Thursday of the Twenty-second Week in Ordinary Time [I]
Colossians 1:9-14  +  Luke 5:1-11

“But if you say so, I will….”

In spite of Peter’s knowledge and experience in fishing, and in spite of his having been up all night long, Peter and his fishing partners had caught absolutely nothing.  Sometimes in what we do, also, we try our best, even at things we’ve done before and know a lot about, but things don’t work out for us.  That’s a natural part of life in this fallen world. Continue reading →

Wednesday of the Twenty-second Week in Ordinary Time [I]
Colossians 1:1-8  +  Luke 4:38-44

…we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus….

Today the Church at weekday Mass begins to proclaim Saint Paul’s Letter to the Colossians.  We will hear from this letter over the next eight days, and will hear from the first three of its four chapters.

Most of St. Paul’s letters have introductions similar to one another, following a format that was common in Paul’s day for letter-writing.  But with greater scrutiny we notice unique touches with which Paul foreshadows the kernel of each letter.  One of these touches that he paints in today’s reading evokes the three divine virtues. Continue reading →

Tuesday of the Twenty-second Week in Ordinary Time [I]
1 Thessalonians 5:1-6,9-11  +  Luke 4:31-37

…they were astonished at His teaching because He spoke with authority.

Astonishment is evoked by the fact that Jesus teaches with authority.  Why is there this astonishment, and what does it mean for Jesus to teach with authority?

In the culture that surrounds us, every person believes himself to be his own authority.  In effect, this wide-spread belief means that no real authority exists.  In our society there is a great need for clarity about the meaning and purpose of authority. Continue reading →

Monday of the Twenty-second Week in Ordinary Time [I]
1 Thessalonians 4:13-18  +  Luke 4:16-30

…the dead in Christ will rise first.

Today’s First Reading is often proclaimed at funerals.  It’s full of teaching from St. Paul about death and the afterlife.  Unfortunately, some of these teachings has been distorted, and demand clarity from the wisdom of holy doctors of the Faith, and the Tradition and Magisterium of the Church. Continue reading →

The Twenty-second Sunday in Ordinary Time [A]
Jer 20:7-9  +  Rom 12:1-2  +  Mt 16:21-27
September 3, 2017

You duped me, O Lord, and I let myself be duped; you were too strong for me, and you triumphed.

The human person must stand solidly against death.  This is the truth that Peter denies in the Gospel passage we hear this Sunday.  This is the truth that the prophet Jeremiah wanted to avoid for so long.

Jeremiah had begun his role as a prophet during easy times, during the reign of a king who stood up for goodness, and who inspired others to follow him in the way of goodness.  Only years later, when a corrupt man became the king of Judah, did Jeremiah begin to realize the bigger picture of God calling him to be a prophet.  It was for the sake of a decaying society that God had called him.  He was to speak out against the evil which so many people had made their own.  Yet he was initially unwilling.  Jeremiah could only cry, “You duped me, Lord, and I let myself be duped.”  But we can be sure that God saw things differently.

Jeremiah’s frustration was similar to the frustration of Peter in the Gospel.  We heard last weekend how, after Peter confessed his faith in Jesus as the Messiah, Jesus handed over to him the keys to the kingdom of heaven.  It’s easy to see how confusing Jesus’ next words to Peter must have seemed.  Jesus seemed to have given him the power to make all things right with the world.  But then Jesus tells Peter that he, the Messiah, would have to suffer at the hands of world leaders.  What kind of power was this that Peter had been given?  Not much, apparently.  We can be sure, though, that Jesus saw things a little differently. Continue reading →

Saturday of the Twenty-first Week in Ordinary Time [I]
1 Thessalonians 4:9-11  +  Matthew 25:14-30

“A man going on a journey called in his servants and entrusted his possessions to them.”

It’s helpful to remember that the parables proclaimed at Holy Mass yesterday and today come from Chapter 25 of Matthew.  This is the final chapter before Matthew’s account of the Last Supper and the events that follow.  The section from which these parables come is sometimes called “the Olivet discourse”, in which Jesus’ attention is fixed on the judgment of Jerusalem. Continue reading →

Friday of the Twenty-first Week in Ordinary Time [I]
1 Thessalonians 4:1-8  +  Matthew 25:1-13

“Therefore, stay awake, for you know neither the day nor the hour.”

The parable that Jesus teaches in today’s Gospel passage presents at the outset a question which can prevent us from reaching down into Jesus’ point.  We might well ask, “Why are there ten virgins but only one bridegroom?”  What is the setting or background to this story that Jesus is telling?  Scholars may debate such points, but for ordinary Christians like ourselves, it would be more fruitful to set aside such speculation, and dwell instead on applying the parable to our own spiritual lives today. Continue reading →

Thursday of the Twenty-first Week in Ordinary Time [I]
1 Thessalonians 3:7-13  +  Matthew 24:42-51

“‘Stay awake!’”

I’m sure all of us have had experiences throughout our lives where we struggled to stay awake.  Maybe those experiences were experiences of waiting for someone to return home late at night.  In such a case, you might have experienced any sort of emotion:  perhaps joy, or perhaps fear, or perhaps anger.  Maybe the experience was one of driving late at night, anxious and exhausted, to reach a far-off destination.  Maybe the experience was one of finishing a project, paper, or report for school or the office:  such an experience may have been fraught with fear. Continue reading →

Wednesday of the Twenty-first Week in Ordinary Time [I]
1 Thessalonians 2:9-13  +  Matthew 23:27-32

“‘Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites.’”

The next time sometime suggests to you that Jesus was nothing more than a teddy bear, point out today’s Gospel passage.  One of several things will happen.  That someone may recognize that he’s mistaken.  Or that someone may suggest—as some scholars actually do—that this passage was made up, and that Jesus never said what this passage records Him as saying.  Or that someone might suggest that it’s only against people like the scribes and Pharisees that Jesus ever spoke in such a way. Continue reading →