Fourth Sunday of Easter Scripture Readings Good Shepherd Sunday evokes images of a smiling Jesus hugging kids and petting lambs. Yet what we have here in this morning’s gospel reading is actually an indictment of… Read more: Thieves and Marauders
Third Sunday of Easter Scripture Readings I can’t overestimate the importance of today’s gospel reading. If you’re looking for an exposé of what the life of a Christian is all about, you won’t do much… Read more: On the Road Again
Second Sunday of Easter Scripture Readings In preparing for today’s liturgy and homily, once again, as often happens, I discover that the common understanding of the gospel passage is not often the richest one or… Read more: Whose Sins You Shall Forgive
Easter Sunday Scripture Readings In the eighteenth century, the Enlightenment turned the world on its head. Belief gave way to reason, and the scientific method of observation, questioning, proposing a hypothesis, experimenting, and analyzing took… Read more: Seeing and Believing
Easter Vigil Scripture Readings We began in darkness. We began this evening’s liturgy in darkness. We ourselves began in the darkness of the womb. The universe itself began in darkness. We’re asked this evening to… Read more: The First Word
Good Friday Scripture Readings Five years ago this week, I finished the first of my annual Lenten lecture series. The topic was on sin and evil. In that series, I explained how often we look… Read more: It Isn’t What You Think
Maundy Thursday Scripture Readings Tonight, the focus is entirely on eucharist. Tonight, we not only observe the eucharist, we descend into it. We experience eucharist as our sacred communal meal. It touches something primal in… Read more: The Three Faces of Eucharist
Palm Sunday Scripture Readings Holy Week begins with Jesus’s triumphant entry into Jerusalem. It ends in defeat and death. What happened there in the middle? Remember the advertising jingle from the once-popular chain of clothing… Read more: Falling into the Gap
Fourth Sunday of Lent Scripture Readings You know, it’s not every Sunday that I get significant theological insights and understanding from my work with the scriptures in preparing my homily for you. Today was an… Read more: The Nature of Sin
Second Sunday of Lent Scripture Readings Out of the whole liturgical year of following Jesus through his words and deeds, Lent stops all that and invites us to focus on identity: the identity of our… Read more: Now Walk
Ash Wednesday Scripture Readings Today’s readings, the rest of the day, and the season it begins complete the movement we began in our Sunday liturgies through the Sermon on the Mount. We’ve already travelled, in… Read more: The Pillars of Piety
Third Sunday Scripture Readings We’re seeing something here in today’s Gospel passage that we need to keep in the back of our minds throughout this coming liturgical year. We’re following the Gospel of Matthew, and… Read more: The Kingdom of Heaven Is at Hand
Solemnity of All Saints Scripture Readings Once again, on this Solemnity of All Saints, I can’t stress more emphatically how badly I believe that traditional Christianity—including our own Roman Catholic Church—has distorted the message of… Read more: Blessed Be the Kingdom
Corpus Christi Scripture Readings The universe was never intended to be opaque. As a matter of fact, as long as humans have walked this planet, each society, each culture, has acknowledged the transparency of creation… Read more: The Transparent Body of Christ
“Whoever has seen me has seen the Father.”
Fourth Sunday of Easter Scripture Readings Good Shepherd Sunday evokes images of a smiling Jesus hugging kids and petting lambs. Yet what we have here in this morning’s gospel reading is actually an indictment of… Read more: Thieves and Marauders
Third Sunday of Easter Scripture Readings I can’t overestimate the importance of today’s gospel reading. If you’re looking for an exposé of what the life of a Christian is all about, you won’t do much… Read more: On the Road Again
Second Sunday of Easter Scripture Readings In preparing for today’s liturgy and homily, once again, as often happens, I discover that the common understanding of the gospel passage is not often the richest one or… Read more: Whose Sins You Shall Forgive
Easter Sunday Scripture Readings In the eighteenth century, the Enlightenment turned the world on its head. Belief gave way to reason, and the scientific method of observation, questioning, proposing a hypothesis, experimenting, and analyzing took… Read more: Seeing and Believing
Good Friday Scripture Readings Five years ago this week, I finished the first of my annual Lenten lecture series. The topic was on sin and evil. In that series, I explained how often we look… Read more: It Isn’t What You Think
Maundy Thursday Scripture Readings Tonight, the focus is entirely on eucharist. Tonight, we not only observe the eucharist, we descend into it. We experience eucharist as our sacred communal meal. It touches something primal in… Read more: The Three Faces of Eucharist
Palm Sunday Scripture Readings Holy Week begins with Jesus’s triumphant entry into Jerusalem. It ends in defeat and death. What happened there in the middle? Remember the advertising jingle from the once-popular chain of clothing… Read more: Falling into the Gap
Paul contrasts two life-orientations—sarx and pneuma—and the raising of Lazarus shows us what it looks like when grief becomes trust.
Fourth Sunday of Lent Scripture Readings You know, it’s not every Sunday that I get significant theological insights and understanding from my work with the scriptures in preparing my homily for you. Today was an… Read more: The Nature of Sin
Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again; but whoever drinks the water I shall give will never thirst;
“He fasted for forty days and forty nights, and afterwards he was hungry.” (Cycle A)
“Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets. I have come not to abolish but to fulfill”
“You are the light of the world. A city set on a mountain cannot be hidden.”
“He began to teach them, saying: ‘Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.’”
Third Sunday Scripture Readings We’re seeing something here in today’s Gospel passage that we need to keep in the back of our minds throughout this coming liturgical year. We’re following the Gospel of Matthew, and… Read more: The Kingdom of Heaven Is at Hand
“Now I have seen and testified that he is the Son of God.”
“You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.”
“Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary your wife into your home.”
“Amen, I say to you, among those born of women there has been none greater than John the Baptist”
“Hail, full of grace! The Lord is with you.”
“John the Baptist appeared, preaching in the desert of Judea and saying, ‘Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!’”
“So too, you also must be prepared, for at an hour you do not expect, the Son of Man will come.”
“Amen, I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise.”
“When you hear of wars and insurrections, do not be terrified; for such things must happen first, but it will not immediately be the end.”
“Zeal for your house will consume me.”
“For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in him may have eternal life and I shall raise him on the last day.”
“…for whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”
“I shall deliver a just decision for her lest she finally come and strike me.”
“Jesus, Master! Have pity on us!” And when he saw them, he said, “Go show yourselves to the priests.”
“If you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you would say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it would obey you.”
“If they will not listen to Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded if someone should rise from the dead.”
“The person who is trustworthy in very small matters is also trustworthy in great ones.”
“…he humbled himself, becoming obedient to death, even death on a cross.”
“This one began to build but did not have the resources to finish.”
“When you are invited by someone to a wedding banquet, do not recline at table in the place of honor.”
“Strive to enter through the narrow gate.”
“Do you think that I have come to establish peace on the earth? No, I tell you, but rather division.”
“Blessed are those servants whom the master finds vigilant on his arrival.”
“You fool, this night your life will be demanded of you.”
“Lord, teach us to pray just as John taught his disciples.”
“Mary has chosen the better part and it will not be taken from her.”
“And who is my neighbor?”
“At that time the Lord appointed seventy-two others whom he sent ahead of him in pairs to every town and place he intended to visit.”
“And so I say to you, you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my Church, and the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against it.”
Corpus Christi Scripture Readings The universe was never intended to be opaque. As a matter of fact, as long as humans have walked this planet, each society, each culture, has acknowledged the transparency of creation… Read more: The Transparent Body of Christ
“Everything that the Father has is mine; for this reason I told you that he will take from what is mine and declare it to you..”
“Receive the Holy Spirit. Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retained.”