Dear Family,
Sometimes the simple things confuse us because we expect something to be more complicated than it is.

This weekend’s scriptures are a case in point, at least for me. We hear Moses: "For this command that I enjoin on you today is not too mysterious and remote for you.” The Psalm response: “Your words, Lord, are Spirit and life.” Paul tells the Colossians: “He (Jesus) is the head of the body, the church.”

In Luke, Jesus tells us about the Good Samaritan, and then He, Jesus, ends it up with, “Go and do likewise.”

Seems simple enough, and yet... we also heard Moses say, “If only you would heed the voice of the Lord.” Paul tells us Jesus is the image of the invisible God: “... making peace by the blood of his cross.” That doesn’t seen like an inviting image.

Dear Family,
I went online to see if I could find some thoughts for the Fourth of July and to my happy surprise found one entry titled, 31 Patriotic July 4th Quotes for America's Favorite Holiday. They were in Town and Country magazine.

I enjoyed the variety, especially when you realized the context in which the words were spoken, and by whom. I chuckled at this one from Erma Bombeck and yet realized its very subtle truth. She said, "You have to love a nation that celebrates its independence every July 4th, not with a parade of guns, tanks, and soldiers who file by the White House in a show of strength and muscle, but with family picnics where kids throw Frisbees, the potato salad gets iffy, and the flies die from happiness."

Dear Family,
Eileen Wirth is the retired chair of the Department of Journalism, Media and Computing at Creighton University. She wrote the following reflection on today’s scriptures. After you read it, you’ll understand why I stole it.

And to another he said, “Follow me. ”But he replied, “Lord, let me go first and bury my father.” But he answered him, “Let the dead bury their dead. But you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God.” And another said, “I will follow you, Lord, but first let me say farewell to my family at home. ”To him Jesus said, “No one who sets a hand to the plow and looks to what was left behind is fit for the kingdom of God.” - Luke

It’s a good thing that salvation is a gift rather than something we can earn or we’re all in trouble. Based on today’s reading from Luke, even the best people I know fail the standards Jesus sets, let alone us ordinary people.

Dear Family,
Today we celebrate The Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ, or Corpus Christi as we older folk used to say. In fact, I still do.

As I began this Twitch, I was searching for a good word or theme to put at the top of the Twitch as I usually do. Eucharist... Holy Communion... Breaking Bread... Body of Christ... After all these years, what do those words say to me?

The first word I thought of was “intimacy.” I wondered if that was the best word to use. Then it came, “Commitment.”

For me, ‘commitment’ says a lot. First and foremost, it is about the commitment that Jesus made – and makes - to me, to all of us. In effect He says: “I choose this remarkable way to stay as present to you as I can. I’ll be your food.”