Dominican Friars
Province of St. Albert the Great, USA

A Word of Hope

A Word of Hope

In the last week of Ordinary Time, reflecting on the profound meaning of giving as we approach Thanksgiving, Advent, and Christmas. Inspired by the Gospel story of the Widow's Mite, Father Louis emphasizes that true generosity comes from the heart, not the amount, calling all Christians to look deep into their own hearts and embody the generosity we are called to in our faith journey.

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**Chapters:**
0:00 Welcome & Introduction (Father Louis Marrone, Last Week of Ordinary Time)
0:18 Approaching Seasons of Giving: Thanksgiving, Advent, Christmas
0:45 Beyond Resources: Giving Time and Talents to Those in Need
1:08 The Gospel of Giving: The Widow's Mite and True Generosity
1:45 Call to Action: Examining Our Hearts and Practicing Generosity
2:14 Conclusion & Blessing

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#Giving #Generosity #WidowsMite #FatherLouisMarrone #WordOfHope #CatholicFaith #Thanksgiving #Advent #ChristmasSpirit #Charity #ChristianLiving #OrdinaryTime #HelpingOthers #DominicanOrder

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Every day the Chicago Dominicans offer "A Word of Hope" video to bolster our faith through these trying times. We welcome any feedback you have at hope@opcentral.org . You can see them all below, or you can see other preaching by a particular person by clicking on his name, and you can have them emailed to you each morning by signing up for our email service:

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    18 August • Gradually Overcoming Sin

    Father Charlie reflects on the Scripture readings for Monday, August 18th (20th week in ordinary time), examining the challenging theme of human nature's tendency toward repeated sin. Drawing from the Book of Judges, where the Israelites repeatedly fell into idolatry despite divine guidance through judges, and the Gospel story of the rich young man who approached Jesus seeking salvation, Father Charlie explores how we all struggle with habitual sins that seem impossible to overcome. While acknowledging the disappointing cycle of confession and repeated failure that many experience, he offers hope through the Gospel's message that true transformation comes not just from following commandments, but from a genuine conversion of heart that allows God's grace to gradually replace our patterns of sin with acts of charity, love, and trust in God.
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    17 August • What is Your Passion?

    Speaking from a beautiful garden in Madison, Wisconsin, Fr. Scott connects his friend's retirement passion for gardening with the spiritual call to passionate prophetic action. Using Jesus' words about lighting fires and Jeremiah's willingness to face persecution, he challenges viewers to identify what they're passionate enough about to risk everything for. Addressing current world crises like Gaza and Ukraine, he calls for moving beyond comfortable inaction to light the fires of change our broken world desperately needs.
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    16 August • Blessing the Children

    Brother Edward reflects on the Gospel story of Jesus blessing the children, connecting it to the reality of children suffering in war zones around the world today. He challenges viewers to hold together both the joy children bring to families and the responsibility to care for suffering children globally, emphasizing that neglecting the world's most vulnerable children would offend the Christ who welcomed and blessed all children. The message calls for both prayer and action to bring peace and protection to children in conflict areas.
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    15 August • Mary, the Perfect Disciple, Assumed into Heaven

    Brother Edward reflects on the Assumption of Mary, connecting today's Gospel about true blessedness with Mary's role as the perfect disciple. He explains how Mary's "yes" to God's plan made her the prototype of faithful discipleship, and how her Assumption into heaven - body and soul - serves as both a reward for her faithfulness and a promise of our own future resurrection if we truly hear and keep God's word in our lives.
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    14 August • An Absurd Amount of Love

    In today's Gospel, Jesus challenges his disciple to forgive one another not seven times, but 77 times. This absurd number mirrors God's absurd love for us in giving his son for our salvation, and in St. Maximillian Kolbe's absurd love that led him to offer himself for death in place of another. Father Yamil draws a powerful parallel between the Gospel's call to forgive abundantly and the saint's extraordinary act of love toward his executioners and fellow prisoners.
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    11 August • Care for the Immigrant, for We Are Immigrants

    In today's first reading, Moses tells us that what God wants from his people: to "befriend" the immigrant, because we were once ourselves all immigrants. What was true of the Jewish people, is true of most Americans—98% of us were once aliens. As we deal with our broken immigration system, we need to recognize that God requires us to befriend immigrants, to feed and clothe them. Do we live up to that minimum standard?
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    10 August • Faith and Hope Work Together

    Jesus told his disciples that they should be ready at any moment, like a good servant who awaits his master's return from a wedding. A good servant awaits his master because he knows and trusts him, just as the master knows and trusts his servant so that he can leave him in charge. Our faith in God has to be based on our real relationship with God, and when it is good, it gives us hope for the future. Faith and hope, based in reality, work together.
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    8 August • St. Dominic: Always Talking about God or With God

    Today we celebrate the Feast of our Holy Father Dominic, the joyful and sociable friar who was always talking about God or with God. One might think that a man of constant prayer might not be so sociable, but for Dominic, God was at his side in everything he did, and this brought joy into every encounter he has with others. You and I could also live our days in the presence of Christ, and so infuse everything we do with divine and holy joy. Try it today!
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    7 August • Trusting God's Greater Plan amidst Suffering

    In today's Gospel, Peter saying to Jesus, "God forbid that you should suffer" earns him a harsh rebuke, that he is thinking as human beings do, not as God does. It is difficult for us to see the people we love suffer and trust that God is at work in the midst of this suffering, and has already prepared a resurrection to redeem it. So today, try to put on the mind of God when accompanying people who suffer, trusting that God indeed has a plan to save this person.
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    6 August • Use those Sacred Moments as Fuel for your Journey

    On this Feast of the Transfiguration of the Lord, we hear how Peter, witnessing the event, wanted to make three tents on teh spot to fix it in memory. But we are not called stay in these sacred moments, but to use them as fuel for our spiritual journey, which will be difficult sometimes. So today, remember the moments when you have been on that mountain top with God, and let it empower you to go back down that mountain and share the Good News with a hungering world.
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    5 August • Overcoming Fear with Faith

    In our Gospel today, the disciples are in a storm at sea and Jesus comes walking on water towards them. Frightened, Peter asks Jesus to prove it is really him by having him come to him over the water. Peter starts to come, but then is afraid, and has to be rescued by Jesus.
    Life is often frightening, but Jesus is always beckoning us to leave the safety of our boat, to trust in him, walk towards him over unsafe waters, to do the work we need to do. And Jesus will always be there to catch us if we fall. Have faith and overcome your fear.
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    4 August • Trust and Embrace Your Calling

    Today we celebrate the memorial of St. John Vianney, the Curé D'Ars, who, though he was not considered a stellar candidate for priesthood, turned out to be such a good confessor that he would spend up to 18 hours a day in the confessional to meet the demands of pilgrims who came to confess to him, telling God that it was worth the suffering to help the people. In our first reading today, Moses is so tired of listening to the people grumble in the desert about having to eat manna (again!) that he asks God to just kill him. In the Gospel, Jesus tries to get away on his own after the death of John the Baptist, but ends up feeding the multitude "because they were like sheep without a shepherd." All three of these are examples working overtime to answer God's call to care for the needs of the people in front of them. We need to trust our own vocation and call, and trust that God will give us the strength to fulfil it if we only ask.
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    3 August • Called to Virtue, not Greed

    The readings for Mass today have a series of warnings against greed, which causes us to try to possess things rather than to takes care of them and put them to the best use for all. We are called to virtue, to be stewards of creation, rather than to greed.
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    2 August • Land and Food Justice

    In our reading today from the Book of Leviticus, we hear about the Jewish concern for land justice and food equity, having rules that overcome the inequities of agricultural land ownership. In the United States, 14% of the food is produced by black farmers, though they only own 4% of the agricultural land. Also, in St. Louis, MO there are food deserts in the black community and people working to fix them. Worse still, is the crushing food and land injustice in Gaza that drives the unrest. To create a world of hope, we need to work at overcoming these injustices.
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    1 August • Responding to Love

    In our Gospel today, the people of Jesus' hometown needed him to prove he was worthy before they would believe in him. Do we need God to work our own private miracle for us before we believe? Our faith in God should not be transactional, "give me this and then I will believe." Faith is a relationship with God which should naturally deepen as a response to the love God pours out on us each day. May you know and grow in Christ's love.
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    31 July • God Dwelling With Us

    In the first reading for Mass today (Exodus 40:16-21, 34-38), we hear about the Tent of Dwelling, where Moses could always encounter God because God dwelled there. In our days, we have tabernacles in Catholic churches where we know God is always present. Avail yourself of these.
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    30 July • A Broader Vision of Preaching the Good News

    In the Letter to the Ephesians, we see Paul's vision that the Church is called to proclaim Christ to the entire universe, even the "principalities and authorities in the heavens." As we ponder our own role in God's plan, know that it includes even one day preaching to extraterrestrials, and let that broaden out your vision.
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    28 July • Fear shrinks life, Faith nourishes it

    On this Monday in Ordinary time, we look at fear and faith. In the first reading, the Israelites let the seed of fear grow in the desert, and so turned from God towards a golden calf. In the Gospel, Jesus assures us that faith is like a mustard seed that, though small, grows into a preposterously large tree that nourishes the life of all around. Give in to faith, not fear, and watch your life grow.
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