ASSUMPTION OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY
Today, we will join with the universal Church in celebrating the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of Jesus, into heaven. It is not often that we actually celebrate it on a Sunday. It is the principal feast day of the Blessed Mother, so I would like to offer you some reflections on it.
The commemoration of the death of Mary is known as the Assumption because of the tradition that, shortly after her death, Mary was raised up, body and soul, into heaven. In the Eastern Church, it is […]
JESUS, THE BREAD OF LIFE
If you have been paying attention to the Sunday Gospels over the past two weeks, you might have noticed that they were taken from the Gospel of John. If you noticed that, you might have thought it odd since this year, when we are in Year B of the three year Liturgical cycle, the Sunday Gospel is ordinarily taken from the Gospel of Mark. Since Mark’s Gospel is rather short, however, we have more Sundays than we have Marcan pericopes so periodically throughout the year, readings are taken from other […]
EIGHTEENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME
“Do not work for food that perishes but for the food that endures for eternal life.” In last Sunday’s Gospel, we heard about Jesus feed a crowd of more than five thousand, and how the people, in their amazement, exclaimed, “This is truly the Prophet, the one who is to come into the world.” The prophet they were speaking about may have been Elisha who, as we heard in last week’s first reading, fed a crowd of 100 people with just 20 barley loaves and some fresh grain in the […]
APOSTOLIC VICARIATE OF NEKEMTE
“I am the Bread of Life; whoever comes to me will never hunger, and whoever believes in me will never thirst” (Jn 6:35) we hear Lord teach us in today’s gospel. As more and more of you return to celebrating the Eucharist in person and receiving our Lord in Holy Communion, we know how precious this gift of the Bread of Life is for us. And, we recall that, just as Jesus was sent by his heavenly Father to give us both his life-giving Word and his nourishing Body and […]
SEVENTEENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME
“There was a famine in the land.” That’s how the section just before the passage we hear in today’s first reading begins and it’s important for us to know this as we listen to today’s first reading. At a time when travel was difficult and transcontinental transport was extremely expensive – you couldn’t go to your local ACME to pick up lamb chops from New Zealand or blueberries from Chile, or anything else you wanted for your next meal – everyone was dependent on the local rains to survive. So, […]