St. Anthony of Padua, Priest & Doctor of the Church
2 Corinthians 3:15—4:1,3-6  +  Matthew 5:20-26
June 13, 2019

   “But I say to you, whoever is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment….”  

In yesterday’s Gospel passage, Our Lord stated that He had come not to abolish the Law, but to fulfill it.  Beginning today, in the Gospel at weekday Mass we hear examples of Jesus fulfilling the Law. Continue reading →

Wednesday of the 10th Week in Ordinary Time [I]
2 Corinthians 3:4-11  +  Matthew 5:17-19 
June 12, 2019

   “I have come not to abolish but to fulfill.”   

This week we’ve begun to hear Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount, from the fifth chapter of St. Matthew’s Gospel account.  Jesus today sets the framework for the teachings He’s about to offer the disciples.  We could sum up this framework with these words:  “I have come not to abolish [the Law] but to fulfill.”  Continue reading →

St. Barnabas, Apostle
Acts 11:21-26;13:1-3  +  Matthew 5:13-16
June 11, 2019

   “But if salt loses its taste, with what can it be seasoned?”   

At weekday Mass we hear this week from the Sermon on the Mount, which is found in the fifth through seventh chapters of the Gospel account of Saint Matthew (5:3—7:27).  In today’s passage from the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus calls His disciples “the salt of the earth” and “the light of the world”.  Either of these could serve you as the basis for a long period of meditation.  But consider just one aspect of what Jesus sets before you today. Continue reading →

The Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of the Church
Genesis 3:9-15,20  +  John 19:25-34
June 10, 2019

   And from that hour the disciple took her into his home.   

On the feast of Our Lady of Lourdes last year, Robert Cardinal Sarah—the prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments—announced the institution of a new obligatory memorial for the Ordinary Form of the Roman Rite of the Catholic Church.  This memorial is to be celebrated every year on Pentecost Monday, which is to say, the day following Pentecost Sunday, which is to say, the second day of the Octave of Pentecost. Continue reading →

Pentecost
Acts 2:1-11  +  1 Cor 12:3-7,12-13  +  Jn 20:19-23
June 9, 2019

   When the time for Pentecost was fulfilled, they were all in one place together.   

Almost 2000 years ago on this day, the Church was born.  The Church would be nothing without the Holy Spirit.  The Church couldn’t have been born without the Holy Spirit, and she could not live today without the Holy Spirit.  Where the Church is strong, it’s because of the Holy Spirit.  Where the Church is weak, it’s because the Holy Spirit is not given His due. Continue reading →

Saturday of the Final Week of Easter
Acts 28:16-20,30-31  +  John 21:20-25
June 8, 2019

   I do not think the whole world would contain the books that would be written.   

This morning’s Gospel passage consists of the final six verses of the Gospel according to John.  The Easter Season draws to a close, then, with an almost parenthetical reminder that the Gospel accounts of Jesus’ earthly life are by no means exhaustive.  Nor are they meant to be. Continue reading →

Friday of the Final Week of Easter
Acts 25:13-21  +  John 21:15-19
June 7, 2019

   Peter was distressed that He had said to him a third time, “Do you love me?”   

On these last two weekdays of Easter, our Gospel passage comes from the epilogue of John’s Gospel account.  In these final days, we hear John’s account of Jesus’ “final word”, which echoes what John records time and time again throughout his Scriptural writings (the Book of Revelation, his three epistles, and his Gospel account). Continue reading →

Thursday of the Final Week of Easter
Acts 22:30;23:6-11  +  John 17:20-26
June 6, 2019

   “…so that they may all be one, as you, Father, are in Me and I in You.”   

There are many types of unity.  For example, if two persons agree about a political issue, and join a common party, these two persons have political unity.  If two persons agree about a moral teaching, or agree to act in common on behalf of a moral goal, these two persons have moral unity.  If two students study for doctorates in physics, specializing in the same topic, and become the two foremost experts in the world about that topic, these two persons bear a certain intellectual unity. Continue reading →

Wednesday of the Final Week of Easter
Acts 20:28-38  +  John 17:11-19
June 5, 2019

   “…that they may be one just as We are one.”   

Of the four Gospel accounts, John’s is the loftiest and thus is symbolized by an eagle.  In the vocabulary of theology, John has the highest Christology.  One can make the case that the Last Supper discourses—found in John 13-17—make up the loftiest part of John (with the possible exception of the prologue in John 1:1-18).  Within the Last Supper discourses, the seventeenth chapter of John is commonly titled the “High Priestly Prayer” of Jesus, and is the loftiest part of these discourses.  All of this is stated to point out that in this last week of Easter, we are certainly breathing rarified air. Continue reading →