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The Sixteenth Sunday of Ordinary Time
Today’s readings I think a lot of us can identify with what’s going on in today’s Gospel reading. Jesus and the Twelve had been working hard: they had just been out on mission, proclaiming the Gospel and the Kingdom of God, and healing the sick. They were busy, they were tired, but they were excited.…
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Friday of the Fifteenth Week of Ordinary Time: Merciful Like the Father
Today’s readings Today, Jesus gives us what might be considered to be his mission statement: “I desire mercy, not sacrifice.” Or at least we might consider this to be his statement of what he wants from us, his people. Because we, like the Pharisees, might be tempted to make all sorts of sacrifices. And that’s…
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Friday of the Fourteenth Week of Ordinary Time
Today’s readings Our God never promises that the life of faith and discipleship will be an easy one; only that it will be blessed. One thing is certain: that life will certainly entail hardship, even suffering. That’s pretty evident in today’s Gospel reading. Faithful disciples have to worry about being betrayed by even their closest…
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Monday of the Fourteenth Week of Ordinary Time
Today’s readings In today’s readings, God proves himself trustworthy, yet again. He appears to Jacob in a dream and promises that he will be with him wherever he goes, protecting him, and bringing him back to the land, which he would also give to Jacob’s descendants. In his joy, Jacob reacts by consecrating the land…
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The Fourteenth Sunday of Ordinary Time
Today’s readings You know, I am not sure how some people get through the hard times of their lives if they don’t have faith. We can all probably think of a time in our lives when we were sorely tested, when our lives were turned upside-down, and, looking back, we can’t figure out how we…
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Saint Thomas, Apostle
“Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands and put my finger into the nailmarks and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.” Saint Thomas sometimes gets a bad rap for having said that, but if we’re honest, I think most of us can understand Thomas’s hesitation to believe,…
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Saints Peter & Paul, Apostles
In today’s Gospel, Peter and the others are asked, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” Now, both Peter and Paul were committed to the truth about who Christ was. They had too much at stake to let that go. Having both messed up their estimation of who Jesus was earlier in…
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The Twelfth Sunday of Ordinary Time: Journeying from Fear to Faith
Today’s readings Getting ready for Mass today, I thought about my Dad. Not just because it’s Father’s Day, although that’s certainly part of it. But partly because of today’s Gospel. The story we have here today speaks about a journey, and I’ll say more about that in a minute. My Dad was great for journeys:…
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Friday of the Eleventh Week of Ordinary Time
Today’s readings It amazes me when I think about all that the early Church had to go through and put up with. Saint Paul writes that he put up with persecution from all sides: from his own people as well as the Gentiles. He was beaten often, endured hazardous journeys and perilous weather, as well…
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Monday of the Eleventh Week of Ordinary Time
Today’s readings Today’s Gospel reading is from the very challenging portion of Matthew’s Gospel in which we hear Jesus use the formula: “You have heard it said … but I say to you…” Basically, in all of these instructions, Jesus is taking the old Jewish law and cranking it up a notch. He teaches that…
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