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The Nineteenth Sunday of Ordinary Time: Bread of Life Discourse III
Today’s readings You may have heard of Viaticum, which we generally think of as one’s last Communion. Indeed, the Church encourages us by precept of the Church to receive Holy Communion in our last moments, if at all possible. The word viaticum is Latin for “bread for the journey.” So in our last moments, when…
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Thursday of the Eighteenth Week of Ordinary Time
Today’s readings In our first reading this morning, we have more of the murmuring of the Israelites as they make their way out of slavery in Egypt to the Promised Land. This time, they hold a council against Moses and Aaron because they don’t have water to drink. Notice clearly, they don’t ask for water,…
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The Eighteenth Sunday of Ordinary Time: Bread of Life Discourse II
Today’s readings There’s a lot of hunger in the readings today. First we have the Israelites, fresh from their escape from slavery in Egypt, finding that they are hungry as they wander through the desert. I think we can understand their hunger. But what is hard to understand is the content of their grumbling about…
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Saints Martha, Mary, and Lazarus
Today’s readings Today’s memorial of Saints Martha, Mary, and Lazarus is a feast of siblings. It’s a wonderful reminder of how family should be: united in faith, and bringing each other to Christ. The story of the raising of Lazarus, of which we have a fragment in today’s Gospel reading, is a story of how…
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Saints Joachim & Anne, Parents of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Grandparents of Our Lord
Today’s readings Today we celebrate the memory of Saints Joachim and Anne, parents of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and thus, grandparents of Our Lord. I always like to say that today is the real grandparents day, not that “Hallmark holiday” that comes up sometime in the fall. Today we pray for grandparents and give thanks…
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The Seventeenth Sunday of Ordinary Time: Bread of Life Discourse I
Today’s readings I’m Italian on my mother’s side of the family, and in our family, as in families of other ethnicities, I am sure, the prospect of not having enough food for people to eat at a gathering is the stuff of nightmares. For many of our family gatherings, we have way more food than…
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Monday of the Fifteenth Week of Ordinary Time
Today’s readings It’s a frightening thing, I think, to hear Jesus say in today’s Gospel reading, “Do not think that I have come to bring peace upon the earth. I have come to bring not peace but the sword.” It’s frightening because of the havoc a statement like that could cause in our spiritual lives.…
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The Fifteenth Sunday of Ordinary Time
Today’s readings Today I want to reflect on what I consider to be one of the most important principles of the spiritual life. That principle is completely summed up in one short sentence: “It’s not about me.” Over the last couple of weeks, we have been able to take a look at the various people…
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Thursday of the Fourteenth Week of Ordinary Time
Today’s readings Today’s readings reveal the power of God’s love in the world. Joseph’s brothers didn’t realize they were, in fact, in the presence of the “dreamer” they had sold into slavery. But his forgiveness of them shows that God’s love and providence overcome even the most grievous of sins. Jesus sends his apostles out…
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Tuesday of the Fourteenth Week of Ordinary Time
Today’s readings The spiritual life, almost by definition, isn’t easy. Today’s readings prove it. In our first reading, Jacob wrestles with “some man,” who turns out to be God himself. They tussle all day long and finally declare a draw, but the battle leaves poor Jacob limping from the fight. In the end though, he…
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