Monday of the Thirty-Fourth Week in Ordinary Time
Today's Scripture
We have just celebrated the Solemnity of Christ the King, and hence we are rapidly approaching the end of our liturgical year. If we have faithfully walked these 34 weeks with the Lord, we have grown closer to Him. Hopefully one thing we have realized is that everything comes from the Lord, and we are called to live our lives with this realization shaping all that we do on a day to day basis.
The Solemnity of Christ the King
Today's Scripture
Today is the Solemnity of Christ the King, and so ends the liturgical year. Last year is about to end, and the new year with the season of Advent is about to begin. The readings for today show us what the feast is about: Christ the King. Jesus shall reign as king forever.
Memorial of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary
Today's Scripture
Throughout the gospels, we see Jesus interacting with representatives from some of the various schools of Judaism of His day (of course, we must remember that Jesus was a Jew who observed the requirements of the Jewish Law). Since Jesus was known as a rabbi (or teacher), it would have been customary for him to debate the interpretation of the law with other Jewish leaders. Not surprisingly, these debates often included attempts to undercut and outsmart the other, especially if the authority of opposing party was suspect.
Friday of the Thirty-third Week in Ordinary Time
Today's Scripture
“It doesn’t matter what I wear to church – God doesn’t care what I look like.” “I prefer to worship God in nature than in a church building because there’s not much difference and I feel better in nature.” “There’s nothing particularly different about the stuff we see in church versus any other building or things.”
Thursday of the Thirty-third Week in Ordinary Time
Today's Scripture
This week we have been reading selections from the books of Maccabees. The stories we’ve encountered have depicted the conflict within Jerusalem, and, in particular they have highlighted the heroics of the Jewish people who failed to bow to the demands of the king. These people refused to blaspheme God by forsaking His law and instead accepted death at the hands of their non-Jewish rulers.
Wednesday of the Thirty-third Week in Ordinary Time
Today's Scripture
It is with powerful yet somewhat violent imagery today that the readings speak of giving each of us all we need for the building of the Kingdom of God. The story from the Second book of Maccabees shares the image of a faith-filled family. The narrative has the family being tortured for their beliefs. As each brother refuses to obey the command of the king, they are executed, all this while their mother watches. The mom waxes poetically about how the creator of the universe gave each child life and to them they will return. Her statement is not defeatist though, as she encourages her sons to accept their fate with hope that a merciful God will reunite them all again some day.
Monday of the Thirty-third Week in Ordinary Time
Today's Scripture
We are called to worship God and give praise and glory to him. As we begin this 33rd week of Ordinary Time, where we count our weeks walking with our Lord Jesus Christ, we know that we are marching toward the end of another liturgical year. As a married couple counts their years of marriage, we celebrate that we have made it 33 weeks of keeping company with the Lord, worshiping God as we go. Today we hear excerpts from the book of 1 Maccabees.
Thirty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time
Today's Scripture
We might find today’s readings disturbing at first. In the first reading from the Book of Daniel we hear about “a time unsurpassed in distress since nations began until that time” (12:1). In that time, some of the dead who arise “shall be an everlasting horror and disgrace” (12:2). Likewise, in today’s reading from St. Mark’s Gospel, we read, “In those days after that tribulation the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will be falling from the sky” (13:24-25).
Saturday of the Thirty-second Week in Ordinary Time
Today's Scripture
In today’s first reading we have seemingly dark, yet joyful song about both Passover (the night that God’s angel passed over the houses of the Hebrews because the blood of the lamb was on their doorposts) and the Exodus (the deliverance of God’s People from enslavement by the Egyptians). In this song, God’s action in the world is described as His “word” and what a powerful word! This is the same “word” that we see in the beginning of the book of Genesis – God creates through His life-giving word.
Memorial of Saint Leo the Great, pope and doctor of the Church
Today's Scripture
In the first reading for today from the Book of Wisdom, we encounter a discussion concerning the suffering of the just, particularly the unjust suffering of the just. The first verse of chapter three of this reading has two parts, the first of which is comforting, but the second of which should strike us as surprising. The first part states that, “the souls of the just are in the hand of God.” The second half of this verse, however, puts forth the following idea: “and no torment shall touch them.”
Feast of the Dedication of the Lateran Basilica in Rome
Today's Scripture
Today we celebrate an unusual feast, namely, the “Feast of the Dedication of the Lateran Basilica in Rome.” While normally our feasts celebrate people or events in the lives of people, today’s feast actually commemorates a building. The Basilica of St. John Lateran is the pope’s home parish. While we usually associate the pope with St. Peter’s in Vatican City, it is here that the pope has his official ecclesiastical seat, or “cathedra.” The building itself has a long and fascinating history, which stretches back to the early centuries of Christianity.
Thirty-second Sunday in Ordinary Time
Today's Scripture
Today’s reading from St. Mark’s Gospel is a challenging one. In the second section when we encounter Jesus sitting across from the treasury with His disciples, we hear Him teach the disciples an important but difficult lesson. It is natural to think that the rich who are placing large sums of money into the treasury are in fact contributing the most. Jesus, however, asks us to see with God’s eyes. He explains to His disciples, and to us, that in reality the poor widow made the largest contribution, even though the numerical amount she put in was the smallest. This is a difficult and challenging message for us, because it means we should examine our own contributions, including financial.
Saturday of the Thirty-first Week in Ordinary Time
Today's Scripture
In the first reading for today, Paul lists many companions of his who have aided him in spreading the Gospel. It’s easy to think about St. Paul, sometimes, as an individual on his own traveling from place to place and bringing the Gentiles to Christianity in its very early stages. At the end of his letter to the Romans, Paul identifies with the Roman community (which he has not yet met) by making connections to those in the community. The list of names is staggering. Staggering not just because of how many there are, but also because of the Gentile names, the Jewish names, the women, the men. We see that almost immediately the Good News of Christ’s suffering, death, and resurrection had universal, even cosmic significance. We see also how the Church, even from its earliest days, transcended national, linguistic, class, and gender boundaries.
Friday of the Thirty-first Week in Ordinary Time
Today's Scripture
Occasionally, it happens. Not often, but enough to make it memorable and not simply a fluke. Someone cuts me some slack when I least expect it - even, sometimes, when I don't deserve it. The cashier who says, "Oh, you don't have the correct change? I'll cover it." The doctor who says, "I know you're paying for this appointment totally out of pocket so we'll bill this at the lowest level." The police officer who lets me off with a warning. The harried receptionist who detects a note of concern, even panic in my voice, and figures out a way to get an appointment on the books.
Thursday of the Thirty-first Week in Ordinary Time
Today's Scripture
Today’s gospel passage from Luke contains two analogies that Jesus uses to help the scribes and the Pharisees understand why Jesus spends time with sinners. Both comparisons involve losing something and rejoicing in finding it. And in both cases, it may seem a little silly to us that a shepherd would rejoice over one sheep out of 100, or a woman rejoice for finding one coin out of ten. Scholars debate whether Jesus is being sincere or ironic here. But if we hear these words and say, yes, it does seem a little silly to overturn a whole house looking for one little coin or yes, it is quite foolish to leave 99 sheep to search for one lost sheep, then perhaps we can better understand the power of what Jesus is saying.
Wednesday of the Thirty-first Week in Ordinary Time/ Feast of St. Charles Borromeo
Today's Scripture
Today we celebrate the feast of the St. Charles Borromeo. St. Charles was a person who lived in the 16th century. He started his religious formation at age twelve and finished his doctorate by age twenty-one. Charles spent his whole life in service of the Church and the people of God. When his father died, his family wanted to Charles to assume the titles of his family. Charles refused their request. He became a great writer and gave time talent and treasure in service of the poor in Milan at the time of the plague.
Tuesday of the Thirty-first Week in Ordinary Time
Today's Scripture
In today’s reading from St. Luke’s Gospel we encounter the exclamation, “blessed is the one who will dine in the Kingdom of God.” Jesus proceeds to explain who will be invited to dine in the Kingdom of God. He begins by mentioning those who are initially invited but who spurn the invitation, and so are thereby excluded from the royal banquet. What should strike the audience as odd is the company Jesus then explains are invited next to the banquet, the only ones who actually get to dine in the kingdom: the poor, the crippled, the blind, the lame, and the many in the “highways” and “hedgerows.” These are not the sort of people we typically associate with royal banquets!
The Commemoration of All the Faithful Departed
Today's Scripture
Yesterday we celebrated the feast of All Saints’ Day, which recognizes all those unnamed saints in addition to all of the better known saints. Today we celebrate All Souls’ Day, and both of these feasts communicate something that is quite counter-cultural, namely that death is not the end of life. In the United States, we have developed quite a fear of death, and not without reason. Easily preventable deaths (a kid getting hit by a car) or unjust deaths (abortion) ought certainly to be prevented or avoided.
Solemnity of All Saints
Today's Scripture
Today we celebrate the Solemnity of All Saints Day. This Solemnity celebrates all of the Church’s Saints, both those we know about who have been formally canonized by the Church, and those we do not yet know about. The first reading for today from the Book of Revelation provides us with a magnificent glimpse into the heavenly life of the glorified Saints. This vision gives us hope of joining their numbers upon our own death and entrance into glory. An important part of this vision is found in 7:9 where we see the unity of God’s people, called from “every nation, race, people, and tongue.”
Saturday of the Thirtieth Week in Ordinary Time
Today's Scripture
“Everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”
In St. Luke’s Gospel, our Lord asks us to consider humility and it’s opposite – pride, the deadliest of the seven deadly sins. Why is it that we are called to humility? Isn’t pride a good thing? It seems that in all places we see pride held up as the ideal – pride in one’s country, pride in one’s achievements, pride in one’s work, pride in one’s children, pride in one’s status. What’s do deadly about pride? In terms of the sin, we’re not talking about caring much about people, work…etc. We’re talking about a focus on the self. The be proud is to be satisfied with oneself, to put oneself first. When one is completely satisfied with oneself, one does not need salvation, one does not see sin. Indeed, St. Augustine described sin as to be “caved in on oneself.”