Welcome to my annotated commentary on Sunday’s readings.  The purpose of my commentary is to give you the background for each reading, a little better understanding of its message and the message that all of the Sunday readings together provide us.  I hope you find it helpful!

2 Samuel 7:1-5, 8b-12, 14a, 16

This Sunday, we will hear from the Second Book of Samuel. You will recall that this is one of the Historical Books of the Bible.  Along with 1 Samuel and 1 and 2 Kings, it records the activities of […]

Welcome to my annotated commentary on Sunday’s readings.  The purpose of my commentary is to give you the background for each reading, a little better understanding of its message and the message that all of the Sunday readings together provide us.  I hope you find it helpful!

Isaiah 61:1 – 2a, 10 – 11

The Third Sunday of Advent is also called Gaudete Sunday because, in both the first and second readings, we are called to rejoice; the Lord is near!  As we quickly approach Christmas, we wait in eager anticipation of […]

Isaiah 40:1 – 5, 9 – 11

This Sunday, we will again hear from the Book of the Prophet Isaiah.  According to Leslie F. Hoppe, OFM, a contemporary scripture scholar, this book is, by any measure, among the greatest works of religious literature because it probes the mystery of a people’s life with God.  All of the Bible does that for us if only we allow it to read us, but the Prophet Isaiah does it so well.  The section we will hear is from the 40^th chapter, so we know […]

Welcome to my annotated commentary on Sunday’s readings.  The purpose of my commentary is to give you the background for each reading, a little better understanding of its message and the message that all of the Sunday readings together provide us.  I hope you find it helpful!

Ezekiel 34:11 – 12, 15 – 17

This Sunday, as we celebrate the 34^th and last Sunday in Ordinary Time with the celebration of the great feast that has the impressive name of Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe, we will first hear […]

Welcome to my annotated commentary on Sunday’s readings.  The purpose of my commentary is to give you the background for each reading, a little better understanding of its message and the message that all of the Sunday readings together provide us.  I hope you find it helpful!

As you may have noticed, I usually begin our Bible Study/Faith Sharing with the first reading and then review the Gospel; if there is time, I then reflect on the second reading.  I do this because the first reading is usually selected to prepare […]

Welcome to my annotated commentary on Sunday’s readings.  The purpose of my commentary is to give you the background for each reading, a little better understanding of its message and the message that all of the Sunday readings together provide us.  I hope you find it helpful!

Wisdom 6:12 – 16

This Sunday, we will hear from the Book of Wisdom. Again, the passage was clearly chosen to prepare us for the Gospel.  We need to seek wisdom in our lives in order to prepare for the time when God calls us […]

Revelation 7:2 – 4, 9 -14

This Sunday, we interrupt our ordinary celebration of Sundays of the Year because an important Solemnity happens to land on Sunday:  All Saints.  This feast gives us the opportunity to reflect on a very important aspect of our faith: our belief in God’s promise for everlasting life with him in heaven.  Before we review the readings that are recommended for this Sunday, let’s review the development of belief in everlasting life in the history of our faith.  As I have mentioned in the past, it […]

Welcome to my annotated commentary on Sunday’s readings.  The purpose of my commentary is to give you the background for each reading, a little better understanding of its message and the message that all of the Sunday readings together provide us.  I hope you find it helpful!

Exodus 22:20 – 26

This Sunday, we will hear from the Book of Exodus. Although it is just a small part of a long expansion of the Decalogue (cf. 20:1-17 and 21:1 – 23:33 and finally the mention of Moses writing down these laws in […]

OPENING PRAYER: Isaiah 24

Isaiah 45:1, 4 – 6

This Sunday, we will again hear from the Book of the Prophet Isaiah.  Since it is from chapter 45, we know that it is from Deutero-Isaiah. We recall that Deutero-Isaiah prophesied 587 – 539BC, during the Babylonian exile.   During this time, the political scene in the Ancient Near East changed dramatically as a result of the rise of Cyrus II (the Great).  Until he came into power in 559BC, the great powers controlling the Ancient Near East were usually Semites, originally of the […]