THIRTY-THIRD SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME (Year A)

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 us for the principal message for the week which is found in the gospel.  This week, however, I would like to start with the second reading because it is through the lens of this reading that the other two readings make most sense.  As we approach […]

2023-11-20T10:55:58-05:00November 17th, 2023|

THIRTY-SECOND SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME (Year A)

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 to his heavenly banquet.  It has been awhile since we heard from Wisdom, so let’s review.  This book is not part of the Hebrew Masoretic collection but is included in the Septuagint manuscript; there, it is known as the Wisdom of Solomon and is included in […]

2023-11-20T10:57:37-05:00November 10th, 2023|

THIRTY-FIRST SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME (Year A)

Malachi 1:14b – 2:2b, 8 – 10

This Sunday, we will hear from the Book of the prophet Malachi.  The last time we heard from Malachi was on the 33rd Sunday of Ordinary time last year (in fact, it’s only these two Sundays that we hear from this prophet), so let’s look at its origin.  The work itself has no dates to give an indication of when it was written or what period of time is being addressed.  Since it addresses abuses that Ezra (priest from Babylon who returned to Jerusalem […]

2023-11-20T11:00:27-05:00November 3rd, 2023|

Solemnity of All Saints and Feast of All Souls

This Wednesday, 1 November, we will join with the universal Church in celebrating the Solemnity of All Saints.  We will celebrate a Vigil Mass on Tuesday at 6:00pm and will celebrate Mass at 6:30 and 8:00am and at 12:10 and 7:00pm on Wednesday.  I encourage you to join in celebrating with all the saints who intercede for us in heaven.  As we read so simply but powerfully written in the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops’ document prepared for our reflection during this three-year Eucharistic Revival entitled The Mystery of […]

2023-10-27T13:24:33-04:00October 28th, 2023|

STEWARDSHIP WEEKEND

“Repay to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God what belongs to God” (Mt. 22: 21).  As we hear in today’s reading from St. Matthew’s Gospel, when some of the religious leaders try to trap Jesus with a question about whether or not to pay the Roman taxes, Jesus reminds his listeners that everything belongs to God.  After all, he is the creator of the universe and gives us all that we have.  And so, on this Stewardship Weekend, I invite you to reflect on how we can all […]

2023-10-20T10:11:39-04:00October 21st, 2023|

UPDATE ON THE SYNOD OF BISHOPS

You may recall that Pope Francis called a Synod of Bishops, entitled For a Synodal Church: Communion, Participation and Mission; it opened in the Vatican on 9 October 2021 and will conclude in October 2024.  Its aim is to discern how the Holy Spirit is moving through and with the Church.  Listening sessions were held throughout the dioceses around the world – including ours – in the spring of 2022.  The question asked at those listening sessions was: “How does this ‘journeying together,’ which takes place today at different levels […]

2023-10-06T12:49:55-04:00October 7th, 2023|

ANNUAL EUCHARISTIC DEVOTION

One of the pleasures of friends is the time we get to spend on vacation or at dinner with them.  After a relaxing dinner, it’s wonderful to linger over a cup of coffee or a last glass of wine with your close friends, recalling happy memories or planning for future events together.  We all treasure those times.

As you know, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) initiated a three-year Eucharistic Revival last year to provide us all with a renewed encounter with Jesus Christ in the Eucharist.  During this, […]

2023-09-29T10:21:38-04:00September 30th, 2023|

TWENTY-FIFTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME (Year A)

Isaiah 55:6 – 9

This Sunday, we will hear from the Book of the Prophet Isaiah.  Seeing that it is taken from chapter 55, we know that it is part of Deutero-Isaiah, dealing with Israel during its Babylonian exile.  It is at the very end of the Babylonian captivity and we should read the opening verses of the chapter since they speak in anticipation of how the Persians would allow the exiles to return.  The Book of Ezra opens with the decree of Cyrus that called the exiles to return to […]

2023-09-25T19:50:24-04:00September 25th, 2023|

TWENTY-FOURTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

Sirach 27:30 – 28:9

This Sunday, we will hear from the Book of Sirach, one of the very last books of the Old Testament.  It was written between 200 and 175BC by a man who identifies himself as Jesus, son of Eleazar, son of Sira (cf. 50:27).  Some of your Bibles identify the book as The Wisdom of Ben Sira.  This is actually the earliest title of the book; the “ch” was added when the book was translated into Greek.  It is an excellent example of Wisdom literature, filled with moral […]

2023-09-19T13:02:21-04:00September 19th, 2023|

CATECHETICAL SUNDAY

Brothers and sisters:

None of us lives for oneself and no one dies for oneself.  For if we live, we live for the Lord, and if we die, we die for the Lord; so then whether we live or die, we are the Lord’s.  For this is why Christ died and came to life, that he might be Lord of both the dead and the living.  (Romans 14:7-9)

This weekend, we join with the Church throughout our nation and around the world in celebrating Catechetical Sunday.  Those whom the community has designated […]

2023-09-15T12:01:03-04:00September 16th, 2023|
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