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TWENTY-FIFTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME B

Hearing today’s Gospel  from St Mark, we are confronted with the story of Jesus’ disciples grappling with the question of greatness. Having just heard Jesus speak about what is referred to as the second passion prediction, they are afraid of the implications of his impending death. The version of the story in Mark tells us that the disciples did not understand what Jesus was saying. The author of…

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TWENTY-FOURTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME B

In today’s Gospel,  after weeks of listening to His words and witnessing His deeds, along with the disciples we’re asked to decide who Jesus truly is.  Near the end of his public ministry, Jesus sought an evaluation of its effectiveness. And he needed his closest allies to understand,  what God was doing in and through him, to know where it all led. He asked the disciples what people were saying…

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TWENTY-THIRD SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME B

The story is told of Saint Francis  going down to a village with one his brothers. Their purpose was to preach the Gospel. When they arrived at the village, they quickly engaged the local folk in conversation and passed their time helping the villagers with their work, sharing stories, entering into the life of the community. As the end of the day drew near, Francis said to one of his companions…

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TWENTY-SECOND SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME B

Ritual is essential in life.   All of us have rituals that we remember and cherish. Some are simple habits; others are tied to memories of love and affection from our earliest years; a few, like the Eucharist, are holy.   Our readings today are centred around ritual, but with strings attached.   In Deuteronomy, as in the prophets, the promises given by God, as reported in the Bible, always…

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TWENTY FIRST SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME B

 This Sunday’s Mass readings conclude a four-week meditation on the Eucharist. The Twelve Apostles in today’s Gospel are asked to make a choice—either to believe and accept the New Covenant He offers in His Body and Blood or return to their former ways of life. Their choice is prefigured by the decision Joshua asks the Twelve Tribes to make in today’s First Reading. Joshua gathers them at…

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TWENTIETH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME B

“ Wisdom has built herself a house, she has erected her seven pillars.”     The first few generations of Christians, attempted to describe Jesus theologically, leaned heavily on this Wisdom tradition and attributed to him many of her characteristics. The connection between the reading from Proverbs and the continuing discourse in John’s Gospel, where we are now in about the third week of the…

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THE ASSUMPTION OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY

The Feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary proclaims that at the end of her earthly life Our Lady was taken to the glory of heaven. What is the evidence for this doctrine and why does the Church teach it? Although there is no direct description of the end of Mary’s life in the New Testament, it is significant that no early tradition sprang up or remain to us reverencing a grave or…

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NINETEENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME B

What would you give someone so they could understand that we do not live by bread alone? What God gave Elijah, and Jesus gave the crowd in John’s gospel, was bread.    Why give  the one thing that seems to prove that you can live by bread alone?  The key to all of this is that God gave Elijah – and Jesus gave that crowd – bread in such a way that the bread was pure gift. They didn’t make it,…

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EIGHTEENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME B

Jesus said he came that we might have life and that abundantly. In our gospel reading for today, Jesus has met the immediate needs of a host of people. Those remaining after he fed 5,000 with a little fish and bread seek out Jesus. Jesus tells them, “ Do not work for food that cannot last, but work for food that endures to eternal life,   the kind of food the Son of Man is offering you.” The…

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SEVENTEENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME B

Today’s Collect really gets to the heart of the matter. “O God, protector of those who hope in you . . . bestow in abundance  your mercy upon us and grant that, with you as our ruler and guide, we may use the good things that pass in such a way as to hold fast even now to those that ever endure . . .” With these words, we pray that we might pass through this world without losing sight of the…

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SIXTEENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME B

In the 23rd Psalm set down for today, David, who was once a shepherd boy, names that the true shepherd is the Lord God. The psalm goes on to show how food, water, and shelter are provided.  The psalmist continues, the sheep are guided along right pathways.   The psalm places the emphasis here, “Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I shall fear no evil; for you are with me.”…

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FIFTEENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME B

Again, this week, we hear the theme of rejection: Amos experiences it, and Jesus warns the Apostles that some will not welcome or listen to them. The Church is called not necessarily to be successful but only to be faithful to God’s command and so, today’s Gospel picks up where last week’s left off. Last week Jesus was not having one of his better days. The people who knew him best, his…

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FOURTEENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME B

In the Gospels in recent weeks, we’ve witnessed Jesus command the wind and sea, and order a little girl to arise from the dead. But today’s Gospel is blunt: “He was not able to perform any mighty deed there.” Why not? Because of the people’s lack of faith.  As Paul confides in today’s Second Reading, insults and hardships are God’s way of teaching us to rely solely on His grace. By all accounts,…

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THIRTEENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME B

 God, who formed us in his imperishable image, did not intend for us to die, we hear in today’s First Reading. Death entered the world through the devil’s envy and Adam and Eve’s sin; as a result, we are all bound to die. But in the story with Jairus in today’s Gospel, we see Jesus liberate a little girl from the possession of death. First, we are introduced to Jairus, a leader of the…

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TWELFTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME B

 “How is it that you have no faith?” Our Lord’s question in today’s Gospel frames the Sunday liturgies for the remainder of the year, which the Church calls “Ordinary Time.” In the weeks ahead, the Church’s liturgy will have us journeying with Jesus and his disciples, reliving their experience of his words and deeds, coming to know and believe in him as they did.  We know in life people suffer.…

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TENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME B

Why do we speak?  We talk, chat, write, text, email, learn new languages, sing, and speak. The individual voice adds a layer of complexity to our words; no one speaks quite the way you speak. We speak all the time (some of us more than others…), and we do it for all sorts of reasons. Because we need something, because we want something, because we want to offer something, because we long for…

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The Most Sacred Heart of Jesus

When we say “Heart of Jesus Christ”, we address ourselves in faith to the whole   mystery of the God-Man.  These are the words of the Apostle Paul in his Letter to the Colossians: “Christ Jesus is the image of the unseen God / and the firstborn of all creation, / for in him were created / all things in heaven and on earth: / everything visible and everything invisible, / Thrones, Dominations,…