Lisa Brenninkmeyer's Blog, page 5

For Your Weekend: We Are Theophilus

Dig Deeper into Sunday’s Gospel: Read Luke 1:1–4, 4:14–21

I’m staring at a stack of unwritten Christmas cards. I have yet to write or send a single one. The good news is that I’m one of those Catholics who doesn’t officially close out the Christmas season until Candlemas. I’ve got time. 

Truth be told, I’m dragging my feet on this task because I’m not a fan of sending cards. I am, however, a fan of writing cards. There is a difference, you know. Sending a card requires little: a signature and a s...

For Your Weekend: Lessons from Cana

Dig Deeper into Sunday’s Gospel: Read John 2:1–11

I love that on the Second Sunday of Ordinary Time, we read about Jesus' first miracle, which, admittedly, was anything but ordinary. It’s an intimate miracle, one that’s discreet, ushered into existence by Mary; a miracle witnessed by only a few—the servers, some of His disciples, and His mother—but experienced, unknowingly, by many. 

When I pray with this passage, I am usually drawn to Mary and the last words we hear from her in Scripture: “Do w...

For Your Weekend: Live Loved

Dig Deeper into Sunday’s Gospel: Read Luke 3:15–16,21–22

I am continually amazed by the life of Scripture, which offers a meaningful message one day and inspires a completely different insight the next. This Sunday's gospel is one such passage. It is a familiar story that we recently read during Advent. I am particularly drawn to verses 21 and 22 in Luke's third chapter, as they contain a message that my heart needs—and perhaps yours does, too.

After all the people had been baptized and Jesus al...

For Your Weekend: How’s Your Posture?

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

Have you ever caught yourself about to genuflect before taking your seat at the movie theatre? I have. Fifty-plus years of genuflecting at Mass has ingrained this action into my brain so much that it happens mindlessly when I see a row of seats. 

It is good to genuflect. The mindless part, however, is not a good thing.

Why do Catholics genuflect? “A genuflection, made by bending the right knee to the ground, signifies adoration, and therefore ...

For Your Weekend: He Isn’t Where You Think He Is

Dig Deeper into Sunday’s Gospel: Read Luke 2:41–52 

If you are among the millions who enjoyed Ted Lasso during the Covid years, you might remember a strange episode. Season 2, episode 9, follows Ted’s assistant coach, Beard, through a night out in London. After Beard experiences adventures and mishaps, he looks for his girlfriend. Recognizing a church lit up by a neon cross, he walks in. There, he kneels and says an honest prayer. He then realizes there is a nightclub in the basement. He walks d...

For Your Weekend: Lingering in the Darkness

Dig Deeper into Sunday’s Gospel: Read Luke 1:39–45

December 22 marks the final Sunday of Advent. Though some years we are granted nearly a full week to savor the closing days before Christmas, this year, the fourth week of Advent is fleeting—only three days long. With so little time, there might be the temptation to declare Advent as complete, to pat ourselves on the back for getting through three weeks of frenzy (can you believe Thanksgiving was only 23 days ago?), and begin the final tasks for...

For Your Weekend: The Joy of John the Baptist

Dig Deeper into Sunday’s Gospel: Read Luke 3:10–18

When I ask you to think of John the Baptist, what are the first few words that come to mind? 

Perhaps the word cousin or maybe locusts? You might think of the River Jordan or repentance. You might even imagine a man dressed in animal skins with a scraggly beard, tangled hair, and dirty fingernails.

But how about the word joy?

Have you ever associated John the Baptist with joy? It's not a common connection, I know. He's often seen as more broodin...

For Your Weekend: Repair and Prepare

Dig Deeper into Sunday’s Gospel: Read Luke 3:1–6

There are two kinds of people: prepared and unprepared. I’m definitely on “team prepared” and amazed that not all of my children got this gene. How do I know? Well, when your kid doesn’t practice parking thinking he can “wing it” on his road test, that, my friend, is a kid on “team unprepared.” All that said, being prepared doesn’t always come easily to me. There are times that I struggle.

With Christmas just a little more than two weeks away, pre...

For Your Weekend: He Will Come Again

Dig Deeper into Sunday’s Gospel: Read Luke 21:25–28,34–36

Thanksgiving, or as I call it, the gateway to Christmas, has passed, and society is diving head-first into Christmas madness. Lights are going up. Black Friday sales are bombarding us. Beloved cultural characters like Santa, Rudolph, and Frosty are coming out in full force. Every message tempts us to believe that, for one month, our lives can become what we've always wanted them to be. 

But while our culture tries to hypnotize us into Chr...

For Your Weekend: Is Jesus Your King?

Dig Deeper into Sunday’s Gospel: Read John 18:33–37

As I read My God and My All: The Life of Saint Francis of Assisi by Elizabeth Goudge, I was struck by Saint Francis' conversion as a young man. In a profound moment, he realized that his deepest desire was to live for God, yet he had to confront the ways he had been living for himself. Goudge describes this struggle beautifully:

And so Francis entered upon this battle of winning himself for God. It must have been bitterly hard for him, for he h...