Lisa Brenninkmeyer's Blog, page 16

For Your Weekend: The Lie of Temptation and the Freedom to Fail

Dig Deeper into Sunday’s Gospel: Read Matthew 4:1-11

Brené Brown confessed on her Unlocking Us podcast that when praying at Mass, she likes to change the words of some of the prayers so that they make more sense to her. “I always say in the Lord's prayer 'deliver us from fear and shame' instead of 'deliver us from evil.'” She agreed with her guest that “lead us not into temptation implies that God leads us into temptation.”[1] I can understand how people often misinterpret the Bible, but it is n...

For Your Weekend: Above and Beyond

Dig Deeper into Sunday’s Gospel: Read Matthew 5:38-48

Would you rather simply fulfill an obligation, check a box and move on, or exceed expectations and go above and beyond?

When it comes to gift giving, I’m all about fulfilling the obligation and no more. I do the bare minimum for Christmas and birthdays to ensure that my loved ones aren’t disappointed. This normally includes one of Amazon’s first three birthday options and a card. Most of the time, I don't even wrap it. I hold the gift behind ...

For Your Weekend: What to Do When You Don’t Know What to Do

Dig Deeper into Sunday’s Gospel: Read Matthew 5:17-37

I’ve been walking through a set of circumstances where I’ve had a really hard time knowing the right thing to say and do in my interactions with people I love very much. This has been a strange thing for me; normally, I have a good sense of what is needed interpersonally. When I have wanted to bring comfort—to help people to feel better—I’ve known how to do that. But lately, it feels like I’ve gotten things wrong more often than I’ve gotten t...

For Your Weekend: Essentials for Discipleship

Dig Deeper into Sunday’s Gospel: Read Matthew 5:13-16

As a freshman in college, my faith hit rock bottom. The middle school and high school version of myself, who volunteered to teach faith formation and who looked forward to religion class, seemed like a distant memory. Instead, I found myself making excuses for why I could miss Mass just this once. On the weeks my conscience triumphed over my laziness, I’d sit alone in the pew, wishing the minutes away, wondering what the point of all this was...

For Your Weekend: Anything But Ordinary

Dig Deeper into Sunday’s Gospel: Read Matthew 5:1-12

“Then he isn’t safe?” said Lucy.

“Safe?” said Mr. Beaver. “Who said anything about safe? ‘Course he isn’t safe. But he’s good. He’s the King, I tell you.”[1]

These lines from C.S Lewis’ beloved book, The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe, are among my favorite literary quotes. The character of Mr. Beaver is speaking to Lucy and her sister and brother about Aslan, the lion king of the world of Narnia. Aslan also happens to be an archetype of Jes...

For Your Weekend: Keep Showing Up

Dig Deeper into Sunday’s Gospel: Read Matthew 4:12–23

I was just starting to take my faith seriously in my late 20s. I joined the mom’s group at my parish so I could be encouraged (and influenced) by women who seemed to have the Catholic thing down. A few of us planned to attend an event at a nearby parish, and I remember asking a friend if she wanted to come with me to hear the speaker: “I think it’s called Walking with Purpose or something like that.” 

Little did I know that one week later, I’...

For Your Weekend: An Encounter With Jesus

Dig Deeper into Sunday’s Gospel: Read John 1:29-35

We lingered, the car still running in our driveway, as I recounted to my husband and two youngest children the details of a recent trip I had taken to speak to a gathering of Walking with Purpose women in Charlotte, North Carolina. I described the joy of one woman rushing up to me after my talk, saying her heart had been transformed when she had an overwhelming realization of God’s love for her. 

“My prayer every time I take the podium,” I told ...

For Your Weekend: It’s Not All About You

Dig Deeper into Sunday’s Gospel: Read Matthew 2:1–12

I’m a long-time fan of the reality show Survivor. In this physical and mental game, you leave everything to compete with strangers on an island, hoping to be the last one standing and collecting the prize of a million dollars. I was deeply moved by this season’s “sole survivor.” Winner, Mike Gabler, endured 26 days in the Mamanuca Islands, suffering from starvation and exhaustion, among other things, all to announce at the finale that he’d be ...

For Your Weekend: God’s Response to Our Mess

Dig Deeper into Sunday’s Gospel: Read Luke 2:16-21

What had started out as a smooth ride had now slowed down to an inexplicable crawl of traffic. For the first five minutes, I didn’t think much about it, but as time ticked on, I got increasingly frustrated, wanting to know what was going on up ahead. What was to blame for the fact that I was now going to be late? Finally, up ahead, I could see the car accident on the side of the road. It wasn’t blocking traffic anymore; now the problem was that ...

For Your Weekend: In the beginning…

Dig Deeper into Sunday’s Gospel: Read John 1:1–18

Breathe in: You are here with me, God.
Breathe out: And I am here with You.

I think we all need this little 10-second break to take a breath and come into the awareness and presence of Emmanuel, “God with us.”

Amidst the hustle and bustle, the holly and jolly, the (what other seasonal words can I think of that rhyme) mistletoe and snow—our end goal was this day, this birth, this miracle. I pray that your Advent was filled with simplicity, a deepe...