June 6, 2021 The Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ (Year B) After all the celebrations and feast days of this Easter season it may seem as if we are going backward in time with a Gospel reading about the Last Supper. But there is a very important reason for this as we celebrate the Feast of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ and its meaning for the covenant established by Jesus for the…..
May 30, 2021 The Feast of the Holy Trinity (Year B) Today we celebrate the Feast of the Holy Trinity, the central mystery of our faith. It is the belief that there are three distinct persons in one God, co-equal, co-divine, and fully united in will. This is a tradition which sets Christians apart from other faiths, like Judaism and Islam. These other religions sometimes accuse Christians of being polytheistic for this teaching, but the Catechism of the Catholic Church…..
May 23, 2021 The Feast of Pentecost (Year B) This Sunday we celebrate the Feast of Pentecost, the sending of the Holy Spirit to the disciples by God as promised by Jesus at the time of his Ascension. It is a story from Luke which is familiar to us because we hear it every year in the First Reading for this day (Acts 2:1-11). It takes place in Jerusalem at the time of the Jewish Feast of Pentecost where the…..
May 16, 2021 Seventh Sunday of Easter (Year B) Today we celebrate the Solemnity of the Ascension of Jesus. Traditionally this feast is observed forty days after Easter on Ascension Thursday and is considered to be a Holy Day of Obligation. However, most provinces now celebrate the Ascension on the Seventh Sunday of Easter so that more of the faithful can fulfill the obligation on this most holy day. The importance of this feast for the Church is demonstrated by…..
May 9, 2021 Sixth Sunday of Easter (Year B) The Gospel for this Sixth Sunday of Easter (Jn 15:9-17) is a continuation of the reading from last week where Jesus gave his followers a lesson on discipleship with the parable of the Vines and the Branches. With this metaphor, their key to success consisted of remaining close to Jesus, and thereby the Father, and to remember everything that he had taught them. As the passage continues today, Jesus adds another…..
May 2, 2021 Fifth Sunday of Easter (Year B) Last Sunday we read about the Good Shepherd, an image that Jesus borrowed from the Old Testament to describe his relationship to his disciples. This weekend we see Jesus borrow another metaphor to instruct his disciples. It is known as the Vine and the Branches. This image was used quite often in the Old Testament to refer to the people of Israel who symbolized a vine, or vineyard, with God as…..
April 25, 2021 Fourth Sunday of Easter (Year B) At first glance there does not seem to be much in common between the readings for today. In his speech to the people in the book of Acts, Peter talks about a cornerstone that has been rejected by the builders. And in the Gospel from John, Jesus compares himself to a shepherd guarding and leading his sheep. One might wonder what a cornerstone, or foundational stone of the Temple, might have…..
April 18, 2021 Third Sunday of Easter (Year B) Both the First Reading and the Gospel for today describe an event following the Resurrection of Jesus. One of the things they have in common is a reference to the scriptures from the Old Testament which were fulfilled by Christ. In particular, they describe Christ’s suffering before his death as something that had been revealed in the prophets and the psalms. This aspect of Christ’s passion, in fact, has a firm…..
April 11, 2021 Second Sunday of Easter (Year B) They say, “Life changes in an instant.” This is a cliché. But it is exactly what we see in the readings for today. In the chronological sequence of the New Testament, it happens first in the Gospel of John (Jn. 20:19-31) and then later in the First Reading from the book of Acts (Acts 4:32-35). Both shed light on the Christian response to life-changing situations.It is Sunday evening, and the disciples…..
April 4, 2021 Easter Sunday (Year B) There is something unusual about the selection of the Gospel to be read on Easter Sunday. On every other Sunday throughout the Liturgical Year, the Gospel readings are based on the three-year cycle of the Lectionary. In Year A, we read from Matthew, in Year B, we read from Mark, and in Year C, we read from Luke. However, the Gospel reading for Easter Sunday for all three years – A, B, and…..