturgy of the Word invites us to enter into the dynamics of the kingdom of heaven. Gratitude is the emotion that introduces us to this realm. 

Scripture for Life: Prophets denounce sin because they themselves are offended and they are painfully aware that silence equals complicity.

Scripture for Life: This liturgy reminds us that Christianity demands lots of practice. Humbly accepting that we won't ever do it perfectly, we slowly learn to balance humility and evangelical audacity.

Scripture for Life: Matthew's story illustrates the kind of faith Jesus sought. Additionally, the story depicts Jesus adjusting his plan because a woman led him to see something differently.

Scripture for Life: It takes faith to put our whole heart into praying, "Lord, let us see your kindness." It takes audacious trust to let go of our expectations and dare to accept the salvation God offers.

Scripture for Life: In the moment of crisis, Jesus allowed himself to be called forth by the needs of others. That action revealed him as the image of God, the Son who emptied himself (Philippians 2:7).