Monday of the Twenty-eighth Week in Ordinary Time [I]
Romans 1:1-7  +  Luke 11:29-32

Through Him we have received the grace of apostleship….

Romans is the longest of St. Paul’s letters:  that’s one reason why you find it first among all the apostolic letters, immediately following Acts of the Apostles.  But Romans is also the most profound of St. Paul’s letters.  St. Paul explores for the Romans every important theme of the Gospel.  This week—perhaps in an hour of Adoration, or in your prayer corner at home—take your study bible and read the introduction to this great letter of St. Paul. Continue reading →

The Twenty-eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time [A]
Isa 25:6-10  +  Phil 4:12-14,19-20  +  Mt 22:1-14
October 15, 2017

“My friend, how is it that you came in here without a wedding garment?”

My oldest sister has two daughters.  These two nieces have always been very different, and their wedding receptions were also.  The older niece’s reception was held in a large hotel ballroom, and was very formal in its decorations and dinner.  The younger niece held her wedding reception on a farm, under a huge open-air gazebo.  The decorations were informal, and the meal was BBQ.

In today’s Gospel passage we hear of a wedding feast hosted by a king.  As we’d expect, the feast reflects his personality.  We’re given hints of how lavish it was.  Yet this earthly king symbolizes God the Father.  Just as the king’s feast is a feast fit for a king, so the feast that it symbolizes is a feast befitting God:  an infinite feast.  In other words, the feast in the parable symbolizes Heaven itself.  Jesus preaches this parable to help those listening imagine what Heaven is like.

In describing “the kingdom of Heaven”, the parable first explains Heaven’s seating capacity, if you’ll pardon the expression.  God wants everybody there.  Not everybody may end up there, but if not, that’s contrary to what God wants. Continue reading →

Saturday of the 27th Week in Ordinary Time [I]
Joel 4:12-21  +  Luke 11:27-28

The heavens and the earth quake, but the Lord is a refuge to His people….

Today’s First Reading from the Book of Joel is taken from its final chapter.  The second half of Joel concerns the judgment of the Lord at some unspecified future time.  This “day of the Lord” is described in apocalyptic terms that are much more sweeping than the prophecies Joel makes in the first half of the book. Continue reading →

Friday of the 27th Week in Ordinary Time [I]
Joel 1:13-15;2:1-2  +  Luke 11:15-26

Gird yourselves and weep, O priests!

For just two weekdays our First Reading at Holy Mass comes from the Old Testament Book of Joel.  Joel is one of the twelve minor prophets.  These twelve can be divided into three historical groups:  those serving before the fall of the Kingdom of Israel, those serving between the fall of Israel and the Babylonian exile, and finally those serving after the return from the Babylonian exile.  Joel falls into the last of these three groups. Continue reading →

Thursday of the 27th Week in Ordinary Time [I]
Malachi 3:13-20  +  Luke 11:5-13

“…how much more will the Father in Heaven give the Holy Spirit…?”

As Saint Luke the Evangelist continues to set before us Jesus’ teachings about prayer, we hear a lot about the prayer of petition.  Petition is one of the four chief types of prayer that human beings voice to God.  The four types are easily remembered by the acronym “P-A-C-T”:  this word reminds each of us of the pact, or covenant, that each of us entered at the moment of baptism. Continue reading →

Wednesday of the 27th Week in Ordinary Time [I]
Jonah 4:1-11  +  Luke 11:1-4

“Father, hallowed by your Name, your Kingdom come.”

Every Christian knows by heart the ‘Our Father’:  the only prayer that Jesus taught to His followers.  But the ‘Our Father’ that we know in our hearts—which we pray at every Mass before receiving Holy Communion, and which we pray several times throughout the course of a rosary—is not exactly the ‘Our Father’ that we hear Jesus teach in today’s Gospel passage. Continue reading →

Tuesday of the Twenty-seventh Week in Ordinary Time [I]
Jonah 3:1-10  +  Luke 10:38-42

“There is need of only one thing.”

Today’s Gospel passage is one of the more famous stories about Jesus’ life.  It’s such a very simple story, but it’s one of the most important lessons in the whole Bible about being a Christian:  about following Jesus. Continue reading →

Monday of the Twenty-seventh Week in Ordinary Time [I]
Jonah 1:1—2:2,11  +  Luke 10:25-37

“The one who treated him with mercy.”

The Parable of the Good Samaritan ought profoundly to shape our spiritual and moral lives.  That order of things is important, however:  spiritual and then moral. Continue reading →

The Twenty-seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time [A]
Isa 5:1-7  +  Phil 4:6-9  +  Mt 21:33-43
October 8, 2017

The vineyard of the Lord is the house of Israel.

We hear a strange lack of logic within Jesus’ parable.  The landowner symbolizes God the Father.  In the words of our Psalm refrain, the vineyard is the house of Israel.  The tenants—whom we might just as easily call the “stewards” of the vineyard—are those whom God had entrusted with the care of the vineyard.  They symbolize the “officialdom” of Israel in Jesus’ day, a group that included the chief priests and the elders, to whom Jesus addressed this parable.

The tenants’ actions demonstrate the delusion in their minds.  They believe they are the masters, rather than stewards.  This illogical belief justifies (in their own hearts, at least) their illogical actions and words.  When the true master demands his rightful harvest, the tenants beat, kill and stone his messengers.  They’re defending their right to be deluded.  When the vineyard owner sends his own beloved son, he logically thinks, “They will respect my son.”  Unfortunately, he fails to realize that you cannot reason with those who have turned reason on its head.  He fails to realize that you cannot reason with servants who reign within their minds as masters.  Unfortunately, the price of his failure is his beloved son.

This son, of course, represents God the Son.  Jesus is proclaiming His own future murder at the hands of those whom His Father had entrusted with the care of the house of Israel.  But the Gospel includes this parable, and the Church proclaims this parable to you, so that you can reflect on whether and how you might be modern-day tenants.  The modern vineyard is the Church, or if you prefer, your own life within the Church. Continue reading →