The Sunday Gospel Jer 31:7-9 Ps 126:1-2, 2-3, 4-5, 6 Heb 5:1-6 Mk 10:46-52 Like so much of the gospels, Jesus’ encounter with a blind beggar this Sunday boils down to one simple question: “What do you want me to do for you?” If we met Jesus along the road, would we be able to…
Sunday Gospel Wis 7:7-11 Ps 90:12-13, 14-15, 16-17 Heb 4:12-13 Mk 10:17-30 or 10:17-27 Think it’s easy to gain eternal life? Think again. That message lies at the heart of this Sunday’s Gospel, the familiar story from St Mark about a rich young man who approached Jesus with a sincere question – but who got…
The Sunday Gospel Nm 11:25-29 Ps 19:8, 10, 12-13, 14 Jas 5:1-6 Mk 9:38-43, 45, 47-48 In our divided and divisive times, this weekend’s Gospel should give all of us pause. It poses some hard questions about how we judge others – and asks us to look more closely at how we judge – or…
The Sunday Gospel Is 50:5-9a Ps 116:1-2, 3-4, 5-6, 8-9 Jas 2:14-18 Mk 8:27-35 I can still remember the priest who taught us Scripture during diaconate formation talking about the passage from the Gospel that we hear this Sunday, and then asking us what seemed an irrelevant question. “Where does it come in?” he asked…
The Sunday Gospel Dt 4:1-2, 6-8 Ps 15:2-5 Jas 1:17-18, 21b-22, 27 Mk 7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23 Are we doers? The letter from James this Sunday lays it all on the line and reminds us of what truly matters. Think showing up at church, saying prayers and dropping an envelope in the collection basket is enough?…
The Sunday Gospel Prv 9:1-6 Ps 34:2-7 Eph 5:15-20 Jn 6:51-58 This Gospel puts me in a New York state of mind. Encountering this Sunday’s passage from John’s Gospel, I can’t help but think back to a stretch of West 31st Street in New York City where, not far from Madison Square Garden, you can…
The Sunday Gospel Ex 16:2-4, 12-15 Ps 78:3-4, 23-24, 25, 54 Eph 4:17, 20-24 Jn 6:24-35 When you think about it, we got our first clue at Christmas. It was there, in the very name of the town where Jesus was born: Bethlehem, a word which means in both Aramaic and Hebrew, ‘House of Bread’.…
I don’t run into shepherds very often, but a few years ago, I ran into a shepherd (via Google) by the name of Kim Goodling. She and her husband live in Vermont and run a large farm with a lot of livestock, including a flock of sheep. On her blog, Kim Goodling wrote about what…
The Sunday Gospel Ps 123:1-2, 2, 3-4 2 Cor 12:7-10 Mk 6:1-6 The Messiah, it turns out, isn’t quite who people expected. In Mark’s Gospel this Sunday, Jesus returns to his ‘native place’, his hometown of Nazareth, and when people hear him teaching in the synagogue, they can’t believe it. “Astonished” is the adjective Mark…
Jb 38:1, 8-11 Ps 107:23-24, 25-26, 28-29, 30-31 2 Cor 5:14-17 Mk 4:35-41 Rembrandt got it. Centuries ago, the artist captured the scene in this Sunday’s Gospel – a scene full of raging waves and gathering clouds and sheer, unabashed terror. The apostles are screaming in fear. One of them is leaning over the side…