Second Sunday of Lent
MATTHEW 17:1-9 (Genesis 12:1-4a; 2 Timothy 1:8b-10) The gospel reading for the Second Sunday of Lent is the transfiguration of Jesus. Mark, Matthew, and Luke have differing versions of this episode, as might be expected from different authors with differing catechetical age...Read full story »
Tuesday, March 11, 2014
First Sunday of Lent
MATTHEW 4:1-11 (Genesis 2:3-9, 3:1-7; Romans 5:12-19) The annual liturgy of the First Sunday of Lent presents us with one of three versions of the temptation of Jesus – Mark or Matthew or Luke. These are not the only temptation-of-Jesus proclamations in the New Testament. The Let...Read full story »
Tuesday, March 04, 2014
Eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time
MATTHEW 6:24-34 (Isaiah 49:14-15; 1 Corinthians 4:1-5) This gospel reading is the sixth and final selection from Matthew’s Sermon on the Mount. This section concerns wealth, money, possessions. The headline is in the conclusion: “You cannot serve God and mammon,” (a S...Read full story »
Tuesday, February 25, 2014
Seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time
MATTHEW 5:38-48 (Leviticus 19:1-2, 17-18; 1 Corinthians 3:16-23) Today’s gospel reading is the fifth in a series of Cycle A readings from the Gospel of Matthew. It also completes the six Antitheses that began in last Sunday’s gospel reading. These begin with a thesis, a quo...Read full story »
Tuesday, February 18, 2014
Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time
MATTHEW 5:17-37 (Sirach 15:15-20; 1 Corinthians 2:6-10) The series of gospel readings from Matthew’s Sermon on the Mount continues. Like the rest of Matthew’s gospel, this sermon is also a compromise document. Matthew’s comm-unity, probably at Antioch in S...Read full story »
Monday, February 10, 2014
Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time
MATTHEW 5:13-16 (Isaiah 58:7-10; 1 Corinthians 2:1-5) Today’s gospel reading from the Sermon on the Mount uses three symbols or metaphors to describe a Christian or a Christian way of life – salt, a city on a hill, and light. Matthew attributes these words...Read full story »
Monday, February 03, 2014
Presentation of the Lord
LUKE 2:22-40 (Malachy 3:1-4; Hebrews 2:14-18) The celebration of the Presentation of the Lord Jesus in his Father’s temple replaces the Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time. Luke notes that “the time came for their purification.” If by the word their Luke is und...Read full story »
Tuesday, January 28, 2014
Third Sunday in Ordinary Time
MATTHEW 4:12-23 (Isaiah 8:23 – 9:3; 1 Corinthians 1:10-13, 17) Jesus heard that John had been arrested, and he withdrew northward into Galilee. The correct translation of Matthew’s Greek is this, “When Jesus heard that John had been handed over….R...Read full story »
Monday, January 20, 2014
Second Sunday in Ordinary Times
JOHN 1:29-34 (Isaiah 49:3, 5-6; 1 Corinthians 1:1-3) The context from which today’s gospel reading is taken is the preaching of John the Baptizer. John had just humbled himself by a public proclamation that there is a man among them whom they do not recognize and that...Read full story »
Monday, January 13, 2014
The Baptism of Jesus
MATTHEW 3:13-17 (Isaiah 42:1-4, 6-7) There are three versions of John’s baptism of Jesus – Mark, Matthew, and Luke. The oldest of these is Mark. It is also the shortest. The differences in the three gospels indicate that as time went on, some Christian communiti...Read full story »
Tuesday, January 07, 2014
