The Pharisees in today’s gospel find Jesus’ association with tax collectors and sinners morally repugnant. The Pharisees, Fr Charlie points out, are taking a moral inventory – of Jesus. While taking a moral inventory can be a helpful step, it can be so only if it’s directed towards ourselves and not others.
Isaac took Rebekah into his tent; he married her, and thus she became his wife. In his love for her, Isaac found solace after the death of his mother Sarah.
GN 23:1-4, 19; 24:1-8, 62-67
Many tax collectors and sinners came and sat with Jesus and his disciples. The Pharisees saw this and said to his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?”
MT 9:9-13
Fr Paul believes that whether we’re “gazelling” through a field of flowers, feeding the homeless, or exploring “Plentiful Redemption” in Jesus, we are trying to satisfy a deep longing for fullness within us. As today’s gospel points out, God has made his dwelling place within us. And in so doing, as the Declaration of Independence points out, he endows us with certain “unalienable Rights” among which are “Life Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”
As the disciples in today’s gospel discover, no matter how turbulent or crazy our lives become, Jesus can bring calm and sanity. The really wonderful thing, Fr Greg notes, is that Jesus is always in our boat.
Jesus commends his mother and the beloved disciple into each other’s care in today’s gospel. Fr Paul points out that as Jesus’ beloved, we too are invited into his loving family. Mary becomes our mother, Jesus our brother and God our Father.
Fr Paul begins by asking us to picture those special people who have “sung us into being” – whether they are our birth mothers or others. He then describes a wintery picture of his mom holding his and his brother’s six and seven year old hands. The note on the back of the picture reads: “The two boys have the mumps – I’m taking them to the doctor.” Our mothers, like God, never let go of our hands – not ever.
Today’s feast celebrating the life of St John Bosco reminds Fr Paul of the 1938 classic film, “Boy’s Town” and The Hollies’ hit song based on a line from the movie, 
Woodrow Wilson proclaimed “Armistice Day” (now called “Veterans Day”) November 11, 1919 to remember the sacrifices of all who had served – both living and dead – in the “The Great War” concluded just one year earlier. One hundred years after the armistice was signed at Compiègne (France), Veterans Day honors not only WWI ‘vets’ but all those who serve or who have served in the armed forces… Thanks to you all – including Fr Peter! Thank you for your service!
Fr Paul doesn’t buy Qoheleth’s argument in today’s first reading. In fact, he believes, we do remember and learn from those who have come before us. Today, with the feast of St Vincent DePaul and the 322nd birthday of St Alphonsus Liguori, we have perfect examples of that. The organizations St Vincent and St Alphonsus founded to serve the poor in France and Italy remember them in the most meaningful way possible. They have extended their founders’ service to the poor to nearly every country on earth.