Today's Gospel

Don't Ignore This Relationship

Welcome back to Radical & Relevant where we are exploring the genius of Catholicism, the genius of Jesus, the genius of the gospel. And each day looking for a word or a phrase or an idea. Allow the spirit to guide us so that we can anchor our day in the gospel. Today's reading is from the gospel of John 10: 31-42. The Jews took up stones again to stone him and Jesus answered them, "I have shown you many good works from the father. For which of these do you stone me?" The Jews answered him, "We stone you for no good work but for blasphemy because you, being a man, make yourself God." Jesus answered them, "Is it not written in your law, I said, 'You are gods?' If he called them gods, to whom the Word of God came, the Scripture cannot be broken. Do you say of him whom the father consecrated and sent into the world, 'You are blaspheming,' because I said I am the son of God? If I am not doing the works of my Father, then do not believe me. But if I do them, even though you do not believe me, believe the works, that you may know and understand that the father is in me and I am in the father."

Again, they tried to arrest him, but he escaped from their hands. He went away across the Jordan to the place where John at first began to baptize and there he remained. And many came to see him. And they said, "John did no sign but everything that John said about this man was true and many believed in him there. So we're in the Gospel of John. Jesus is talking a lot about his connection, his relationship with the father. And I think it's important for us to be mindful of that in these days because we talk a lot about Jesus. We talk a lot about the Holy Spirit. By comparison, we speak very, very little about the father. And most people's spirituality around the father does not go beyond praying the Our Father. And I think it's a real opportunity to expand our spiritual life. It's a real opportunity to expand the way we see and experience God, to expand our spirituality around God the Father. I also think it's a critical time in history to do that because our culture is so confused and so in need of fatherhood.

In many ways, we are living in a fatherless culture. And so today, let's think about God the Father. Let's pray to God the Father today. And let's ask him to reveal himself in new ways to us to expand our spirituality through a relationship with him. Have an amazing day. Remember, be bold. Be Catholic.