Category: Reflections

SIXTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME (2020) Readings:   Sirach 15:15-20 Psalms 119:1-2, 4-5, 17-18, 33-34 1 Corinthians 2:6-10 Matthew 5:17-37 A cartoon in a national magazine shows Moses with two tablets under his arm coming down a mountain. "I've got good news and bad news," he says. "The good news is I got Him down… Continue reading SIXTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME (2020)

FIFTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME (2020) Readings:   Isaiah 58:7-10 Psalms 112:4-9 1 Corinthians 2:1-5 Matthew 5:13-16 Genuine piety can very often be too closely identified with those things, some of them sacramental, that are most familiar and most regular for us - Mass attendance, the rosary, novenas, adoration, Church visits, and the like. Some… Continue reading FIFTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME (2020)

Presentation of the Lord (2020) Readings:   Malachi 3:1-4 Psalms 24:7-10 Hebrews 2:14-18 Luke 2:22-40 The Sacrament of Baptism, with the exception of adult baptism, is a remarkably unpredictable experience. If the child to be baptized is overtired, ready to eat, cranky, intestinally challenged, or simply uncooperative, you never quite know what to expect. Blessedly… Continue reading Presentation of the Lord (2020)

THIRD SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME (2020) Readings:   Isaiah 8:23-9:3 Psalms 27:1, 4, 13-14 1 Corinthians 1:10-13, 17 Matthew 4:12-23 Can we ever fully understand what a striking thing Jesus does when He, the almighty and ever-living God, asks simple fishermen to help Him with the establishment of His kingdom? The importance of what Jesus does by the… Continue reading THIRD SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME (2020)

Sanctity of Human Life Sunday - January 19, 2020 The third Sunday of the Month of January, the Sunday often closest to January 22, the day in 1973 when the U.S. Supreme Court in Roe v. Wade (and with its companion piece, Doe v. Bolton) legalized abortion on demand in the entire United States. It… Continue reading Sanctity of Human Life Sunday – January 19, 2020

The Feast of the Baptism of the Lord (2020) Readings:   Isaiah 42:1-4, 6-7 Psalms 29:1-4, 9-10 Acts of the Apostles 10:34-38 Matthew 3:13-17 The iconic announcement by his sidekick, Ed McMahon, always started the opening of late-night television and the beginning of Johnny Carson’s Tonight Show: “Heeeeeeeere’s Johnny!” In many ways, the readings for… Continue reading The Feast of the Baptism of the Lord (2020)

THIRTY-THIRD SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME (2019) Readings:   Malachi 3:19-20 Psalms 98:5-9 2 Thessalonians 3:7-12 Luke 21:5-19 Apocalyptic literature has a certain appeal in every age as evidenced by blockbuster movies and video games which speak about the end of the world by natural disaster or some kind of menacing invader. The Wester’s definition of… Continue reading THIRTY-THIRD SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME (2019)

THIRTY-SECOND SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME Readings:   2 Maccabees 7:1-2, 9-14 Psalms 17:1, 5-6, 8, 15 2 Thessalonians 2:16-3:5 Luke 20:27-38 The abbreviated story from the Second Book of Maccabees in our first reading is one of the more interesting stories in the entire Old Testament. In its complete form, with its rather vivid description… Continue reading THIRTY-SECOND SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

THIRTY-FIRST SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME (2019)   Readings:   Wisdom 11:22-12:2 Psalms 145:1-2, 8-11, 13-14 2 Thessalonians 1:11-2:2 Luke 19:1-10 Jesus’ preferential option for the poor, the sinful, and the disenfranchised is nowhere stronger than in the gospel of Luke, often referred to as the Gospel of the Poor. In stories that are peculiarly Lukan,… Continue reading Thirty First Sunday in Ordinary Time 2018

THIRTIETH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME (2019) Readings: Sirach 35:12-14, 16-18 Psalms 34:2-3, 17-18, 19, 23 2 Timothy 4:6-8, 16-18 Luke 18:9-14 Like last week’s parable of the persistent widow and unjust judge, today’s parable of the self-righteous Pharisee and tax collector, is uniquely from the evangelist Luke. At this latter point in Luke’s gospel, as… Continue reading THIRTIETH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME (2019)