Category: Reflections

TWELFTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME (2021) Readings:Job  38:1, 8-11Psalms  107:23-26, 28-312 Corinthians  5:14-17Mark 4:35-41 The abbreviated portion of Job’s discourse with God which forms our first reading does not do justice to the virtually sarcastic nature of God’s response. At the beginning of this section in Job, God does address Job “out of the storm,”… Continue reading TWELFTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME (2021)

Readings:Ezekiel 17:22-24Psalms 92:2-3, 13-14,15-162 Corinthians 5:6-10Mark 4:26-34 Agricultural images are familiar throughout the entire Bible, and from the beginning of the Bible, when God said “let the land produce vegetation: seed-bearing plants and trees that bear fruit” (Genesis 1:11), we are accustomed to viewing God as the loving gardener who tends His garden the earth,… Continue reading ELEVENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME (2021)

SOLEMNITY OF THE BODY AND BLOOD OF CHRIST (CORPUS CHRISTI-2021) Readings:Exodus  24:3-8Psalms  116:12-13, 15-18Hebrews 9:11-15Mark 14:12-16, 22-26 Embedded in my childhood memories is the recollection of the possibility of becoming “blood brother” to someone. While there were no Sharks or Jets in my neighborhood, most young boys carried very small pocket knives, knives never capable of… Continue reading SOLEMNITY OF THE BODY AND BLOOD OF CHRIST (CORPUS CHRISTI-2021)

SOLEMNITY OF THE HOLY TRINITY (2021) Readings:Deuteronomy  4:32-34, 39-40Psalms 33:4-6, 9, 18-20, 22Romans 8:14-17Matthew 28:16-20 It would be most simple at the outset to have a three-word homily: “It’s a mystery!” The priest could call it a day, and the faithful congregants would be overjoyed that they picked the Mass celebrated by the “three-word homilist”! Unfortunately,… Continue reading SOLEMNITY OF THE HOLY TRINITY (2021)

THE SOLEMNITY OF PENTECOST (2021) Readings:Acts of the Apostles  2:1-11Psalms  104:1, 24, 29-31, 341 Corinthians  12:3-7, 12-13John  20:19-23 The Solemnity of Pentecost is often referred to as the birthday of the Church.The word comes from the word for fifty, and just as the Jewish people had a Pentecost that followed fifty days after Passover, so… Continue reading THE SOLEMNITY OF PENTECOST (2021)

SIXTH SUNDAY OF EASTER (2021) Readings:Acts  10:25-26, 34-35, 44-48Psalms  98:1-41 John  4:7-10John  15:9-17 Very conservative Bishops might choose to cover their ears during the Liturgy of the Word, for there is very little in our readings which will give them the ammunition to prevent anyone from receiving communion or being a follower of Jesus. How… Continue reading SIXTH SUNDAY OF EASTER (2021)

FIFTH SUNDAY OF EASTER (2021) Readings:Acts of the Apostles  9:26-31Psalms  22:26-28, 30-32First Letter of John  3:18-24John  15:1-8 Some of my most favorite memories are of trips taken to the wine country of California. In the counties of Sonoma and Napa, I have hosted brunches in the middle of rolling hills covered with vines, I have… Continue reading FIFTH SUNDAY OF EASTER (2021)

- GOOD SHEPHERD SUNDAY (2021) Readings:Acts  4:8-12Psalms  118:1, 8-9, 21-23, 26, 291 John  3:1-2John  10:11-18 This Fourth Sunday of Easter is traditionally called Good Shepherd Sunday, for the obvious reasons. The liturgy’s gospel gives us a chance, in the beautiful words of Jesus given to us by St. John, to focus on some of the… Continue reading FOURTH SUNDAY OF EASTER 

THIRD SUNDAY OF EASTER (2021) Readings:Acts of the Apostles  3:13-15, 17-19Psalms  4:2, 4, 7-91 John  2:1-5Luke  24:35-48 The wealth of having four gospels can also lead to a great deal of confusion, since our Sunday cycle of readings overlaps and repeats accounts of what is nearly the same event. Today’s gospel is practically the same… Continue reading THIRD SUNDAY OF EASTER (2021)