Gospel Commentary - The Arlington Catholic Herald

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Faith / Your Faith / Gospel Commentary

Love is the bull’s-eye

Love is the bull’s-eye of the good news of Jesus Christ. We know that. We have heard about the centrality of love countless times. Still, it is our mission to experience, ponder and live the love of God with greater depth every day of our lives.

5/5/21

Jack Peterson

Mysteries before morals

During this holiest season of Easter, the ancient church refocused on understanding the faith’s most important mysteries, namely, our reception of Christ’s risen life through baptism and the Eucharist. Today, we tend to focus more on the moral and societal aspects of religion, which leads us to a greater emphasis on Lent, the season of purification, over the other seasons of the year. Yet the heart of the Christian life remains the same — in the mysteries before the morals. Though Easter’s sacramental emphasis might feel strange to us, it is necessary for our souls that we follow the ancients and reencounter the foundation of what it means to be a disciple of Jesus.

4/27/21

JOSEPH M. RAMPINO

The Good Shepherd

We live in a world where many claim to be shepherds. We’ve got loads of leaders both religious and not, gurus, caretakers, CEOs and visionaries, each claiming to have something good for us, to have our best interests at heart.

4/21/21

RICHARD A. MISERENDINO
Wounds to heal wounds

“Incredulous for joy” is the phrase that St. Luke uses to describe the disciples’ reaction when they saw the risen Lord. Could this really be happening? Could he really be back from the dead — not just a ghost, not just a figment of my imagination, but truly back from the dead, standing right before me in the flesh?More

4/13/21

Steven Oetjen

Divine Mercy Sunday

Lent is a time to ponder deeply how far down Jesus stooped when he chose to dwell among us. Jesus lowered himself in the most surprising ways to demonstrate his love and to fulfill the Father’s plan of freeing us from sin. This stooping down, or self-emptying, marked the whole of his earthly journey but was particularly made manifest in his birth in a stable and baptism in the Jordan River. It comes to a spectacular crescendo, as we know, on the cross.More

4/8/21

Jack Peterson

Love drew them to the tomb

Easter Sunday once more finds us in a changed world. Like last year, when we celebrated Holy Week in empty churches with people watching the liturgies or praying along at home, we still celebrate in the midst of a pandemic. A year of upheaval is behind us and uncertainty is ahead. More

4/1/21

JOSEPH M. RAMPINO

Divided crowds, divided hearts

Each year, Palm Sunday presents the church with a cornucopia of Scripture for reflection. We begin the liturgy this year with Mark 11:1-10 and finish with the entirety of Mark 14-15. An understatement: There is quite a lot to take in. More

3/24/21

RICHARD A. MISERENDINO

Non sequiturs?

Many times when we read the Gospels, we run into apparent non sequiturs. We might sit there puzzling for quite some time over what Jesus’ words mean and why he chose those particular words in response to that particular question or situation. Apparent non sequiturs are always a good place to dig in. More

3/16/21

Steven Oetjen

Immeasurable riches

The fourth Sunday of Lent is also called Laetare Sunday, a name taken from the first words of the traditional entrance antiphon for this Sunday, “Rejoice, O Jerusalem.” This Sunday is intended by Mother Church to be a moment of encouragement near the halfway point of the Lenten season traditionally marked by a variety of penitential practices that can weigh us down along the way. To mark this day at Mass, the altar may be decorated with flowers, more robust music sung and rose-colored vestments worn. Laetare Sunday is an invitation to rejoice because we have progressed through a good portion of our Lenten observances and our Easter celebrations are drawing near. More

3/10/21

JACK PETERSON

The transfiguration is encouragement for us

As we follow Christ further into the wilderness of Lent, our Gospel for this Sunday presents us with a bit of a surprise: The transfiguration. We might have expected a passage about prayer, fasting, or almsgiving, or perhaps repentance. Instead, we have Mark 9:2-10, where Peter, James and John behold the glory of God radiating through Christ’s humanity.More

2/24/21

RICHARD A. MISERENDINO

On the battleground

On the first Sunday in Lent, we always hear the account of Christ’s temptation in the wilderness. The church wants us to know the 40 days of Lent which have just begun are a participation in Christ’s 40 days in the desert. His 40 days are our 40 days, and what he accomplished then he seeks to accomplish in us now.More

2/16/21

STEVEN OETJEN

Childlike faith

We are just a month out from the end of the Christmas season, yet we have in our Gospel today a powerful example of childlike faith. A leper comes up to Jesus, kneels down and pleads, “If you wish, you can make me clean.” More

2/10/21

Jack Peterson

The devil’s use of half truths

The Gospel for this Sunday presents us with a flurry of activity, set at the beginning of Christ’s public life. In the space of a few lines, the Lord Jesus has healed Simon’s mother-in-law, healed the diseases of the crowd, cast out many demons, gone to spend the night in prayer, been pursued by the whole town and gone on to preach elsewhere. We see here the dynamism and urgency of the love he bears toward the people of Galilee and, through them, toward us as well. Yet there are strange things tucked away in this continuous stream of ministry, and we would do well not to miss them. More

2/2/21

JOSEPH M. RAMPINO

God’s authority and spiritual warfare

Repeatedly throughout the Gospels, those who hear Jesus are struck by a stark difference between his message and those of other contemporary religious authorities. The words typically used to describe the Lord’s message are power and authority. Unlike others in the world, Christ’s preaching and message has power to move mountains and heal hearts, authority to command, commend, save, transform and transfigure. Jesus has this power and authority because he is the Author, he is God. All of history is really his story, and it is in his creative Word that we live and move and have our being. Without Christ, we can do nothing. His power is the literal omnipotence of God, and his word bears the mark of authority because it is none other than the eternal Word of God. More

1/27/21

RICHARD A. MISERENDINO

Embarking on the ‘way’

“Come after me, and I will make you fishers of men.” Hearing those few words, the two brothers Simon and Andrew immediately leave their nets and follow Jesus. Then Jesus calls another set of brothers, and James and John also follow him. Just like that, these four men begin on the “way.”More

1/19/21

STEVEN OETJENEmbarking on the ‘way’

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