Sunday’s Readings: Job 7:1-4, 6-7; Psalms 147:1-2, 3-4, 5-6; 1 Corinthians 9:16-19, 22-23; Mark 1:29-39 TIRELESS DISCIPLESHIP The stories we’ve been hearing these weeks come from the very first chapter of Mark, and they show us the public ministry of Jesus in its infancy. Today’s account shows some of the strain or adjustment of his new…
Sunday’s Readings: Deuteronomy 18:15-20; Psalms 95:1-2, 6-7, 7-9; 1 Corinthians 7:32-35; Mark 1:21-28 TRUE PROPHETS In Deuteronomy today we hear that God’s very words will fill the mouth of a true prophet, but a false prophet will, in a manner of speaking, put mere mortal words into God’s mouth. In Mark’s Gospel, we see Jesus teaching…
Sunday’s Readings: Jonah 3:1-5, 10; Psalms 25:4-5, 6-7, 8-9; 1 Corinthians 7:29-31; Mark 1:14-20 THE DEMANDS OF DISCIPLESHIP Today we encounter readings that already have a Lenten feel about them. Nineveh undergoes a forty-day fast, the psalmist reminds us that God alone can show sinners the way, Paul shows us how fleeting the things and events…
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 THE LAMB OF GOD “Behold the Lamb of God!” We hear this phrase every Sunday at Mass, but there’s a good chance that many Roman Catholics do not know who in the Bible originally spoke it. The phrase…
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 WATCHFUL CONFIDENCE We the Church enter into Advent and the new liturgical year with a call for a watchful confidence. Our readings were originally addressed to communities undergoing great loss and confusion. Jeremiah speaks confidently of God fulfilling the ancient promises…
Sunday’s Readings: Isaiah 40:1-5, 9-11; Psalms 85:9-10-11-12, 13-14; 2 Peter 3:8-14; Mark 1:1-8 NEWS OF COMFORT In a time of preparation, much of it having to do with ma-terial things, it is good to hear the words of Isaiah, “Comfort, give comfort to my people, / says your God” (Isaiah 40:1). In a time of such…
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 GOD HAS A DIFFERENT PLAN We begin the season of Advent with a heartfelt call for our own repentance. We remember God’s faithful love for us, and call upon God to help us to turn back. For “behold, you are angry,…
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 CHRIST, KING OF ALL On this, the final Sunday of the liturgical year, we celebrate the solemnity of Christ the King. By concluding the year with this feast we are proclaiming our faith that Jesus Christ is the one and only…