Sunday’s Readings: Sirach 27:4-7; Psalms 92:2-3, 13-14, 15-16; 1 Corinthians 15:54-58; Luke 6:39-45 WE ARE KNOWN BY OUR FRUIT This week, Jesus tells us that we must examine our own inner selves, our attitudes and dispositions, virtues and faults, rather than judging others. What is in our hearts comes out in what and how we speak.…

Sunday’s Readings: 1 Samuel 26:2, 7-9, 12-13, 22-23; Psalms 103:1-2, 3-4, 8, 10, 12-13; 1 Corinthians 15:45-49; Luke 6:27-38 LOVE AS GOD LOVES Our Gospel today continues Jesus’ Sermon on the Plain, in which we heard Luke’s version of the Beatitudes. This week, Jesus gives us new “commandments,” telling us how to live and act in…

Sunday’s Readings:  Jeremiah 17:5-8; Psalms 1:1-2, 3, 4; 1 Corinthians 15:12, 16-20; Luke 6:17, 20-26 FEELING BLESSED  Congratulations! Welcome to the Kingdom! Rejoice and leap for joy! Sounds a little like Easter, doesn’t it? Well, in a very real way, it is. This Sunday, the scriptures remind us that we are blessed and beloved, especially…

Sunday’s Readings: Isaiah 6:1-2, 3-8; Psalms 138:1-2, 2-3, 4-5, 7-8; 1 Corinthians 15:1-11; Luke 5:1-11 THEOPHANIES  Today’s readings recount three theophanies, or particular manifestations of God’s presence. The prophet Isaiah is caught up in a dramatic scene of heavenly worship, with a royal throne, burning embers, and seraphim singing, “Holy, holy, holy.” Isaiah is overwhelmed. In…

Sunday’s Readings: Nehemiah 8:2-4, 5-6, 8-10; Psalms 19:8, 9, 10, 15; 1 Corinthians 12:12-30; Luke 1:1-4; 4:14-21 GOD’S LAW  Scripture has always held God’s law to be the path to human happiness. In today’s first reading, Ezra the priest reads the scroll of the law to the people returned from exile. They weep—then are joyful. Israel’s…

Sunday’s Readings: Isaiah 62:1-5; Psalms 96:1-2, 2-3, 7-8, 9-10; 1 Corinthians 12:4-11; John 2:1-11 REVELATION OF GOD’S PRESENCE  Today’s first reading from Isaiah arises out of the ordeal of the people of Jerusalem and Judea as they anticipate the end of seventy years of exile in Babylon. Their sufferings and their oppression will end, and they…

Sunday’s Readings: Isaiah 42:1-4, 6-7; Psalm 29:1-2, 3-4, 3, 9-10; Acts 10:34-38; Luke 3:15-16, 21-22 BAPTISMAL DEATH AND RESURRECTION  As we celebrate the Baptism of the Lord, we also honor our own baptism as our initiation into the Christian life and community. In the Gospel, the baptism of Jesus, with his immersion and then emergence from…

Sunday’s Readings: Isaiah 60:1-6; Psalms 72:1-2, 7-8, 10-11, 12-13; Ephesians 3:2-3, 5-6; Matthew 2:1-12  JOURNEY TOWARD GOD  In our celebration of the Epiphany, two interwoven themes are present in the readings today. God is beginning something new, and God gathers all of humanity to participate. For Isaiah, God’s bright light, manifested in the people of…