On the Back Porch
Reading, pondering and studying God’s Word is sometimes best done “on the back porch.” Each week we will try to offer something for you and your “back porch time.”
6th Sunday of Easter, Year B
What We Celebrate
This Sunday’s gospel is an integral part of the discourse that began last Sunday with the “Branch and the Vines” passage. The closing words of the passage as to “abide,” to remain in Jesus. To what end? To bear much fruit and that fruit is seen in the actions of love. This Sunday’s gospel continues the discourse. Yet there is something very practical here: If you keep my commandments, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and remain in his love. Many suggest that this is the practical answer of how one remains in Christ and in his Word, bears fruit, and remains in the love of Jesus. These things are not some mystical experience. It is simple obedience. It is when we keep Christ’s commandments that we abide in his love. Once again appeal is made to Christ’s own example. He kept the Father’s commandments and thus abides continually in the Father’s love. And it is not a blind following of the commands, it is to “listen through” to the deeper love that resides within and throughout the commandments.
Take a moment and go consider this amazing reading from the comfort of your back porch.
Full Text of the Sunday Readings
Detailed Commentary – 6th Sunday of Easter Gospel
Image credit: Duccio di Buoninsegna – Appearance on the Mountain in Galilee | ca. 1310 | Museo dell’ Opera del Duomo, Siena | Public Domain
The Gospel of John
This is the second part of a two part video series on the Gospel of John. The beginning of this video reviews the “big picture” content of the first 14 chapters of John – and picks up the story at the Last Supper, the event located just before our Sunday gospel.
The Ascension, Year B
What We Celebrate
This Sunday the Church (in most places) celebrates the Solemnity of the Ascension of the Lord. We are most familiar with the accounts from the Gospel of Luke and most especially from the Acts of the Apostles (also written by Luke). The Markan account is, shall we say, unusual compared to Luke with a single verse describing the Ascension, and some expected and cryptic verses nearby.
Take a moment and consider this amazing reading from the comfort of your back porch.
Full Text of the Sunday Readings
Detailed Commentary – The Ascension in Mark
Detail from “The Ascension” (1775) by John Singleton Copley | Museum of Fine Arts, Boston | PD-US
Why the Ascension Matters
In our modern age it is easy to think of the Ascension of Jesus as the “break out” with Jesus being the first to escape earth and make it into heaven. The origins of such thinking are interesting and complex, but it is also a misunderstanding of the Jewish understanding of “heaven” and “earth.” Bishop Barron explains why the Ascension is akin to the “transfiguration” of earth? Interesting, heh? Watch the video to learn more.
Pentecost Sunday, Years ABC
What We Celebrate
Pentecost Sunday offers us two different readings about the giving of the Holy Spirit. The first reading from Acts 2 describes the Pentecost scene in dramatic fashion occurring 50 days after the Resurrection. The gospel reading from John describes the evening of Resurrection Sunday in the Upper Room when Jesus appears, breathes on the Apostles and says, “Receive the Holy Spirit.” Why the two accounts?
Take a moment and consider these amazing reading from the comfort of your back porch.
Full Text of the Sunday Readings
Detailed Commentary – Pentecost
Image credit: Descent of the Holy Spirit, Cryo-Russian icon, Wiki Commons, PD-US
The Importance of Pentecost
The book of Acts shows how God fulfilled His ancient promises to restore His blessing to all the nations through the offspring of Abraham: Jesus of Nazareth. In this video, we’ll explore how Jesus and the Spirit renew the people of Israel and prepare them to announce good news to the nations.
Holy Trinity, Year B
What We Celebrate
The Solemnity of the Holy Trinity is celebrated each year on the Sunday following Pentecost Sunday. Nowhere in Scripture does the word “Trinity” appear. Their argument is then that the idea of a Holy Trinity is a human doctrine. Yet, Christians are baptized in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit: not in their names, for there is only one God, the almighty Father, his only Son and the Holy Spirit: the Most Holy Trinity. As the Catechism of the Catholic Church explains: “The mystery of the Most Holy Trinity is the central mystery of Christian faith and life. It is the mystery of God in himself. It is therefore the source of all the other mysteries of faith, the light that enlightens them. It is the most fundamental and essential teaching in the hierarchy of the truths of faith. The whole history of salvation is identical with the history of the way and the means by which the one true God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, reveals himself to men ‘and reconciles and unites with himself those who turn away from sin.”
Take a moment and consider these amazing reading from the comfort of your back porch.
Full Text of the Sunday Readings
Detailed Commentary – Holy Trinity
Image credit: Trinity, Rublev, modified with Canva
The Holy Trinity
The Church distinguishes between theology (theologia) and economy (oikonomia). “Theology” refers to the mystery of God’s inmost life within the Blessed Trinity and “economy” to all the works by which God reveals himself and communicates his life. Through the oikonomia the theologia is revealed to us; but conversely, the theologia illuminates the whole oikonomia. God’s works reveal who he is in himself; the mystery of his inmost being enlightens our understanding of all his works. So it is, analogously, among human persons. A person discloses himself in his actions, and the better we know a person, the better we understand his actions. Want another explanation? Watch the video below!
Corpus Christi, Year B
What We Celebrate
The Solemnity of the Body and Blood of Christ, i.e. Corpus Christ, is celebrated each year on the Sunday following Trinity Sunday. While the celebration of Holy Thursday includes a remembrance of the institution of the Sacrament of the Eucharist, it does so in the shadow of the solemn events of Holy Week, including the death of Jesus on Good Friday. The Church has established this solemnity to joyously celebrate the great gift of the Eucharist and to more fully explore its meaning as the “source and summit of the faith.”
Take a moment and consider these amazing reading from the comfort of your back porch.
Full Text of the Sunday Readings
Detailed Commentary – Corpus Christi
Image credit: Pexels CC-0 modified with Canva
The Source and Summit
The Eucharist, as Vatican II famously said, is the source and summit of the Christian life—that from which Christian life comes and that toward which it tends. It’s the alpha and the omega of our Christianity. Our three marvelous readings today bring forth three key aspects of the Eucharist: re-presented sacrifice, blood covenant, and spiritual banquet.
10th Sunday, Year B
What We Celebrate
The 10th Sunday of Ordinary Time is not a Sunday that is always celebrated as it depends upon the Easter Season for the year. But it is a pivotal moment in Mark’s telling of the story of Jesus who is at the beginning of his public ministry in Galilee. He has already healed paralytics, people with serious illnesses, and has cast out demons from people. His reputation spreads far and wide. People come for healing or just to see if “he might be the One.” Scribes come from Jerusalem to determine if he is a sorcerer and in league with the prince of demons. And his family is concerned about Jesus and think he in “out of his mind.“
How will Jesus respond? And his response includes a reference to the “unforgiveable sin.”
There is a lot going on in this gospel. Take a moment “on the back porch” and find out more about this amazing Gospel.
Full Text of the Sunday Readings
Detailed Commentary
“Mocking of Christ” by Ciambue | 1280 |Louvre, Paris | PD-US
An Everlasting Sin
“Amen, I say to you, all sins and all blasphemies that people utter will be forgiven them. But whoever blasphemes against the holy Spirit will never have forgiveness, but is guilty of an everlasting sin.”
If there was ever a passage in Scripture that worries people, the verse above from Mark 3:28-29, certainly makes the list. At one time or another, most priests have been asked about the meaning of these verses. Is it a question of curiosity? Is a question of concern? Most often it is the latter.
The Detailed Commentary addressed this question, but also, more colloguially, Fr. Brad shares his thoughts and the teaching of the Catholic Church in the video below. Enjoy!