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Reflections
Reflections on the Sunday Scripture Readings
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2009 Liturgical Year
Pentecost (05/31/2009)
Christians the world over celebrate the Incarnation as the moment when God the Son took physical form as the man Jesus Christ. In an analogous way, we celebrate today’s feast, Pentecost, as the moment when God the Holy Spirit took physical form as the Church. We read in today’s first reading – from the “Gospel of the Holy Spirit,” the Acts of the Apostles – that...
7th Sunday of Easter (05/24/2009)
“I sent them into the world” Christ proclaims in today’s Gospel reading (John 17:18). We can see two important points in this statement: first, that Christ sends his apostles (the word “apostle” means “one who is sent”) – they are not preaching of their own accord but by the command of Jesus. Second, Christ sends them “into the world” which means that they are not already part of it. Each of these points is vital for understanding what it means to be an apostle of Christ....
6th Sunday of Easter (05/17/2009)
In the English language the word “love” covers a multitude of meanings. We say that we love chocolate, that we love our house, that we love that TV show, that we love our children and that we love God. Yet no one would claim that we mean the same thing by all of these “loves.” We understand, instinctively, that we do not love chocolate as we love our children. In today’s readings we hear from the Apostle of Love, St. John, about how God defines love...
5th Sunday of Easter (05/10/2009)
Today’s first reading conveys the enthusiasm of the newly converted Saul. After his encounter with the Risen Lord, the future Apostle does not simply go home and keep his conversion quiet. Instead he begins to preach to all who will listen about how Christ is the fulfillment of God’s promises to Israel. Luke even tells us that Saul’s enthusiasm is so great that he attempts to join the apostles in Jerusalem, but they still fear him due to his persecuting past! But Paul persists and with Barnabas’ help he speaks “boldly in the name of the Lord”...
4th Sunday of Easter (05/03/2009)
“I am the Good Shepherd,” Jesus tells us in today’s Gospel. What does it mean to be a good shepherd? Christ elaborates: he is one who “lays down his life for the sheep” (John 10:11b). The fundamental quality, then, of a good shepherd is that he puts his own good – even his own life – after the good of his sheep. His life is entirely self-giving, directed towards others, not himself....
3rd Sunday of Easter (04/26/2009)
Christianity is not unique in its stories of a god dwelling among men or in the resurrection of someone from the dead. Other ancient religions have myths of gods coming down to earth as well as heroes being resurrected and sometimes even becoming a god. What is unique about Christianity is its insistence on the historicity of such actions which we see in today’s first reading and Gospel....
2nd Sunday of Easter (04/19/2009)
In all the accounts of the appearances of the Risen Lord, a common themes is that Christ’s glorified body is somehow different than it was before the crucifixion. Jesus is not immediately recognizable, even to those who knew him best. It is only after some action of Christ’s that he is recognized: when he calls Mary Magdalene by name or when he breaks the bread for the two disciples heading to Emmaus. ...
Resurrection of the Lord (04/12/2009)
Today’s first reading from Acts gives us the entire plan of salvation in a few short sentences. Peter’s address is directed towards Gentiles, but he wishes to emphasize both the uniqueness of Israel in God’s plan as well as the universal nature of that plan. Up until this time, the Jewish religion had been content to remain isolated and separate. But Christ’s resurrection changes everything. Now the saving word entrusted to the Chosen People will be preached to the whole world. As death is a universal affliction, so is Christ’s resurrection the remedy for all....
Palm Sunday of the Lord's Passion (04/05/2009)
Of all the literary genres that exist only one is completely dependent upon a single person. The genre of Gospel revolves around Jesus and without Jesus there are no Gospels. This particular genre not only tells the story of Christ but also shows how all events are shaped and directed by him. He is unquestionably the center of the narrative and nothing happens without his instigation or consent. The events surrounding his Passion are no different....
5th Sunday in Lent (03/29/2009)
The Agony in the Garden plays a central role in the Paschal mysteries we are about to celebrate. Christ’s obedience to the Father in the face of extreme suffering marks the beginning of the events that defeated sin and death and opened the way to heaven. It is in Gethsemane that Christ bears the full weight of our sins and yet does not waver from the task allotted to him. ...
4th Sunday in Lent (03/22/2009)
Throughout the pages of Scripture we find God’s infinite mercy on display. Whether it be the story of Joseph and his brothers or the parable of the Prodigal Son, one aspect of God shines forth particularly clearly in the Bible: His infinite mercy. Although we deserve condemnation, He has mercy upon us over and over again. ...
3rd Sunday in Lent (03/15/2009)
The Fall of Adam caused a great rupture in the life of man. Adam tried to make himself god, instead of recognizing that man was created to serve and love God and one another. Now man’s whole life was no longer directed towards his creator and end, God, but inwardly towards himself. ...
2nd Sunday of Lent (03/08/2009)
Today’s readings proclaim to us the profound truth of the sonship of Jesus. While he is also a teacher, a prophet, and the Christ, these titles reflect what he does for mankind; the word Son tells us who he is. He has been Son from the foundation of the world, and will be Son for all eternity: his sonship is his fundamental identity within the Blessed Trinity...
1st Sunday in Lent (03/01/2009)
On the first Sunday of Lent we encounter in the Gospels the model for this liturgical season: Christ’s forty days in the desert. Each of the Synoptic Gospels recount this event as the prelude to Christ’s public ministry, making this time of prayer and battle with the devil the foundation of all that Jesus will do....
7th Sunday in Ordinary Time (02/22/2009)
The process of conversion is a mysterious one, even to the convert. No one but God knows all the factors and influences that go into a person’s conversion to faith in Christ...
6th Sunday in Ordinary Time (02/15/2009)
When the early Church was determining the canon of Scripture – which books belonged in the Christian Bible – one of their most momentous decisions was to include four separate accounts of the life of Jesus. This was not an obvious choice...
5th Sunday in Ordinary Time (02/08/2009)
Christianity is of course founded on the ancient Jewish religion; in God’s plan of salvation the family of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob play the primary role in preparing the way for the Savior’s coming. As Pope John Paul II liked to say, the Jewish people are our “elder brothers.” As the fulfillment of Israel though, the Church is not identical to her elder brother, but rather a flowering of it. ...
4th Sunday in Ordinary Time (02/01/2009)
Near the end of the Pentateuch Moses makes the following proclamation: “A prophet like me will the LORD, your God, raise up for you from among your own kinsmen; to him you shall listen” (Deuteronomy 18:15). The reason the Lord gives for raising this new prophet one day ...
3rd Sunday in Ordinary Time (01/25/2009)
The dawning of a new age with the coming of Jesus Christ is one of the major themes of the New Testament. All of history is now separated into two eons – the time before the advent of the Lord and the new age he inaugurates...
2nd Sunday in Ordinary Time (01/18/2009)
As any sports fan knows, it is commonplace to see a coach or manager screaming at his players. If a player has failed in some way, the coach will berate him for his mistake, and if a player has succeeded in some fashion, he will shout encouragement to him....
The Feast of the Baptism of the Lord (01/11/2009)
What a curious event the Baptism of Christ is. John the Baptist was preaching repentance to the people, and the sign of a man’s personal repentance was that he would be baptized by John in the Jordan; this action was an acknowledgement of his personal sins and the desire to live a holier life. Why then did Jesus request John’s baptism? ...
Ephiphany of the Lord (01/04/2009)
Matthew’s Gospel is a fit beginning to the New Testament. Its first chapter is a clear continuation of the Old Testament, its first line being “The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.”...
Feast of the Holy Family (12/28/2008)
The Scriptures are the story of faith. Faith is the required ingredient for service to the Lord. Faith is the “sixth sense” which propels one to action when the five natural senses do not comprehend the way forward....
Fourth Sunday in Advent (12/21/2008)
In the garden of Eden, Adam and Eve lived freely in paradise, open to all of creation around them. After the fall, however, man began to dwell in houses. Whether made of brick or stone or wood, a house is more than a shelter from the elements...
Third Sunday in Advent (12/14/2008)
One of the truths of God’s plan of salvation is that He commonly works through individual people to effect His will. In the Old Testament, God most often speaks directly to one person – usually a prophet – to whom the responsibility is given to then preach His message to all God’s people....
Second Sunday in Advent (12/07/2008)
A careful reader of the Bible will notice a certain peculiarity common to many of its books: an orientation towards the future; specifically, a hope of a future deliverance and an end to things as they currently are....
First Sunday in Advent (11/30/2008)
St. Paul instructs the Corinthians at the beginning of his first letter to be prepared for the “day of our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Corinthians 1:8), the day in which Christ will be revealed to all. ...
Other Liturgical Years
2008
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