David Sandel

Twenty-first Sunday in Ordinary Time, August 27, 2023 (click here to listen to or read today’s scriptures) Being here, now  I noticed I no longer have any room for wanting things to be different. Nature especially, including the weather this day, is so very rich and marvelous, and beautiful and alive, and interwoven that...

Saturday, August 26, 2023 (click here to listen to or read today’s scriptures) Three o’clock in the morning Naomi had a prominent kinsman named Boaz. In 1987, after Margaret met Lyman Coleman at a conference for seminary students, she volunteered several of us at Waynesville Christian Church to submit questions for small group discussion...

Friday, August 25, 2023 (click here to listen to or read today’s scriptures) Poverty makes a good host You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all our mind. And you shall love your neighbor as yourself. Three chapters earlier a sincere but rich young...

Thursday, August 24, 2023 Feast of Saint Bartholomew, Apostle (click here to listen to or read today’s scriptures) Listen to the story of Bartholomew You will see greater things than this. You will see heaven opened and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man. This man called both Bartholomew...

Wednesday, August 23, 2023 (click here to listen to or read today’s scriptures) Spiritual maturity Lifestyle matters. I can be a victim of scrupulosity, on the one hand, compulsively catching myself enjoying life “too much” and castigating myself for it (as did all too often the ancient monks). On the other hand I can...

Tuesday, August 22, 2023 Memorial of the Queenship of the Blessed Virgin Mary (click here to listen to or read today’s scriptures) Gideon, Mrs. Turpin and me Many who are first will be last, and the last will be first. Perhaps as I get older I begin to read Jesus’ words more as he...

Monday, August 21, 2023 Memorial of Saint Pius X, Pope (click here to listen to or read today’s scriptures) Joy in the morning The children of Israel offended the Lord, abandoning the Lord, following other gods and worshipping them. They did not listen to the judges God raised up, and when the judge died...

Twentieth Sunday in Ordinary Time, August 20, 2023 (click here to listen to or read today’s scriptures) A house of prayer for all peoples Jesus proclaimed the Gospel of the kingdom and cured every disease among the people. Sunday. Sabbath rest, a day of joy waiting in the wings at church, as well as...

Saturday, August 19, 2023 (click here to listen to or read today’s scriptures) As for me and my house If it does not please you to serve the Lord, decide today whom you WILL serve. As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. Nearing his own death, Joshua asked his people...