Today’s readings remind us that both the Temple and the Church are called to be houses of prayer. Today’s Gospel is often called the “Cleansing of the Temple.” In the first reading from Maccabees, we have the description of the cleansing of the Temple after it had...
Just a very brief note of history to better understand today’s readings. In the second century before Christ, Israel was a small country sandwiched between Egypt and Syria. Alexander the Great had expanded Greek culture over a large section of the Mediterranean and...
In today’s readings we hear about two violent tyrants. In the first reading the Greek King or Tyrant Antiochus uses violence and torture to try to force the Jews to violate God’s law. In the Gospel Jesus tells a parable that is taken from the real-life example of...
This encounter between Jesus and Zacchaeus is a key point to understand our life as Christians. Jericho is a good-sized city located about 40 miles east and north of Jerusalem. According to Google, if I were a US Marine, that would be an eight hour walk in the desert....
The first reading for today is from the First Book of Maccabees. It is an account of the time of persecution of the people of Jerusalem during the time they were ruled by Antiochus IV of the Seleucid Kingdom, a now distant descendant of the empire built by Alexander...
