Good morning, my dear friends.
I began this week with people Scripture has been used to push away. By Friday, I was writing about a seventeen-year-old boy carrying a rosary because he hoped somebody might realize he was available to help. The boy was me. Apparently, Father can spend twenty-five years doing something before he understands when he started.
Between those two reflections, we met people God chose after others dismissed them, returned to a servant who buried what he had been given, and asked some uncomfortable questions about the lies we pass along. I keep coming back to this: what happens to other people because we believe in Christ? Can they trust us? Can they ask for help? Does our faith give them somewhere to turn?
There is plenty here for the weekend. Choose what you need. Nobody is taking attendance.
Help Me Keep Showing Up
Perry, one of our readers, put something beautifully:
“Fr Rich, It’s no exaggeration to say I’ve come to depend on your daily posts. Thank you. Please use my subscription to further these good works.”
I take that word, depend, seriously. When this ministry becomes part of somebody’s life, I want to be able to keep showing up. That includes the essays and podcast, but also the email from someone trying to pray again, or the message from someone wondering whether a priest will listen without judging them. I answer those messages because there is a person waiting on the other end.
Our live Bible studies begin September 29. Soon I’ll be filming in Rome, bringing you into places we have spent so much time talking about. I want us to have years to keep learning together. Getting there means buying equipment, paying software bills, and protecting the time this work requires. A reader has already given $500 toward the Rome equipment, an extraordinary kindness that has helped us move forward. There is still work to fund.
If you have room for about ten dollars a month, will you become a supporting subscriber today? An annual subscription gives us more resources now, when we are preparing what comes next, and costs less than paying month by month. Your support keeps our essays, podcast, and pastoral conversations available to people who cannot contribute. If money is tight, please stay with us without guilt. Your prayers and shares help too.
This Week from Message From the Margins
New Podcast: The Stone Which the Builders Rejected
Your grandfather tried to kill the man who now occupies the throne. Now that king has sent for you. If you are Mephibosheth, the disabled grandson of King Saul, this is hardly reassuring news.
His story opens an episode about five people whose lives challenge our confidence about whom God can use. From Rahab hiding spies to the Ethiopian eunuch asking about baptism, we follow people whose place in God’s work demands that we reconsider our own judgments. Stay for the questions and final blessing.
The Bible Has Questions About That Lie You Shared
It is satisfying to read Scripture’s warnings about con men when you already have several names in mind. Then the Bible starts asking why people believe them, and the examination becomes rather less recreational.
This essay follows the damage lies cause and the responsibility we acquire when we help them travel. Our preferred political team provides no exemption. Neither does a collar. If you have ever shared something because you desperately wanted it to be true, come along. Father has some work to do here too.
The Day the World Stopped Feeling Safe
A week before September 11, I was buying bagels beneath the Twin Towers on my way to an internship. Then I was back in high school, waiting to learn whether my father and uncle were alive.
Yesterday’s reflection returns to that frightened teenager, the rosary he carried, and something I only recently understood about why he carried it. If you have a day that divided your life into before and after, I hope you find some company here.
Also this week: the Parable of the Talents, where returning everything proves insufficient, and Sunday’s homily on Matthew 18, for anyone who has heard Scripture used to justify mistreatment.
From the Archives
Have You Ever Noticed This in the Good Samaritan?!
The man questioning Jesus wants to know who qualifies as his neighbor. Watch what happens to that question by the end. A familiar story becomes a challenge to the boundaries we draw around compassion.
Have You Ever Noticed What Satan Doesn’t Offer Jesus?
Before Monday’s encounter with an emperor, return to Jesus in the wilderness. The offers made to Him reveal why the Church needs to examine what it is being asked to surrender when someone promises it power.
Monday, the Emperor Would Like a Word
Imagine belonging to a generation that watched the Roman government destroy churches and burn Scriptures. Now the emperor wants your bishops at his palace, and he is arranging the transportation.
On Monday, September 14, Episode IV arrives: How Did the Church Become the Church? The Road to Nicaea. We’ll follow the Church through persecution, fierce arguments over whether Christians who had renounced their faith under persecution could be welcomed back, and the astonishing change that brings the bishops into Constantine’s company. The emperor would like them to agree about Jesus. He may have underestimated the assignment.
What did they decide? Why did it matter so much? And what happened when imperial power became involved in the answer?
We’re picking up the story from Episode II, although newcomers are welcome. Here’s your weekend listening shelf:
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Episode II: How Did the Church Become the Church? The best place to catch up for Monday.
In the Weeks Ahead
Alongside the podcast, I’ll be preparing for our first live Bible study on September 29th and the Rome features. And farther down the calendar, November 29 brings the beginning of A Walk With…, starting with A Walk With Jesus of Nazareth. I’m looking forward to giving these conversations room to grow.
And Let Us Pray
Lord Jesus Christ,
Help us notice the person who needs something we can give. When we have believed or repeated a lie, give us courage to correct it. When we have turned someone away, teach us to look again.
Remain close to those for whom this week has brought painful memories. Give them company that does not demand an explanation and care that continues after the anniversary passes. Help us receive Your love, and make us dependable in the love we offer others.
Amen.
May Almighty God bless you, the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Your Brother in Christ,
Fr. Rich
And Before We Part for Today…
How can we pray for you this week? Tell us as much or as little as you feel comfortable sharing publicly in the comments. “Please pray for me” is enough. And if you read someone else’s request, please take a little time to pray for them. I make little cards out of all the prayer requests and keep them in a special book, I pray for you by name from that book each day throughout the day.
God of mercy, hear the prayers gathered here, including those we cannot yet put into words. Give each person strength for what lies ahead and someone to help them carry it. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.
Leave a prayer request in the comments.
If one of these reflections brought someone to mind, send it to them with a little note. “I thought of you” can be a very good beginning.