Twenty-Ninth Sunday in Ordinary Time – Year B
Jesus is fully human and fully divine! This is one of the great mysteries of our faith! Many times, we seem to focus only on the fact that he is fully divine; on his miracles, his power over nature, and his healings. And while these are important, it is equally important that Jesus was fully human; that he had thoughts and feelings and temptations like us!
Twenty-Eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time – Year B
Imagine, if you will, two people about to begin a journey. One begins to plan by arranging how to arrive at the destination and what path to choose to get there. The other begins to plan by accumulating a list of favorite possessions to carry along the way.
Twenty-Seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time – Year B
We note that the first reading comes from chapter two of Genesis, which is believed to be the original creation story. By the way, chapter one of Genesis tends to emphasize God’s transcendence (the otherness), while chapter two tends to emphasize the immanence (or “withiness”) of God. But let’s begin with a short reflection on creation itself.
Twenty-Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time – Year B
“Would that All the People of the Lord were Prophets!” “Would that the Lord might bestow His Spirit on them All!” “Whoever is not against Us, is for Us!”
Twenty-Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time – Year B
September 11th – Horror, agony, destruction, death: the attack on the World Trade Centers in New York City twenty years ago!
And at the same time – as though the one gave birth to the other – an unbelievable, indomitable desire by so many to reach out to help others in the midst of catastrophe.
Twenty-Third Sunday in Ordinary Time – Year B
Consider today, as in times past, just how we are similar to the person in today’s Gospel who could not hear and had a speech impediment. Like that person, are we too not blind and deaf? Many people are frightened about the current state of things, of what faces them, their children and grandchildren. Paralyzed and beleaguered, they grumble and complain.
Twenty-Second Sunday in Ordinary Time – Year B
There is a story about a young man named Jim who entered religious life. He lived in a monastery with six other classmates.
One of his classmates named John made a lot of noise to draw attention to himself. Everything that he opened, he slammed shut. If he opened a door, he slammed it shut. If he opened a window, he slammed it shut. If he opened a drawer, he slammed it shut. Hence, throughout the monastery, all that people heard daily was slam, slam, slam, slam, slam.
Solemnity of the Assumption
For the past three weeks we have been listening to Chapter 6 of St. John’s Gospel that speaks of Jesus’ feeding of the multitude with five loaves of bread and a couple of fish. This sign which he performs is followed by his lengthy discourse on the Bread of Life. Normally, we would hear all of Chapter 6 on these five consecutive Sundays, but this year the cycle of readings is interrupted by our celebration this weekend of the Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
Nineteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time – Year B
I begin with a personal confession: The Gospel of John is the most difficult of the four Gospels for me to comprehend. As with many other Scripture readers, I more easily and quickly take to the swirling, colorful and noisy action scenes that characterize the Gospel of Mark.
Eighteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time – Year B
I believe that most of us – if not all of us – are familiar with the expressions “back in the day” or “the good old days.” Both phrases direct our attention to the distant past.