Today we consider the second part of Jesus second instruction about prayer in Luke 18 The parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector reminds us that God hears the prayers of some surprising persons and that we all must approach God in prayer with humility The Old Testament passage from Sirach 3

Luke rsquo s Gospel is sometimes called ldquo the Gospel of Prayer rdquo because in it Jesus prays at the most important moments in his life and because it contains two substantial instructions devoted to Jesus rsquo teachings on prayer 11 1-13 and 18 1-14 In the first passage Jesus offers a s

We hear and say the word thanks fairly often though perhaps not often enough and usually without much thought Thanksgiving Day is our most popular national holiday yet few of us recognize and acknowledge the religious dimension of that day Last Sunday rsquo s master-servant parable reminded us t

Perhaps the most obvious component of Christian spirituality is faith In general the virtue of faith refers to considering something to be true and therefore worthy of trust In the Christian tradition faith is a theological virtue because it has its origin and object in God We believe and trust

Last Sunday rsquo s Gospel reading from Luke 16 established a link between money and Christian spirituality Followers of Jesus must apply their intelligence and energy to things of the spirit just as they do to financial matters use wealth wisely be good stewards of their possessions and not make

The words ldquo money rdquo and ldquo spirituality rdquo are seldom found in the same sentence Yet Luke and other biblical writers give a good deal of attention to money and possessions In Luke rsquo s own community there seems to have been some tension between rich and poor and he took a spe