27th Sunday Ordinary Time There is no getting around it. Today’s Gospel will hurt. Let us acknowledge that pain and admit there are no simple answers when families struggle with divorce. The lectionary allows a shorter version of today’s Gospel … Read More
Twenty-Seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time – 03 October 2021 Genesis 2:18-24. Psalm 128:1-2, 3, 4-5, 6. Hebrews 2:9-11. Mark 10:2-16. Making, Testing, and Deciding. There are at least three take-aways from the readings today. In the making of man and … Read More
26th Sunday Ordinary Time Today, Jesus’s disciples complain about an outsider driving out demons, something they had failed at earlier in the chapter. But their complaint is not that this person was healing or does so in Jesus’s name. They … Read More
Twenty-Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time – 26 September 2021 Numbers 11:25-29. Psalm 19:8, 10, 12-13, 14. James 5:1-6. Mark 9:38-43, 45, 47-48. The More the Merrier. Who cares if other Christians are also doing the good things that Catholics do? … Read More
25th Sunday Ordinary Time To get the full irony of the disciples’ argument today—who among them was the greatest—we need to know what happened in the section before and what we’ll hear in the following section of Mark’s ninth chapter. … Read More
Twenty-Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time – 19 September 2021 Wisdom 2:12, 17-20. Psalm 54:3-4, 5, 6-8. James 3:16–4:31. Mark 9:30-37. “I’m Better Than You.” Our lives are filled with all manner of put down, one upmanship, top dog behavior. When … Read More
The Exaltation of the Holy Cross, Feast – Tuesday, 14 September 2021 Numbers 21:4b-9. Psalm 78:1-2, 34-35, 36-37, 38. Philippians 2:6-11. John 3:13-17. The Cross of Christ. We say: “We adore you, O Christ, and we bless you, because by … Read More
24th Sunday Ordinary Time Today’s Gospel reading is the turning point in Mark’s narrative, where we hear for the first time since Mark 1:1 Jesus referred to as “Christ” and the cost of following him. From now on, Jesus’s road … Read More
Twenty-Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time – 12 September 2021 Isaiah 50:4c-9a. Psalm 116:1-2, 3-4, 5-6, 8-9. James 2:14-18. Mark 8:27-35. Deny. Take. Follow. On the long journey to Jerusalem, Jesus clarifies that following the Christ (Peter’s response to Who am … Read More
23rd Sunday Ordinary Time “Be opened,” Jesus says to the man who was deaf and mute. But be opened to what? First, be opened to fullness of life. The man’s inability to hear or speak cut him off from the … Read More