Gospel Commentary - The Arlington Catholic Herald

Our website is made possible by displaying online ads to our visitors.
Please consider supporting us by whitelisting our site.

Faith / Your Faith / Gospel Commentary

Complete the work

Contrition for sin begins with a simple awareness — there’s a terrible chasm of difference between who I am and who I know I ought to be. Everyone with a healthy conscience knows the feeling. We think, speak or act in an inconsiderate, self-absorbed or spiteful manner and then wonder, “Where did that come from?”

1/15/20

James C. Hudgins

Faith and gratitude

Human beings were built for faith in God. We were very intentionally fashioned by God to be in relationship with him.

10/9/19

For the Catholic Herald

Stand before the Lord

How do you and I stand before the Lord? Are we justified in the eyes of Christ or are we justified in the eyes of ourselves and the eyes of the world?

10/24/19

For the Catholic Herald
Go swimming

During the Christmas season, the church wisely chooses to celebrate the baptism of the Lord. It is an event that demands a little unpacking.More

1/9/20

Fr. Jack Peterson

Remember Joseph

This last Sunday of Advent, our Gospel presents the annunciation of the birth of the Messiah. While Luke focuses on Archangel Gabriel appearing to Mary, Matthew focuses on Joseph. And, I think for good reason. Sometimes we forget Joseph. Oftentimes he looks like a tired, old man. Or worse, he is excluded. I remember receiving a Christmas card with a portion of a famous painting: Depicted were baby Jesus, Mary, and a shepherd, and then there was an arm — poor Joseph had been cut out.More

12/18/19

Fr. William P. Saunders

The Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph

This Sunday places before our eyes the image of the Holy Family of Nazareth, and while we might immediately leap into beautiful meditations on the virtues of that home, on the lessons of their lives, and on how we might imitate their example, we ought not miss the astonishing truth contained in the bare fact that we can celebrate this feast at all.More

12/18/19

JOSEPH M. RAMPINO

Hope in God

When John the Baptist preached by the Jordan river, he proclaimed with boundless confidence that Jesus was the promised Messiah of Israel. Crowds came streaming from Jerusalem to hear him speak. In those days, it must have seemed like the kingdom of God would appear on earth at any moment. But things did not turn out as everyone imagined. John was now in prison for telling King Herod that he was wrong to divorce his wife and marry another. John the Baptist had once proclaimed that the Messiah would depose worldly tyrants. Now, John is a prisoner of the very sort of tyrant the Messiah should have deposed, and this fact nearly strains John’s faith to the breaking point.More

12/11/19

Fr. James Hudgins

Are you in need of a little hope?

Advent is a season to stir up God’s gift of hope within our hearts.More

12/4/19

Fr. Jack Peterson

Gospel commentary: First Sunday of Advent calls us to ‘stay awake’

We would be mistaken simply to equate Advent with Christmas preparation. The season calls us to much more, and to recognize further-reaching spiritual realities. More

11/27/19

Fr. Joseph Rampino

Christ the King

Our Gospel for the feast of Christ the King takes us to the crucifixion. Here, the only throne for Christ the King is the cross; the only crown is one of thorns; the only scepter is the nail piercing his hands; the only crimson robe is the blood coating his skin. One might therefore ask, “Why this Gospel on the feast of Christ the King?” More

11/20/19

Fr. William P. Saunders | For the Catholic Herald

Patience, another word for love

Perseverance is rightly understood as the virtue of “patient endurance,” and there are three areas of life in which we need to exercise it — with others, with ourselves and with God. More

11/15/19

Fr. James C. Hudgins

‘Well done, good and faithful servant’

A young man from a faith-filled family turns to his torturers who have just killed his three brothers and courageously states: “It is my choice to die at the hands of men with the hope God gives of being raised up by him.” More

11/8/19

Fr. Jack Peterson, YA | For the Catholic Herald

The path we must take

This Gospel records the conversion of the tax collector Zacchaeus from a life of treacherous fraud to a life of humble and generous poverty with Christ. More

10/29/19

By Fr. Joseph M. Rampino | For the Catholic Herald

The answer depends on you

The Gospel this Sunday tells the story of a poor, helpless widow who can find no justice from a powerful judge, no matter how tearfully she pleads. More

10/17/19

By Fr. James C. Hudgins | For the Catholic Herald

Names written in heaven

A recent Pew study reported that 72 percent of Americans believe in heaven, but only 58 percent believe in hell. More

9/27/19

By Fr. William Saunders | For the Catholic Herald

More