Calendar: This Sunday marks the beginning of a new Church year. Each of us mark anniversaries and birthdays. We celebrate milestones. We define ourselves by those dates and spans. In the same way, in the course of the liturgical year, we receive repeated exposure to the major events of salvation history. The calendar year continuously […]
The King: This Sunday is the last Sunday of Ordinary Time (can’t believe Advent—and a new Church year–starts next weekend already!). The readings this weekend reflect the end of time when Christ our Savior will judge us. Whatever we’ve done for and to another we did it to and for Him. Saint Mother Teresa would […]
First Ever: This Sunday is the First ‘World Day for the Poor’ asked for by Pope Francis. In his letter announcing this he wrote some challenging words for all of us: “’Little children, let us not love in word or speech, but in deed and in truth.’ These words of the Apostle John voice an […]
The Ultimate Wedding: When we began our four-part series on the Sunday experience, it was mentioned that attending Sunday Mass is like attending a wedding Mass/banquet with Jesus as the ultimate Bridegroom. The Scriptures tell us that God the Father invites us to His Son’s wedding, but many refuse to come because of other commitments. […]
Grounded: On this 31st Sunday of Ordinary Time Jesus exclaims that “whoever exalts himself will be humbled; but whoever humbles himself will be exalted.” The word ‘humility’ is derived from the Latin word ‘humus,’ which means ‘grounded’ or ‘from the earth.’ Pope Francis remarked that, “Christian humility is not within the virtue of saying: ‘I […]
Pop Quiz: Today Jesus is tested by a scholar who asks him, “Teacher, which commandment is the greatest?” Jesus responds “you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and the first commandment. The second is like it: You shall […]
Caesar and God: In today’s Gospel Jesus is showed a coin and asks whose image is on it. They reply “Caesar’s.” He replied, “Then repay to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God what belongs to God.” Whose image are we? We are made in the image of God, so we give everything to […]
Invited: In today’s Gospel we hear how the King (God the Father) has a wedding banquet for his Son (Jesus). However, some people refused to come. Others ignored the invitation. Others are too busy or have other things to do that seem more important so they don’t attend the wedding banquet either. At every Sunday […]
Wicked: In this Sunday’s Gospel we hear another fascinating parable where Jesus tells us what the kingdom of God will be like. The owner of the vineyard sends his servants to the tenants. But the tenants kill the servants. Then he sends his son. But the tenants kill him too. This parable is often called […]
Yes and No: The Gospel for this weekend presents us with the father who had two sons. When the father asks his first son to work in the vineyard he says “no,” but later changes his mind and goes. The second son says “yes” but decides not to go. Pope Francis remarked that all of […]