March 5 (Second Sunday of Lent, Year A) Today we get to witness the meaning of the word theophany. It is a visible manifestation to humankind of God. It usually occurs when the Lord wants to capture the attention of a particular follower and He does it in a most, unexpected and unusual manner. Oftentimes it can only appear as if a miracle is occurring, especially when the Lord uses the phenomenon of nature, such as fire, thunder, or a…..
February 26, 2023 (First Sunday of Lent, Year A) Today is the first Sunday of Lent (Year A). The Church invites us to celebrate Jesus Christ the second Adam, who by the power of the Holy Spirit overcame temptation and sin. Through his obedience to the Father’s will, Christ restored the world completing the need for salvation for all people. Today’s First Reading (Gen. 2:7-9; 3:1-7) recounts the beginning of our need for salvation with the story of Adam and…..
February 19, 2023 (Seventh Sunday of Ordinary Time, Year A) In the Gospel for today (Mt. 5:38-48) Jesus continues with his Sermon on the Mount. He takes the opportunity to elaborate on his teaching of the Law. For as he explained last week, he came, not to abolish the law, but to fulfill it, that is clarify and perfect it. Last week Jesus used many examples of antithesis, or contrasts, to describe forbidden behavior. He used these to explain the…..
February 12, 2023 (Sixth Sunday of Ordinary Time, Year A) Today’s Gospel from Matthew is paired with a wisdom passage from the ancient author Sirach (Sir 15:15-20). Together they teach us how to choose right from wrong in the process of keeping the commandments. Sirach, also known as Ben Sira, was a sage or wisdom writer who lived and wrote in Jerusalem during the second century BC. He was thoroughly imbued with love for the wisdom tradition, and also for…..
February 5, 2023 (Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A) After learning about last week’s blessings of the Beatitudes, this week’s readings teach us how to share what we have received in the name of Christ. In the First Reading (Is. 58:7-10) Isaiah is speaking to the people who have been or are going to be released from captivity in Babylon. Now that they have finally achieved that which they longed for – to return to their homeland – they…..
January 29, 2023, (Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A) When Jesus traveled around Judah and Galilee he spoke often about “the Law.” This would be the numerous laws given to Moses by God at the time of the Exodus. Many times, it appeared to the Jewish leaders that Jesus was contradicting the law, but this was not the case. Jesus himself said he came not to abolish but to fulfill the law. By this he meant to perfect and…..
January 22, 2023 (Third Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A) Once again in this cycle of readings we find a passage from the prophet Isaiah (Is 8:23—9:3) paired with one from the Gospel of Matthew (Mt 4:12-23). Having a community largely made up of Jews, Matthew used many of the Jewish scriptures from the Old Testament to demonstrate that Jesus was the messiah expected by the Jewish people. The same is being done here. Today’s portion of Isaiah recalls when…..
January 15,2023 (Second Sunday in Ordinary Time Year A) Today we gain some insight into the identity of the unknown servant found in the book of the prophet Isaiah who brought God’s liberation to the people of Israel and all other nations. The identity of the suffering Servant is somewhat elusive. The first part of the passage from Isaiah for today (Isa. 49:3, 5-6) seems to indicate that the servant is the nation of Israel as a whole: “He said…..
January 8, 2023 The Solemnity of the Epiphany of the Lord (Year A) As has so often happened during this Christmas season, we find a prophecy in the First Reading from Isaiah (Isa. 60:16) which is then fulfilled in the Gospel (Mt. 2:1-12). This is a common pattern in Year A where we hear from Matthew for the most part. He used a lot of fulfillment passages for the benefit of his community so that they would see that everything…..
January 1, 2023 (Year A) In the readings for today we find the blessedness that comes from God to all people regardless of social status or reputation, for all human life is precious in the eyes of God. In the reading from the book of Numbers (Num. 6:22-27) we hear the special blessing that God gave to Moses and Aaron to pronounce upon the Israelites at the time of the Exodus when they wandered in the desert. During the entire…..