Twenty-ninth Sunday in Ordinary Time
MARK 10:35-45 (Isaiah 53:10-11; Psalm 33:4-5, 18-19, 20, 22; Hebrews 4:14-16) Human ambition to power rather than service is another difficult issue Mark includes in his instruction under the heading, “Jesus’ Journey to Jerusalem.” James and John, two of the first fo...Read full story »
Thursday, October 08, 2015
Twenty-eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time
MARK 10:17-30 (Wisdom 7:7-11; Psalm 90:12-13, 14-15, 16-17; Hebrews 4:12-13) The headline for this Sunday’s catechesis could be “Christians and Wealth.” First Mark reminds his readers that just like the preceding teaching on marriage, what he is about to teach by thi...Read full story »
Thursday, October 01, 2015
Twenty-seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time
Mark’s instruction on the permanence of marriage takes the form of the following story. The Pharisees approached Jesus with a question, “Is it lawful for a husband to divorce his wife?” Mark notes that they were testing him. These Pharisees are probably the Torah scholars usually...Read full story »
Monday, September 28, 2015
Twenty-sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time
MARK 9:38-43, 45, 47-48 (Numbers 11:25-29; Psalm 19:8, 10, 12-13, 14; James 5:1-6) John and James, sons of Zebedee, were the second pair of brothers chosen by Jesus to be his disciples. In this Sunday’s gospel reading John gets his first line in the Gospel of Mark. He also gets...Read full story »
Friday, September 18, 2015
Twenty-fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time
MARK 9:30-37 (Wisdom 2:12, 17-20; Psalm 54:3-4, 5, 6-8; James3:16-4:3) In the context of Mark’s gospel, Jesus and three disciples had just returned from the mountain of his transfiguration. Down on the plain they came upon a scene of confusion. In the absence of Jesus on the mou...Read full story »
Friday, September 11, 2015
Twenty-fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time
MARK 8:27-35 (Isaiah 50:4c-9a; Psalm 116:1-2, 3-4, 5-6, 8-9; James 2:14-18) This gospel reading begins with major theological geography. Up to this time in Mark’s gospel the disciples of Jesus had not yet recognized an important identity of Jesus. He and they went beyond the traditiona...Read full story »
Thursday, September 10, 2015
Twenty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time
MARK 7:31-37 (Isaiah 35:4-7a; Psalm 146:7, 8-9, 9-10; James 2:1-5) In last Sunday’s gospel reading Mark informed us that Jesus declared all foods “clean.” The distinction between clean and unclean foods which is given in great detail in Leviticus 11 and Deuteronomy 1...Read full story »
Wednesday, September 02, 2015
Twenty-second Sunday in Ordinary Time
After five Sunday gospels from the Bread of Life Discourse of the Gospel of John, the gospel readings return to the Gospel of Mark. Jesus is in Galilee. A group of religious watchdogs come down to Galilee from Jerusalem to investigate this now famous preacher and healer. They notice an infri...Read full story »
Monday, August 24, 2015
Twenty-first Sunday in Ordinary Time
JOHN 6:60-69 (Joshua 24:1-2a, 15-17, 18b; Psalm 34:2-3, 16-17, 18-19, 20-21; Eph. 5:21-32) In this final gospel reading from the Bread of Life Discourse the concern of the author of the Gospel of John is to deal with objections to the difficult teachings of the discourse. He begins wi...Read full story »
Thursday, August 20, 2015
Twentieth Sunday in Ordinary Time
JOHN 6:51-58 (Proverbs 9:1-6; Psalm 34:2-3, 4-5, 6-7; Ephesians 5:15-20) This Sunday’s gospel is the fourth taken from the Bread of Life Discourse. The author arranged the composition of this discourse so that the teaching it conveys is revealed in three ascending steps. The fir...Read full story »
Thursday, August 13, 2015
