As far as White House press secretaries go, I have, for some time now, had a clear favorite. Her name is Claudia Jean Cregg (C.J. Cregg) played by Allison Janney in the TV series, The West Wing. … It’s surprising when viewers find out, a few seasons in, that C.J. as done something she feels deeply ashamed of. (Matthew 18:21-35)
If you ever walk around the old city in Jerusalem, you’ll find a lot of commemorative plaques all over the place. Now it is primarily a Jewish and Muslim city, but you’ll still find markers of various Christian sites and points of pilgrimage, places that people have visited again and again to remember and walk in the footsteps of Jesus…. (Matthew 15: 10-28)
The Rev. Javier Almendárez Bautista contemplates Genesis 28:10-19a: ““It’s not about the mountaintop experience. It’s about who we are afterward, between those moments.”
Just prior to our Gospel today, we meet Jesus speaking to the twelve disciples for the first time, newly commissioned to do the work that he has given them to do. They are to go to the lost sheep of Israel and preach the good news…. Matthew 10:40-42
The Rev. Javier Almendárez Bautista reflects on Trinity Sunday: “The story is difficult to believe sometimes. I don’t mean because of how the math plays out, the three in one. It’s difficult to believe because we don’t often have the clearest sense of God’s presence in our day-to-day lives, God’s presence with and among us.”
The Rev. Javier Almendárez Bautista considers John 14:1-14: “At this point, the disciples had been following Jesus for some time… and yet even then, the disciples still struggled to understand what it means to follow Jesus… Following Jesus rarely comes with a road map.”
The Rev. Javier A. Bautista shares a homily for the Great Vigil of Easter (Matthew 28:1-10).
The Rev. Javier Almendárez Bautista discusses John 11:1-45 and the raising of Lazarus: “Healing may not happen in the way that you expect it. It may be that your grief feels too great, the pain too strong, and yet God is not a God who avoids this pain but joins us within it.”
The Rev. Javier A. Bautista reflects on 1 Corinthians 3:1-9: “In the face of division, God can bring a reconciling world. In the face of fear, God can bring love. In the face of despair, God always brings a ray of hope.”
The Rev. Javier Almendárez Bautista contemplates Matthew 4:12-23: “Today’s Gospel gives us a glimpse into the call of the first disciples in a movement that would soon take the world by storm…”