Lisa Brenninkmeyer's Blog, page 14

For Your Weekend: Matters of the Heart

Dig Deeper into Sunday’s Gospel: Read Matthew 13:1–9

I am an amateur gardener. And by an amateur, I mean I buy beautiful plants, do nothing but water them, hope for the best, and when they die, I buy new ones to start the process again. 

Therefore, you can imagine how I felt when I brought one of my potted plants back from the brink of death. Only a few days ago, it was in a pathetic state. It hadn’t flowered since I bought it, and its leaves were dying. While I would usually resign myself to ye...

For Your Weekend: Lifting the Burden

Dig Deeper into Sunday’s Gospel: Read Matthew 11:25–30

When Jim Gaffigan’s wife told him camping was a tradition in her family, he quipped, “It was a tradition in everyone’s family till we invented the house.” Growing up in northern Minnesota, I saw it as something of a rite of passage. The Boundary Waters Canoe Area was within close driving distance, and our youth group took a two-week excursion there each summer. I really cannot imagine what would prompt a youth minister to want to take a grou...

For Your Weekend: Placing Jesus First

Dig Deeper into Sunday’s Gospel: Read Matthew 10:37–42

This past year, my husband and I joined a small group through our church. It was for married couples with young children, and every Saturday, we’d gather together for fellowship, prayer, and some sort of Catholic faith study. One of the couples in our group, Leah and Tim, shared that they were joining the Catholic Church and were currently in RCIA, having grown up faithful Protestants. As the weeks went on and we got to know Leah and Tim bet...

For Your Weekend: Do Not Be Afraid

Dig Deeper into Sunday’s Gospel: Read Matthew 10:26–33

Among a list of my fears, I place airplanes and sharks at the top. Yes, in that order. If we were meant to fly, the Lord would have given us wings. Though I know you frequent flyers will say it’s safer than riding in a car, the physics just don’t add up for me. Also, I watched the movie Jaws religiously as a child, so that might explain the sharks.

What’s creeping up that list is the fear I have of the opinions and judgments of others. While...

For Your Weekend: The Necessary Inconvenience

Dig Deeper into Sunday’s Gospel: Read Matthew 9:36–10:8

As a teenager, I had a job waiting tables in a local restaurant. One day, I had a large party, and as I was bringing out a tray full of drinks, I lost my balance, and the entire tray of drinks ended up spilling on one of the men seated at the table. 

Like a scene in a movie, everything happened in slow motion. The conversations across the small restaurant stopped. The man sat up straight from the shock of ice cubes falling down the back of ...

For Your Weekend: Believing in the Real Presence

Dig Deeper into Sunday’s Gospel: Rea d John 6:51–58

In the Catechism of the Catholic Church, the Eucharist is described as the “source and summit of the Christian life.”[1] It is the beginning of our spirituality, the fount from which our faith flows. Simultaneously, it is the highest point of our faith, the apex to which our whole life should be directed and the ultimate goal of our deepest desires. And yet, a 2019 Pew Research Center study found that only 31% of American Catholics believe in th...

For Your Weekend: When You Don’t Believe John 3:16

Dig Deeper into Sunday’s Gospel: Read John 3:16–18

Have you ever been at the mall, DMV, or anywhere in public, scanned the scene, and thought, “Really, Lord, You love everyone? Even that guy?” Asking for a friend, of course.

It’s hard to wrap my head around the reality of God’s kind of love. Love the world? I barely love the people I live with! Believing in God’s love for the world is not where I struggle. I struggle most with His love for me. 

This week’s gospel reading recounts a late-night di...

For Your Weekend: Transformed by the Holy Spirit

Dig Deeper into Sunday’s Gospel: Read John 20:19–23

Courage does not come naturally to me. Most of the time, I avoid conflict as long as possible for fear of making someone uncomfortable, hurting feelings, or not being liked. I readily hide behind caution or prudence to avoid certain opportunities and experiences because I am afraid of undesirable outcomes. Perhaps you can relate. 

Because of my lack of courage, I relish the stories of saints who, with little regard for propriety or approval, sp...

For Your Weekend: Thorns and Roses

Dig Deeper into Sunday’s Gospel: Read John 17:1–11

“Father, the hour has come. Give glory to your son, so that your son may glorify you…and everything of mine is yours and everything of yours is mine, and I have been glorified in them” (John 17:1,10).

One of our dinner-time traditions is to share our thorns and roses from the day. Each person shares a “low” (the thorn) and a “high” (the rose). This is a great way to tip me off to those who need a little extra time and attention that evening. It’...

For Your Weekend: He First Loved Us

Dig Deeper into Sunday’s Gospel: Read John 14:15–21

From a young age, we are shown that the more excellent one’s performance is, the higher the reward. In third grade, if you are the first to memorize your times tables, you receive a prize. In middle school and high school, if you have a certain number of A’s and B’s, you are placed on the honor roll (or even high honors), and if you’re lucky enough, your parents will proudly slap a “my child is an honor student” sticker on the back of their car...