October 6, 2024 Twenty-Seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year B) Among the Church’s most controversial stances in our postmodern society is that on marriage and divorce. In fact, many people, even Catholics themselves, consider the Catholic Church to be somewhat of a relic because of its perceived teachings on this subject. There are, however, certain things we might gather from the readings for today which can help clarify the Church’s position on the sacrament and what it means for those…..
September 29, 2024 Twenty-Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year B) As we have often seen in the past, the commonality between the First Reading (Num. 11:25-29) and the Gospel (Mk. 9:38-43, 45, 47-48) for this weekend seems quite straightforward. They are both about ostracizing people while performing the works of the Lord. However, as always, these readings with the words of Jesus go on to become a lesson on Christian living. In the book of Numbers, we find Moses in…..
September 22, 2024 Twenty-Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time In today’s Gospel (Mk. 9:30-37), as Jesus continues to travel toward Jerusalem, he makes his Second Passion Prediction, but he also teaches us something about wisdom. However, this is not just the type of wisdom found in books, like Psalms, Proverbs, or Ecclesiastes. Rather, it is God’ s wisdom which is the living embodiment of Christ. We can detect this wisdom especially when it contrasts with the behavior of those with whom…..
September 8th (Twenty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time) Year B Many times throughout the New Testament we see Jesus comparing himself to the Father, He uses phrases like: “Whoever has seen me has seen the Father,” and “The Father and I are one.” In today’s readings we see another, less obvious, comparison between the Father and the Son. In the First Reading from Isaiah (Isa. 35:4-7a), the basis for the passage comes from the time period when King Hezekiah of the…..
September 1, 2024 Twenty-Second Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year B) The first five books of the Hebrew Scriptures, or what Christians call the Old Testament, are also known as the Torah. These contain the laws, or more appropriately, the teachings which God gave to Moses and the people of Israel after the Exodus from Egypt. The readings for today present what appears to be a dichotomy over certain aspects of the law which deserves a bit of explanation. The First…..
Twenty-First Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year B) After a brief interlude to celebrate the Feast of the Assumption and honor the Blessed Virgin Mary, we return to the final verses of the Bread of Life Discourse in John (Jn. 6:60-69). Coupled with the First Reading from the book of Joshua (Josh. 24:1-2a, 15-17, 18b), we find a theme that centers around making choices. In the portion of Joshua that we read today, the Israelites, under the command of Joshua and…..
August 15, 2024 The Feast of the Assumption (Year B) Today we celebrate the Feast of the Assumption. It is the tradition of our Church that Mary, the mother of Jesus was assumed bodily into heaven after her death. She was immaculately conceived, that is born without sin, and so holy that God spared her body from the corruption of the grave. This feast was declared an official dogma of the Catholic Church in 1950 by Pope Pius XII. Although…..
August 11, 2024 Nineteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time This is the third week now that we are reading from the Bread of Life Discourse in the Gospel of John (Jn. 6) and associating it with a figure from the Old Testament. In the first week (Seventeenth Sunday in Ordinary Time), it was a comparison between Elisha the prophet (2Kgs. 4:42-44) and Jesus (Jn. 6:1-15), who both perform a miracle, multiplying a scant amount of bread to feed a multitude of…..
August 4, 2024 Eighteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time This Sunday’s Gospel is a continuation of the Bread of Life Discourse (John 6) from last week’s reading. It is again a comparison between Jesus and a prominent figure from the Old Testament concerned with feeding the people. But this time it is Moses and the miraculous bread from heaven. As we meet the Israelites in this portion of the story of the Exodus (Exod. 16:2-4, 12-15), they have narrowly escaped sure…..
July 28, 2024 Seventeenth Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year B) An interesting thing happens on this Seventeenth Sunday of Ordinary Time in Year B in the Three-year cycle of the lectionary. We take a break from the near continuous readings from the Gospel of Mark and turn to the Gospel of John for a few weeks. In particular we read from one of the most important passages of John, which is the Bread of Life Discourse found in Chapter Six……