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Tuesday of the Eleventh Week in Ordinary Time
Today’s readings Today’s Gospel is one that’s certainly very familiar to us. But if we’re honest, every time we hear it, it must give us a little bit of uneasiness, right? Because, yes, it is very easy to love those who love us, to do good to those who do good to us, to greet…
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Saturday of the Tenth Week in Ordinary Time
Today’s readings I love the first line of today’s first reading: “The love of Christ impels us…” More poignantly, that can be translated, “The love of Christ urges us on…” Saint Paul then talks in detail about how Christ’s love accomplished the work of death for all of us, so that our death doesn’t have…
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Saint Anthony of Padua, Priest and Doctor of the Church
I’m not sure if it’s that I’m getting older or that I have too many things to keep track of, but I find myself losing things, or losing my train of thought more often than I used to. I’m often grateful to Saint Anthony on those occasions! Saint Anthony is probably one of the best-known…
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Thursday of the Tenth Week in Ordinary Time
Today’s readings I don’t know about you, but I always get nervous when Jesus starts out saying “you have heard it said that…” because he always follows up with “but what I say to you is this…” And what he says is usually quite a bit more challenging that what we previously heard said. What…
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Tuesday of the Tenth Week in Ordinary Time
Today’s readings As many of you know, I enjoy cooking. And so our Gospel reading’s reference to seasoning resonates with me quite a bit. Sometimes you can under-season a dish: when you’re cooking, if you don’t add seasoning as you go along, at the end you can never put in enough salt or pepper to…
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The Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of the Church
Today’s readings Today, the Church celebrates the relatively new memorial of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of the Church. This memorial occurs each year on the day after Pentecost. Pope Francis, of blessed memory, extended this feast to the Universal Church in 2018. Before that, it had a long history in Poland, and it was…
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The Solemnity of Pentecost
Well, Church, happy birthday! Today is the Solemnity of Pentecost, the birthday of the Church, because on this day, Jesus and God the Father sent the Holy Spirit on the first Apostles to enliven them and enable them to preach the Gospel. Today, we celebrate the joy of the Easter season for the last “official”…
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Friday in the Seventh Week of Easter
Today’s readings Jesus’ words to Peter in this Gospel reading are a mixture of comfort, challenge, and warning. Peter had just messed up in the worst way possible by denying his friend not once but three times. But then comes the question not once but three times: “Peter, do you love me?” This is comfort…
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Saint Boniface, Bishop and Martyr
Today’s readings Saint Boniface was sent by Pope Saint Gregory II to reform the Church in Germany, which had been heavily negatively influenced by the forces of paganism. He sought to restore the fidelity of the German clergy to their bishops, in union with Rome. He also sought to build up houses of prayer throughout…
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Saint Charles Lwanga and companions, Martyrs
Today is the anniversary of my ordination to the priesthood, 19 years ago. It is also Father John’s anniversary of thirty-six years. I find our Liturgy today to be particularly inspirational on this anniversary day. Today’s Liturgy of the Word represents a kind of wrap-up to the lives of St. Paul and Jesus, respectively. They…
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