Today’s Gospel comes from the Sermon on the Mount. In Matthew’s Gospel, the Sermon on the Mount covers three chapters that delineate a new vision, a new human being, a new way of living with God and...
St. Barnabas was one of the prominent Christian disciples in Jerusalem, Jewish and Cypriot by birth. He was sent to Antioch as an emissary of the Church in Jerusalem and witnessed the work of the...
When it comes to the reading selections for daily Mass, I sometimes think the first readings are on their own track, telling a story, but only in bits and pieces, starts and stops. Today we are...
Today we celebrate the Solemnity of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus. This feast and today’s readings ask us to focus on the love and mercy of God. St. Paul speaks in today’s second reading of the...
The question posed to Jesus in today’s gospel seems trivial to us. Why so much concern about which commandment is important? For the people of Jesus’ time, it would have been a very important...
The readings for the memorial are an option for today and are well chosen for the life of St. Boniface. The account of St. Paul before King Agrippa and the gospel message of Jesus as the good...
Often the incident in today’s Gospel is used to justify taxes or it is used to promote a separation of religious values and duties from civil values and duties. But neither of those interpretations...
It is but a simple, single verse from our first reading (2 Peter 1:2-7): God “...has bestowed on us the precious and very great promises, so that through them you may come to share in the divine...
What is the most important thing in your life? What is the main guide in our life? Those are very big questions that we often do not take time to answer. Most people tend to center their lives on...
Last week I traveled to a cemetery close to Boston for the burial of a friend. Then I took advantage of the long holiday weekend to visit my hometown and family in the Adirondack Mountains. Spring...
The disciples, perhaps like most of us, tend to “half-hear” what Jesus is teaching. In today’s Gospel, for example, Jesus teaches that his way is the way of humility, the way of the Cross: “Behold,...
Following from yesterday’s readings, today we continue with Peter’s first letter. Previously, Peter had challenged believers to experience the joy of such a great faith. His admonishment was to be...