We are like sheep without a shepherd, and so Christ’s heart is moved with pity for us. Mark 6:30-34 for the Sixteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time. In one of Christ’s parables, he told us of a good shepherd who left behind his whole flock to go out searching for one lost sheep. Today in the Gospel, the situation was the reverse. A great throng of people, like a flock of sheep without a shepherd, went out... Read more
Our ongoing conversion is our work until the end. For the Fifteenth Ordinary Sunday of the Church Year: Amos 7:12-15 Ephesians 1:3-14 Mark 6:7-13 The Gospel today shows the stark beginnings of the work Christ gave his apostles, but it also shows signs of the end of all things. Stark beginnings. Jesus sent his chosen Twelve out across the land, with walking sticks, the clothes on their backs, and his authority over unclean spirits, but with nothing... Read more
Open your hearts, minds and wills to give Christ power to be at work within you. Mark 6:1-6 for the Fourteenth Sunday of Ordinary Time. The Nazareth neighbors of Christ acknowledged the wisdom they heard when he taught in their house of worship. They also knew he had the power to work wonders. They had probably heard he had even raised a dead girl back to life just the day before. Unfortunately, they thought of him as... Read more
Do not be afraid; just have faith. Mark 5:21-43 for the Thirteenth Sunday of Ordinary Time. In the Gospel, crowds are often a challenge for Christ. We have seen him get into a boat in order to avoid the crush of a crowd on the shore. We have seen him practically imprisoned in a house by the press of a crowd. He once cast out an entire crowd of demons that then entered and drowned a crowd... Read more
Jesus said: None greater than John the Baptist has arisen among those born of women. [Mt. 11:11] For the Solemnity of the Nativity of Saint John the Baptist, June 24: Luke 1:57-66,80. From the time of John’s birth his father speaks to him of the tender mercy of our God. And you, child, will be called prophet of the Most High, for you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways, to give his people knowledge of... Read more
To cross through with God who has opened everything for us. For the Twelfth Sunday of Ordinary Time: Job 38:1,8-11; 2 Corinthians 5:14-17; Mark 4:35-41. Today, in the Gospel, we see Christ as the Lord God dominating the might of nature. His power and authority as the Lord God still come into our lives in many ways, some small and ordinary, some great and mysterious. In the end, the drama of Christ will usher in eternal glory... Read more
Every choice we make can plant seeds for God’s Kingdom. Mark 4:26-34 for the Eleventh Sunday of Ordinary Time. When Christ came to the earth, God’s people had been hoping for a messiah of earthly might to uphold them as God’s earthly kingdom over all others. Then and now, God in Christ is indeed King on earth, but in mystery rather than in earthly might. Today in his Gospel, he told two parables about how it is... Read more
We worship Love that glorified us in the resurrection: God works for good with those who love him, those he called according to his purpose, those he foreknew and predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, those he called, justified and glorified. [Rm. 8:29-30] Hosea 11:1,3-4,8c-9, Ephesians 3:8-12,14-19 and John 19:31-37 for the Solemnity of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus. The night before he was to offer himself on the cross, Jesus went... Read more
The Eucharist is the law, the command, letter, love letter, Love itself and God the Lover himself. 2 Corinthians 3:4-11 and Matthew 5:17-19 for Wednesday of the Tenth Week in Ordinary Time. Today’s two readings could seem to fight each other. In the first reading, the word of the Lord says the letter brings death, but the Spirit gives life. And yet the Lord in his Gospel says not the smallest letter or the smallest part of a... Read more
The Body and the Blood of the New and Eternal Covenant For the Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ: Exodus 24:3-8, Hebrews 9:11-15 and Mark 14:12-16,22-26. Today the three readings from the Lord bear witness that God has joined with humanity in a flesh-and-blood bond— a covenant. The highest, deepest and eternal covenant is the one that binds God to us in the Body and Blood of Christ. Before Christ, God took on... Read more
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