October 9, 2022, Twenty-eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year C) Today’s readings from 2Kings (2 Kgs. 5:14-17) and the Gospel of Luke (Lk. 17:11-19) both deal with the ancient skin disease known as leprosy. This was a very serious disease, very contagious and potentially fatal. The physical ramifications were horrendous, attacking the body, leaving sores, missing fingers, missing toes, and damaged limbs. There was no hope for a leper. Nothing short of a miracle could bring a cure. It was…..
October 2, 2022, Twenty-seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year C) Today’s readings are about skepticism and doubt. Emotions which no person can deny having many times in their life. And the majority of the time, when these emotions are within the realm of faith, they can be the most difficult to reconcile. In the First Reading from the book of Habakkuk (Hab. 1:2-3; 2:2-4) we can sense the palpability of the prophet’s frustration. Habakkuk prophesied during the time of the…..
September 25, 2022, Twenty-sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year C) Today’s readings are a warning against the impact that excessive wealth can have on our lives. And as so often happens Jesus has a parable to address this issue. We hear it first in the reading from Amos (Am. 6:1a, 4-7), a prophet who preached in the Northern Kingdom of Israel during the 8th century BC. Amos called attention to the many sins that the kings and the people were…..
September 18, 2022, Twenty-fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year C) Today we learn a lesson about the place of wealth in our lives, and not letting money and possessions be the guide to how we live. The message from Amos in the First Reading (Am. 8:4-7) is rather clear. However, in the Gospel (Lk 16:1-13) Jesus teaches this to us in a parable which seems a bit confusing. Amos was a prophet who preached in Israel around 800 BC, during…..
September 11, 2022, Twenty-fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year C) Today we hear a number of stories which reveal to us the magnitude of forgiveness granted to us by our Heavenly Father. These parables demonstrate that He is a loving God who offers forgiveness and acceptance to sinners in even the most tenuous of situations. It begins first with Moses and the reading from Exodus (Ex. 32:7-11, 13-14). This is a story which occurs after the Lord, along with Moses,…..
September 4, 2022, Twenty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year C) Today’s readings are about wisdom, about knowing the way of the Lord and acting accordingly if we are to attain salvation. Of course, this is something which is not easy to understand and do as humans. We begin with a prayer from King Solomon in the book of Wisdom (Wis 9:13-18b). At one point in Israel’s history the people demanded that their leader, prophet, and judge, Samuel, appoint for them…..
August 28, 2022, Twenty-second Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year C) Today’s readings are a lesson in humility. Perhaps one of the most difficult human traits to emulate. It has been one of the fallible characteristics of humanity since the beginning of time; since the time of Adam and Eve. Placed in a beautiful garden with all of the necessities of life, Adam and Eve had only one restriction, that is not to eat from the tree of life. But they…..
August 21, 2022, Twenty-first Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year C) The parallel theme between the First Reading and the Gospel for this Sunday is really quite interesting. It is one which offers the hope of salvation to all people, without discrimination from all around the world. We hear it first from the book of Isaiah (Isa. 66:18-21). This prophetic work holds several decades of the history of the nation of Israel and is divided into three parts. The first portion…..
August 14, 2022, Twentieth Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year C) There is no doubt that Jesus came into the world to preach about God’s love for creation and the way in which we should embody that love in our relationships with others. In fact, Jesus preached that the greatest of the commandments are “You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. And You shall love your neighbor as…..
August 7, 2022, Nineteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year C) The theme of today’s Gospel is one that is probably more familiar to us. This is because it is among the lessons which are more frequently taught by Jesus. It is a parable about the need for preparedness while awaiting the return of Jesus. We find it in stories such as The Faithful vs. The Wicked Servant (Mt. 24:45-51), The Ten Virgins (Mt. 25:1-13), The Unknown Day and Hour (Mt……