Sunday’s Readings: 1 Samuel 3:3B-10, 19; Psalms 40:2, 4, 7-8, 8-9, 10; 1 Corinthians 6:13C-15A, 17-20; John 1:35-42 SPEAK, LORD, WE ARE LISTENING In today’s first reading God keeps calling out in the night to a sleeping boy. Neither the boy, Samuel, nor his teacher, Eli, understands who is calling. But God’s persistence convinces them. Samuel…
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 THE WATERS OF BAPTISM When new sod is put in, it needs constant saturation with water. Landscapers say that this “knits” the sod to the soil. The same when a branch is grafted onto a tree: the poultice that joins them…
Sunday’s Readings: Numbers 6:22-27; Psalms 67:2-3, 5, 6, 8; Galatians 4:4-7; Luke 2:16-21 On the very first day of every new year, January 1st, the Church appropriately honors the Blessed Virgin Mary with a Marian feast day and a Holy Day of Obligation. The title by which she is honored on this day is also the…
Sunday’s Readings: Sirach 3:2-6, 12-14; Psalms 128:1-2, 3, 4-5; Colossians 3:12-21; Luke 2:22-40 WE ARE GOD’S HOLY FAMILYThe scriptures of Israel are filled with many stories of barren couples who were miraculously granted the gift of children by God. Surely the best known among these is the first reading from today, from which Luke took inspiration…
Sunday’s Readings: 2 Samuel 7:1-5, 8B-12, 14A, 16; PS 89:2-3, 4-5, 27, 29; Romans 16:25-27; Luke 1:26-38 THE ETERNAL GODKing David wished that the ark of God might have a more permanent home. David may have envisioned something like the cedar palace where he resided. God had in mind something more: a throne where David’s…
Sunday’s Readings: Isaiah 61:1-2, 10-11; Luke 1:46-48, 49-50, 53-54; 1 Thessalonians 5:16-24; John 1:6-8, 19-28 JOHN THE BAPTISTAt a school open house a woman could be overheard introducing her husband to some of the other parents. “Oh, Bill, I’d like you to meet Johnny’s father. And over here, this is Marie’s mom; you know, the little…
Sunday’s Readings: Isaiah 63:16-17, 19; 64:2-7; Psalms 80:2-3, 15-16, 18-19; 1 Corinthians 1:3-9; Mark 13:33-37 MARK’S JESUSMark’s Gospel is the shortest and tersest of all four. The discourses of Jesus tend to be terser as well. Mark’s portrayal of Jesus has none of the poetry of the Sermon on the Mount or the Sermon on the…
Sunday’s Readings: Ezekiel 34:11-12, 15-17; Psalms 23:1-2, 2-3, 5-6; 1 Corinthians 15:20-26, 28; Matthew 25:31-46 THE SHEPHERD KINGThe job of shepherd and the job of king couldn’t be more different from each other. Shepherds are on the lowest rung of society, kings are at the top. But God says, through the prophet Ezekiel, that the Messiah…