GOSPEL COMMENTARY Oct. 24, Mk 10:46-52
Gospel Commentary Oct. 17, Mk 10:32-45
GOSPEL COMMENTARY oct. 10, Mk 10:17-30
Jesus uses very strong language in today’s Gospel passage to challenge us to root sin out of our lives: Cut off our hands and feet and pluck out our eyes if they cause us to sin. More
One of the most popular conceptions of the so-called historical Christ current in the secular world is the portrait of Christ the Revolutionary. The modern West, bound up in its own sensitivities and obsessions, seeks a Jesus beyond the Christ of the church’s faith and so often makes of him either a harmless wandering rabbi who merely teaches universal moral law, or a reforming firebrand and thorn in the side of all establishment, political, and religious alike.More
As kids, my friends and I often quizzed each other about what we’d do if we had superpowers. How would we save the day? With all the superhero movies popular today, it seems the whole world wonders: What would a real savior look like? More
When an infant is baptized, there is a part of the rite in which the priest or deacon touches the ears and mouth of the newly baptized child. This strange gesture is meant to resemble what Our Lord does in today’s Gospel. When a deaf man with a speech impediment approaches him, Jesus puts his finger into the man’s ears and touches his tongue. And then, to heal him from both of his incapacities, he says one Aramaic word, “Ephphatha,” which means, “Be opened.”More
I would like to use three words to guide my reflection on the readings for today: humility, humility and humility.More
How does Christ deal with those who do not believe what he teaches? Certainly in our present moment we see so many turn away from the faith and teaching of Jesus Christ through his church, even among friends and family, and it becomes a great burden for multitudes of Christians striving to remain faithful to the Gospels and the body of the Lord. What do we do? How do we react when someone turns away from what the Lord teaches and commands? More
In a rare turn of events, our regularly scheduled readings for this Sunday (typically from John’s Gospel) take a momentary back seat as we celebrate the solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary. To wit: Mary, because of the awesome grace at work in her life and her role as Mother of God, was preserved from any corruption at the end of her life and taken up to heaven, body and soul. More
When Elizabeth II was crowned queen of England in 1953, it was the first time such a ceremony was fully televised. It was a grand event as usual, but this time the scope was much larger. People not only in the United Kingdom but all over the world could watch the event. Elizabeth effectively had been reigning since the death of her father more than a year earlier, but the coronation ceremony and celebrations were delayed to allow for an appropriate length of time for mourning. That day, June 2, 1953, was a chance for the nation to celebrate its new monarch in proper fashion.More
When was the last time that you were really, really hungry? Weak, delirious and ready to pass out from hunger? More
Why does God ask us to do anything? This might seem like an odd question, but the Gospel passage we contemplate here, the miracle of the feeding of the 5,000, certainly raises the issue. When the apostles bring the problem of the hungry crowd to Jesus, the Gospel tells us that “he himself knew what he was going to do.” He already has everything under control and needs no help to feed the crowds. If he wanted to, Christ could have produced bread out of nothing rather than multiply the little that was at hand and offered. So why does he use the five loaves and two fish? If he doesn’t really need the help, what is the point?More
Have you ever made it to the end of a week feeling completely exhausted from doing good work, only to find that the emails and phone messages keep stacking up? As the saying goes: “The reward for good work is more work.” Such is the case for the apostles in our Gospel today (Mk 6:30-34). They’ve been out and about preaching, teaching, forgiving sins and healing in Christ’s name. Apparently, it was wildly successful. More
There’s an important word in today’s Gospel. It’s a word we heard earlier in Mark’s Gospel, way back in January on the fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time. At that point, still early on in Jesus’ public ministry, he was teaching in a synagogue (Mk 1:21-28). The Gospel told us that people were astonished because he taught them not as the scribes but as one having “authority,” and with that same “authority” he cast a demon out of a man.More