Cup o' Joe

Genesis 18:20-32; Luke 11:1-13Did I read that title correctly?  You're asking me NOT to pray?  Yes, that's correct - unless.  Unless we have the courage and breadth and trust of Abraham.  Unless we are willing to become the instrument of prayer that we desire.  Unless we are willing to place God and God's will at the center and not our own ego and needs.  If those things aren't in place, we are wasting our time.  God's too.  We're treating God way to small.  Original Score written and performed by Bridget Zenk

Genesis 18:1-10a; Luke 10:38-42This Sunday, we hear the story of God as guest at our table and the varied reactions that brings.  At different times in our lives, we are Sarah or Abraham, we are Martha or we are Mary.  But if we are to mature into the fullness of discipleship, we must stop living in one camp or the other.  We must breathe not with one lung, but with both.  Original Score written and performed by Bridget Zenk

Deuteronomy 30:10-14; Luke 10:25-37Moses reminds the Hebrew people - and through them, us - that one doesn't have to have a title or degree in Theology to understand God.  God is not a puzzle to be figured out or a mystery to be solved.  God is not elsewhere and must be sought.  God is within, nearer to us than we are ourselves.  And what does this Presence of God, this Law of God, look like?  Mercy.  Compassion.  Kindness.  Jesus uses a wonderful and famous story to drive the point home.  If one wants to be like God, cloak yourselves in mercy.Original Score written and performed by Bridget Zenk

Isaiah 66:10-14c, Luke 10:1-12, 17-20On this weekend in which we celebrate our nation's independence, we look at how Israel looked at themselves.  How do we balance blessings and being chosen alongside the seedy underbelly of the reality?  How do we do that on a national scale and how do we do that on an individual level?  No easy answers - that is a hard struggle.  We explore that space this week.Original Score written and performed by Bridget Zenk

I Kings 19:16b, 19-21;  Luke 9:51-62After spending 90+ days in what the Church calls Privileged Time, we are back in Ordinary Time this weekend.  So we talk about what "ordinary time" is as opposed to those special, unique or life-changing moments we all go through.Then we dive into the first reading and the Gospel - which today is easy to see the tie.  And what is that?  What is the price we must pay to be a disciple of Jesus.  And you and I, these many years later, get to ask ourselves "Is that price worth it and is it something I am willing to pay?"Original Score written and performed by Bridget Zenk

1 Corinthians 11:23-26;  Gospel of Luke, 9:11b-17Today we look at the readings for this Sunday's feast of The Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ.  Our first reading reminds us that Paul, writing before any of the Gospels have been written, is already passing on what the early Church had made a practice - that of sharing the Eucharist.  The Gospel invites us into that effort.  The Eucharist is central to who we are as Christians.  We revolve around it.  But we are more than mere spectators.  We are to become what we eat and, as Paul has done before us, pass on that which we participate within.  Original Score written and performed by Bridget Zenk

Romans 5:1-5;  Gospel of John, 16:12-15We look ahead to Sunday's Feast of the Most Holy Trinity - and so seek to unpack an idea.  But this feast is less about facts and knowledge, and more about relationships and movement.  How do we have eyes to see the God who is all around us?Original Score written and performed by Bridget Zenk

Acts of the Apostles, Chapter 2, verses 1-11; Gospel of John, Chapter 20, verses 19-23Today, we preview the readings for this Sunday's upcoming Feast of Pentecost.  God sends us God's very Spirit to be with us always.  And what does that bring?  Unity and a voice.  But not a voice that is separate and distinct.  Our voice only finds life in service of the One Voice.Original Score written and performed by Bridget Zenk

Gospel of John, Chapter 17, verses 20-26We finish (yes, really!) Jesus's Last Supper Discourse, and His final words are words of prayer - asking God that "they may be one as we are one."  My friends, we are either working toward that reality or we are adding to the demise of it.  So of course, we had to bring back WB Yeats for a repeat performance.  

Gospel of John, Chapter 17, verses 11b-19Jesus draws near to the conclusion of His great discourse.  And in some of His final words, Jesus discusses sending out the disciples into a world that will and already does hate them...a world of which they are not a part.  This is good stuff and it deserves to be fleshed out.  So what does that mean for you and I?Original Score written and performed by Bridget Zenk

Gospel of Luke, Chapter 1, verses 39-56Today we celebrate the Feast of the Visitation and within it, we get a taste of the person of Mary.  We see Mary's humility, strength, trust and kindness.  We also hear Mary's tour de force in proclaiming the Magnificat...and in this proclamation sets a pattern for you and IOriginal Score written and performed by Bridget Zenk

Acts of the Apostles, Chapter 1, verses 1-11Rather than continuing through the 16th Chapter of John's Gospel, we take a day to step back into the Holy Day and celebrate the Feast of the Ascension of Jesus.  Today we listen to Luke's rendition in Acts of the Apostles.  Rather than a story of fear, this is a story of great trust...trust in the Apostles, trust in the Holy Spirit, trust in you and I.  We have been given the keys.  Two announcements at the beginning of the podcast make this a longer episode - one dealing with the future of the pod.  Thoughts can be emailed to [email protected] Score written and performed by Bridget Zenk

Gospel of John, Chapter 16, verses 20-23Jesus speaks of the second Fruit of the Spirit today: Joy.  So today we unpack what it is and what it is not.  We also hear your goofball host confuse John Keats for WB Yeats.  And I call myself an Irishman...Original Score written and performed by Bridget Zenk

Gospel of John, Chapter 16, verses 16-20.Jesus continues giving His final wisdom to His friends - and today's lesson is about grief turning to joy.  "In a day or so you will not see me, and a day or so later you will see me".  Jesus is laying out the path, not only for His friends, but for us, too.St. Philip Neri, pray for usOriginal Score written and performed by Bridget Zenk

Gospel of John, Chapter 16, verses 12-15Jesus holds up a mirror and gives a reality check to the disciples by naming where they are in their spiritual journey.  He has much more to tell them, but they are not ready for it yet.  As Paul would contrast later in his letter to the Corinthians, the disciples are yet infants.  What was true then is still true now.  We all have growth edges.Original Score written and performed by Bridget Zenk

Gospel of John, Chapter 16, verses 5-11Jesus reemphasizes His point from yesterday about the coming of the Advocate.  But Jesus approaches it in a different way.  This Coming, Jesus says, can only happen if first He ascends to the Father.  Before there can be a Coming, there has to be a Going.  Original Score written and performed by Bridget Zenk

Gospel of John, Chapter 15:25-16:4aJesus continues His Last Supper discourse with the disciples, speaking of two coming realities.  One - you will not be alone.  An Advocate is coming to be with you in the midst of wherever the future takes you.  Two - that future won't always be filled with good things.  But Christ promises to be with us in the midst of it.Original Score written and performed by Bridget Zenk

Gospel of John, Chapter 15, verses 12-17Jesus, continuing to give His final wisdom to his friends, leaves them with one very memorable thing: His Great Commandment.  Love one another as I have loved you.  Jesus takes all of the teachings of the Law, the Prophets and the Wisdom literature and sums it up in eight words.  Brilliant.  Perhaps there is an example there for us to follow.Original Score written and performed by Bridget Zenk

Gospel of John, Chapter 15, verses 9-11In what may be our shortest Gospel to date, Jesus challenges us to remain in His love.  So how, exactly, do we do that?  We talk about two ways today...Original Score written and performed by Bridget Zenk

Gospel of John, Chapter 15, verses 1-8Jesus speaks to His friends about vines and branches, attachment and separation.  It's all about our choice.  Do we wish to be grafted on to the vine or attempt to find life outside of that space?  Our decision will have repercussions in terms of our growth.  Original Score written and performed by Bridget Zenk

Gospel of John, Chapter 14, verses 27-31aJesus continues His final words to His friends and in doing so, foreshadows the first words He will speak to the disciples post-resurrection: Peace I leave with you.  But what, exactly, is the peace Jesus is inviting us into?  How is it different than the world offers peace?  To answer that, we look to a disciple of Jesus who spent some time in a Birmingham jail in the not-too-distant past. Original Score written and performed by Bridget Zenk

Gospel of John, Chapter 14, verses 21-26Jesus continues with His Last Supper Discourse, in which Jesus reminds us what love looks like.  It looks like action.  And with the help of St. Augustine, we flesh that out a bit.  Love is not so much a feeling as it is a decision.  Love is a decision to do the next right thing with the tools at our disposal - our eyes, ears, hands and feet. My apologies if the podcast feels like it is skipping.  I had computer issues when recording.  I think I fixed them all, but I may have missed some, hence the skips.Original Score written and performed by Bridget Zenk

Gospel of John, Chapter 14, verses 1-6Jesus, on the night before He dies, leaves His friends with one of His most beautiful teachings: You do not need to let your hearts be troubled.  I will not leave you.  It's all about relationship and our God is a God of abundance.  This episode might stretch you.Original Score written and performed by Bridget Zenk

Gospel of John, Chapter 13, verses 12-20As we reach the halfway point of our Easter season, Jesus demonstrates for us the pattern that He invites us all into.  And if we live that pattern of humility and acceptance of the other, our lives will be blessed.  Not because God will then see what we are doing and bless us for it.  But in living this pattern, we shed the excess baggage we don't need to be carrying with us.Original Score written and performed by Bridget Zenk

Gospel of John, Chapter 12, verses 44-50Jesus, in summing up His ministry to date, puts out the choice for each of us: Which way will you go.  Will you see the Light and embrace it?  Or will you go your own way?  Jesus makes clear that He will not reject us as He has come into the world to save it, not reject it.  But if we go our own way, we are willfully rejecting the Light.  That is what will condemn us.  And that, my friends, is a sobering thought...Original Score written and performed by Bridget Zenk

John, Chapter 10, verses 22-30In today's podcast, we look at the opposite side of the coin from yesterday's pod.  Yesterday we had to ask ourselves if we desire to be led and how best to hear the voice of God.  Today, we focus on our God's desire to lead us and how the only thing that can take us out of the grasp of God is our very self.  Original Score written and performed by Bridget Zenk

Gospel of John, Chapter 10, verses 1-10The Fourth Sunday of Easter is generally called Good Shepherd Sunday.  Appropriately, we focus around that time on Jesus as our Good Shepherd, which we do today and tomorrow.  Good Shepherds know their sheep...and their sheep know them.  The sheep hear the shepherd's voice and they follow.  Which begs the questions - do we hear?  And do we desire to be lead?Original Score written and performed by Bridget Zenk

Gospel of John, Chapter 6, verses 52-59Jesus doubles down on His language, making it clear that He is not just talking in metaphors.  His Body is real food.  His Blood is real drink.  So what will we do with that information?  Is it too much for us?  Will we stay or will we go?Original Score written and performed by Bridget Zenk

Gospel of John, Chapter 6, verses 44-51Jesus continues talking to the crowds (read: us) on two levels.  The first is how we yearn and long for something beyond us - and that emptiness and longing can never be filled by anything other than God.  But the second - and He is becoming more and more explicit about this - is that His Flesh is what fills that yearning.  So how do we make sense of this?  Or not?Original Score written and performed by Bridget Zenk

Gospel of John, Chapter 6, verses 35-40Ever wonder what the will of God is for your life or for a situation?  Jesus answers that question not just once, but twice in our Gospel today.  And it's good news!Original Score written and performed by Bridget Zenk

Gospel of John, Chapter 14, verses 6-14We step away from the 6th Chapter of John's Gospel to celebrate a feast day - that of Ss. Phillip and James.  And within it, we hear an interaction between Jesus and Phillip: Phillip wanting to see the Father and Jesus slapping his head with the palm of his hand.  But here's the best news Jesus gets to remind us, too - when we hear and see and touch Jesus we hear and see and touch God.  God is that good.Ss. Phillip and James, pray for us.Original Score written and performed by Bridget Zenk

Gospel of John, Chapter 6, verses 22-29Jesus, after feeding the 5,000 and walking on the water, is pursued by the crowd.  However, Jesus is not flattered by their attention.  Instead, He challenges them by asking what their intentions are in pursuing Him.  It's a good question and one that remains as strong all these years later.  Ss. Athanasius and Thomas, pray for us.Original Score written and performed by Bridget Zenk

The Gospel of John, Chapter 6, verses 1-15We move three chapters later in John's Gospel, and experience one of the great signs in all of the New Testament - Jesus feeds the 5,000.  We begin a pattern that, I'm sure, will be with us all next week: John's great Eucharistic theology.  It begins today with some obvious ties to the Last Supper.  It also includes both reassurance and mission for you and I.  St. Catherine of Siena, pray for us!Original Score written and performed by Bridget Zenk

Gospel of John, Chapter 3, verses 31-36Jesus continues with some of the same themes we have heard these past few days, primarily focusing upon the place from which we draw our life.  Those who draw life from heavenly realms speak and act and testify to what comes from above.  Those who draw their life from earthly realms do the same.  It doesn't make us bad people - it just reveals those things to which we look for life.  Are they ones that keep us in the flow of God?  Or are they things that sever that tie?Original Score written and performed by Bridget Zenk

Gospel of John, Chapter 3, verses 16-21Jesus, in His conversation w/ Nicodemus, talks about the essence of who God is and, because of that, what God is about.  God is love.  That's the underlying motive for all God does.  And so what does that look like?  It looks like saving, not condemning.  Original Score written and performed by Bridget Zenk

Gospel of John, Chapter 3, verses 7b-15There's really only one thing the spiritual life boils down to - and that is this: from where are our thoughts, our actions, our attitudes and our visions born?  Are they born from above or below?  Everything else will fall in line behind that decision.  In today's Gospel, Jesus points to the same idea.Original Score written and performed by Bridget Zenk

Gospel of John, Chapter 20, verses 19-31Rather than look at the Gospel of the Day today, we go back 24 hours and read the Gospel from the Second Sunday of Easter - Divine Mercy Sunday.  Our God doesn't leave us languishing in our guilt, our fear, our despair.  Rather, God seeks us out and calms us w/ His very presence.  For the essence of mercy is forgiveness.St. Mark, pray for us.Original Score written and performed by Bridget Zenk

Gospel of John, Chapter 21, verses 1-14In this extraordinary epilogue to John's Gospel, we hear the story of the reclamation of Peter.  It's our story, too.  Rather than running from our sin and hiding from God, God invites us back to the very place of it and transforms it into forgiveness.  It, too, is the story of Easter.  Death to Life. Original Score written and performed by Bridget Zenk

Gospel of Luke, Chapter 24, verses 35-48One of the ways Jesus makes Himself known to us?  By bearing His humanity to us.  As the Gospel of Luke moves toward its conclusion, Jesus stands before His friends and invites them to be witnesses of His presence to all the world, beginning today.

Gospel of Luke, Chapter 24, verses 13-35Today we hear a story of despair and hope, dreams lost and recovered, feeling alone and being accompanied.  In this story of the disciples traveling on the road to Emmaus, we see ourselves and realize that our God will not leave us in our own hurt, but will draw near to us even though we know nothing about it.Original Score written and performed by Bridget Zenk

Gospel of John, Chapter 20, verses 11-18Mary Magdalene is weeping outside the tomb of our Lord on Easter Sunday morning...until the "gardener" shows up.  Then everything changes.  Holy Saturday becomes Easter Sunday.  Many of us live in the same place, waiting for the change to come.  Original Score written and performed by Bridget Zenk

Gospel of Matthew, Chapter 28, verses 8-15My friends, we have entered the Holy of Holies - the Octave of the greatest feast of the Church year.  Special guest today is my daughter, Bridget.  We talk about our thoughts on this reading as well as what Easter means to us.  Original Score written and performed by Bridget Zenk

Book of the Prophet Isaiah, Chapter 52:13 - 53:12Instead of reading the full passion of the Lord, according to John today, we hear from Isaiah the beautiful passage of the Suffering Servant (this being the fourth reference).  Then we simply spend the rest of the time today talking about Good Friday, and what this means to us.  And what this says about God.Original Score written and performed by Bridget Zenk

Gospel of John, Chapter 13, verses 1-15As Lent draws to a close this evening, and we begin the feast of the Sacred Triduum, we hear the Last Supper story from John's Gospel.  On this episode we talk about the gift of the Eucharist and how God uses it to remain with us.  We also explore the ties between Passover and the Eucharist and where Eucharist points us in the passage we hear today.Blessed Triduum, my friends!Original Score written and performed by Bridget Zenk

Gospel of Matthew, Chapter 26, verses 14-25Today we hear the story of Judas going to the Chief Priests and offering to betray Jesus.  But just why did he do so?  The truth is, we will never know.  I explore some possibilities, as well as talk about God's great trust in humanity and our choices.  I don't think I would have as much trust as God does...Original Score written and performed by Bridget Zenk

Gospel of John, Chapter 13, verses 21-33, 36-38On the night before He dies, just after Jesus washes the feet of His friends, Jesus's heart is troubled.  And so He shares that grief with those around the table.  But they don't see it coming.  And with false bravado, they cloak themselves in illusion.  The pieces on the chess board are just about set. Original Score written and performed by Bridget Zenk

Gospel of John, Chapter 12, verses 1-11Jesus is at the home of Lazarus, Martha and Mary following the raising of Lazarus when Mary does something extravagant, intimate and beautiful.  But instead of seeing the love and beauty behind the action, all Judas could see was a waste of resources.  Which side of the line do we fall upon?Original Score written and performed by Bridget Zenk

Gospel of John, Chapter 10, verses 31-42It sounds as if we pick up today exactly where we left off yesterday - but actually two chapters have passed in between.  Jesus is embroiled in conflict again.  Why this time?  Similar reasons.  This time he stated "The Father and I are one".  And the people are upset because of apparent blasphemy.  But let's take a closer look at that statement - and talk about whether it still holds true today.Original Score written and performed by Bridget Zenk

Gospel of John, Chapter 8, verses 51-59After spending the entire week in Chapter 8 of John's Gospel, we reach the end.  And in it, Jesus says something curious: "Whoever keeps my word will never see death."  Just what, exactly, is Jesus saying here?  I speculate but welcome your thoughts as well.  Original Score written and performed by Bridget Zenk

Gospel of John, Chapter 8, verses 31-42Jesus changes His focus from the Pharisees and begins to hold a mirror up to those who have recently come to "believe in Him."  The results aren't much better.  This mirror shows some actions that these "believers" don't want to see.  They dodge, avoid and eventually lash out at Jesus.  Sound familiar?Original score written and performed by Bridget Zenk