SEVENTH SUNDAY OF EASTER (Year A)
John 17:1 – 11a 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. This Sunday, we hear a continuation from last week of Jesus’ address to the apostles as presented in John’s Gospel. As you will see in your footnotes, most scholars consider the section of 13:31 – 17:26 to be Johannine compositions, modeled on farewell discoursed [...]
THE MONTH OF MARY
As Jesus hung on the cross, he said to his mother, “Woman, behold your son,” and to his beloved disciple, John, “Behold, your mother.” From early in the Church, Mary has been seen as the Mother of the Church. As any mother who loves her children, Mary cares for us and will intercede for us whenever we turn to her in need. Throughout the Church’s history, we have often turned to Mary in our particular time of need. In 593AD, tradition tells of Pope St. Gregory the Great carrying [...]
SIXTH SUNDAY OF EASTER (Year A)
John 14:15 - 21 Welcome to my annotated commentary of 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 provide us. This Sunday, we hear a continuation from last week of Jesus’ address to the apostles at the Last Supper as presented in John’s Gospel. As you will remember from last week, most scholars consider the section of 13:31 – 17:26 to be Johannine compositions, modeled [...]
HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY
Happy Mother’s Day to all mothers of the parish and the mothers of all our parishioners! We all know how important our mothers have been to us as we grew up and so we join with our nation in honoring them today. And, as we are still in a stay-at-home state due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, we become even more aware of the essential role they play in our homes in ways that we may have taken for granted in the past. So often I hear Mother’s Day derided [...]
FIFTH SUNDAY OF EASTER (Year A)
John 14:1 - 12 Welcome to my annotated commentary of 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 provide us. Happy Mother’s Day to all of you mothers! This will be a most unusual Mother’s Day but please know that you will all be in my special prayers! This Sunday, we hear a portion of Jesus’ address to the apostles during the Last [...]
FEAST OF ST. CATHERINE OF SIENA
We celebrated the feast of our patron, St. Catherine of Siena, this past Wednesday and, as I reflected on her life, I also turned to our stained glass window in church for inspiration. Like so many of our stained glass windows, this one is filled with symbolism that teaches us about our patron saint. So, I would like to tell you about this window. First, however, allow me to offer you a brief biography of our patron saint; you may be surprised how much our time has in common with [...]