Today in the Gospel we see Jesus being questioned again, being tested again. His questioners are not interested in His answers so much as in finding His weaknesses. The Pharisees, Jesus’ interrogators, are looking for a headline, a sound bite to use against Jesus: “Jesus takes the hard line†or “Jesus is soft.†But Jesus […]
Twenty Seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time – “B†– October 7, 2012 Read More »
Lord Acton was one of the most influential Catholic lay people in England in the 19th century. He wrote in a letter his famous dictum: Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Jesus is concerned with the misuse of power in the Gospel but, to appreciate this, it helps to see what comes
Twenty Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time – “B†– September 30, 2012 Read More »
To emphasize His own vision of leadership, Jesus give His disciples the example of paying attention to a child. In ancient cultures, children were the least important of people. People had children to serve them and provide financial security in their elder years. And they had many children because the mortality rate for children under
Twenty Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time – “B†– September 23, 2012 Read More »
In today’s Gospel Jesus teaches that, as the Messiah, He is the Son of Man who is destined to suffer and die. Peter, having been the first to profess openly that Jesus is the Christ, the promised Messiah who will liberate Israel, then seems to go and spoil it all by incuring Jesus’ reproof and
Twenty Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time – “B†– September 16, 2012 Read More »
“He was driving home one evening, on a two-lane country road. Work, in this small mid-western community, was almost as slow as his beat-up Pontiac. But he never quit looking. Ever since the Levi’s factory closed, he’d been unemployed, and with winter raging on, the chill had finally hit home. It was a lonely road.
Solemnity of Brotherly Love – September 9, 2012 Read More »
When societies or governments create lots of laws, it’s often a sign that something is going wrong with that particular society. St. Thomas Aquinas tells us, the original and proper use of the law is to help people live virtuously. It is to encourage their basic goodness, and to help them live together in harmony.
Twenty Second Sunday in Ordinary Time – “B†– September 2, 2012 Read More »
In chapter six of St. John’s Gospel, Jesus has manifested His glory through the feeding of the 5,000, He was walked on water, and now, following His teaching on the need to feed on Him to find life, He awaits a response. Now it is decision time. Seeing and hearing all that Jesus is about,
Twenty First Sunday in Ordinary Time – “B†– August 26, 2012 – Youth Sunday Read More »
The inspired author of today’s first reading portrays Wisdom speaking as a divine person and urging us to walk in the way of understanding. Those who do so are ready to make room for God in their lives. In the second reading St. Paul urges the Christians at Ephesus to understand what is God’s will
Twentieth Sunday in Ordinary Time – “B†– August 19, 2012 Read More »
For residents of Jerusalem, weekends can be quite complicated. Muslims celebrate Friday as their day of special prayer, the Jews keep the sabbath on Saturday, and Christians celebrate the Lord’s Day on Sunday. Down through the years Friday has, of course, been a special day in the Christian calendar as well. If Sunday is the
Nineteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time – “B†– August 12, 2012 Read More »
If it is true that peace and freedom are seldom found together, that is surely because we live in a fallen world – a world that is not as God intended. In today’s Gospel, Jesus has just worked the miracle of feeding the 5,000 with just 5 small loaves. He did this at the time
Eighteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time – “B†– August 5, 2012 Read More »