Wednesday of the Twenty-ninth Week in Ordinary Time [I]
Romans 6:12-18  +  Luke 12:39-48

“Much will be required of the person entrusted with much, and still more will be demanded of the person entrusted with more.”

St. Luke the Evangelist presents many “stewardship parables”.  Today’s Gospel passage offers two, one much longer than the other.  The upshot of both is an explicit moral that lets no Christian off easily:  “Much will be required of the person entrusted with much, and still more will be demanded of the person entrusted with more.”  How do these words apply to an ordinary Christian?

No Christian is ordinary.  At the moment of a person’s baptism, God infuses grace into that adopted child’s soul.  The graces given include the divine virtues of faith, hope and charity.  God entrusts this grace to His adopted child.  Consider this fact in light of Jesus’ words at the end of today’s Gospel passage.  God entrusts His own divine life to His adopted children.  And of course, the graces received at Baptism are but the “first installment” of our inheritance.  As we continue to grow as His children, God continues to bestow grace upon us through the sacraments and prayer.

“Much will be required of the person entrusted with much”.  What will be required of us, then, as sharers in the divine life?  Are you a “faithful and prudent steward”?  Both of these virtues—fidelity and prudence—are required to be stewards of the graces that God gives us.  Both help keep our attention on our Master:  the beginning and end of all the graces of our lives.

Tuesday of the Twenty-ninth Week in Ordinary Time [I]
Romans 5:12,15,17-19,20-21  +  Luke 12:35-38

“Blessed are those servants whom the master finds vigilant on his arrival.”

In the Lord’s parable today He proclaims that “blessed are those servants”.  He’s wanting us to identify ourselves with them, and imitate them so that we might share in their blessedness.  How can we connect our lives to the lives of those servants? Continue reading →

Monday of the Twenty-ninth Week in Ordinary Time [I]
Romans 4:20-25  +  Luke 12:13-21

“…one’s life does not consist of possessions.”

In our little corner of the world, celebrations of harvests take place roughly this time of year.  Even if most in industrialized nations don’t live directly off the land, our celebrations of thanksgiving help us relate to today’s Gospel passage:  both Jesus’ interaction with the jealous brother, and His parable to the crowd. Continue reading →

The Twenty-ninth Sunday in Ordinary Time [A]
Isa 45:1,4-6  +  1 Thes 1:1-5  +  Mt 22:15-21
October 22, 2017

He said to them, “Whose image is this and whose inscription?”

The last sentence of today’s Gospel passage is well-known.  “Repay to Caesar what belongs to Caesar, and to God what belongs to God.”  Jesus’ reply to the malicious, hypocritical disciples of the Pharisees is effective in shooing them away, as the verse following today’s passage reveals.  But Jesus’ rhetorical skills aren’t the point of this passage.  His reply leaves an implied question unanswered:  “What exactly belongs to Caesar, and what belongs to God?”

Some might reply, “Everything belongs to God!”  But the context of today’s Gospel passage suggests otherwise, with Jesus implying that the coin does indeed belong to Caesar.  This doesn’t contradict the plain truth that every good thing ultimately comes from God.  But the fact that something comes from God doesn’t mean that it belongs to God.  God has reasons for entrusting things over to our belonging.

But is the coin one of these good things?  If the coin belongs to Caesar, perhaps Jesus is admitting this because it’s bad?  In the last sentence of the passage, is Jesus simply making a distinction between bad and good, between the things of earth and the things of Heaven?  If so, then why didn’t He encourage His disciples to flee from society and everything associated with it, including “filthy lucre”, as some call it? Continue reading →

Saturday of the Twenty-eighth Week in Ordinary Time [I]
Romans 4:13,16-18  +  Luke 12:8-12

“For the Holy Spirit will teach you at that moment what you should say.”

Twice in today’s Gospel passage, God the Holy Spirit is referred to.  The first mention is somewhat ambiguous in meaning:  in its plainest sense, “blaspheming against the Holy Spirit” would refer to denying that the Holy Spirit is truly and fully God.  The Church has had to combat such denial throughout her history. Continue reading →

Friday of the Twenty-eighth Week in Ordinary Time [I]
Romans 4:1-8  +  Luke 12:1-7

“Be afraid of the one who after killing has the power to cast into Gehenna….”

In the secular culture that surrounds modern Western man, the only image of Jesus that is acceptable is that of a spiritual teddy bear.  The idea that Jesus makes demands or sets boundaries is incompatible with modern secularism. Continue reading →

Sts. John de Brébeuf & Isaac Jogues, Priests, et soc., Martyrs
Romans 3:21-30  +  Luke 11:47-54
October 19, 2017

“Yes, I tell you, this generation will be charged with their blood!”

On the occasions when Jesus refers to persons from the Old Testament, it’s usually Moses or Abraham of whom He speaks.  Today’s Gospel passage, though, is the only time that Jesus refers to Abel (along with the parallel passage in Matthew 23:34). Continue reading →

St. Luke the Evangelist
2 Timothy 4:10-17  +  Luke 10:1-9
October 18, 2017

“Go on your way; behold, I am sending you like lambs among wolves.”

On this feast day of Saint Luke the Evangelist, we can imagine that the First Reading was chosen for its brief mention of the saint.  The Gospel passage is taken from Luke’s account of the Gospel, but he is not mentioned there, as he never met Jesus during His earthly life.  Nonetheless, today’s Gospel passage is about being appointed and sent by Jesus.  As such, each of us can directly relate it to his life as a disciple. Continue reading →

St. Ignatius of Antioch, Bishop and Martyr
Romans 1:16-25  +  Luke 11:37-41
October 17, 2017

The wrath of God is indeed being revealed from Heaven against every impiety and wickedness….

Saint Paul wastes no time.  After a brief introduction to his longest and most important epistle, he dives into his first point of contention.  It becomes obvious quickly that Paul does not fear debate. Continue reading →