Nineteenth Sunday, Year C, 7 August, 2022: Wisdom 18:6-9; Hebrews 11:1-2, 8-19; Luke 12:32-48      As Jesus invites us to change, watching for a future as yet undisclosed, he addresses us from a dynamic central to Judaism’s engagement with the living God. Stuck in a dead end—be it idolatry, bondage in Egypt, exile in Babylon, […]

Christ breathing his last on the cross amid the jeers and cruel mocking of those who crucified him, epitomizes what seems to be the weakness and powerlessness of good in the face of the apparently overwhelming power of evil. Again and again in the long and violent history of humanity, evil tyrants, dictators, and corrupt […]

Sixteenth Sunday, Year C, 17 July, 2022: Genesis 18:1-10a; Colossians 1:24-28; Luke 10:38-42     Today’s succinct Gospel is richly detailed, details well worth exploring.     Martha, who welcomes Jesus, is mentioned first so perhaps she is the head of this household. If she is prosperous enough to offer hospitality, she is not rich enough to […]

Fourteenth Sunday, Year C, 3 July, 2022: Isaiah 66:10-14c; Galatians 6:14-18; Luke 10:1-12, 17-20      I don’t think that anyone sitting here in choir is likely to say, “This Gospel doesn’t apply to me; this is addressed to people in the active ministry.” I imagine that we all realize that our way of proclaiming the […]

Sacred Heart of Jesus, 24 June, 2022: Ezekiel 14:11-16; Romans 5:5b-14; Luke 15:3-7      The heart is a potent symbol in the Scriptures and, far deeper than the sentimental imagery of advertising or greeting cards, is the gateway to deep communion with God. It is an image at the boundary between the contingent and the […]

The Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity, 12 June, 2022: Proverbs 8:22-31; Romans 5:1-5; John 16:12-15       Most of our Solemnities celebrate an event that reveals God’s active presence among us. How often do we sing in choir: “On this Christ is born…” or “…was baptized in the Jordan…” or “…transfigured on the holy mountain…” […]

Sixth Sunday of Easter, Year C, 22 May, 2022: Acts 15:1-2, 22-29; Revelation 21:10-24, 22-23; John 14: 23-29      This brief passage from John’s Gospel is densely packed. Jesus speaks of his departing and returning; he also refers to the apostles’ sense of loss but that they should be glad for him. He tells them […]

1 May, 2022: Third Sunday of Easter, Year C: Acts 5:27-32, 40b-41; Revelation 5:11-14; John 21:1-19      Children, have you caught anything to eat?      That’s a game-changing question, because Jesus shifts the emphasis from fishing to earn a living, to providing a meal for his apostles. This is no command to change, it’s a […]

Easter Sunday, Year C, 17 April, 2022: Acts 10:34a, 37-43; Colossians 3:1-4; John 20:1-9     In this morning’s Gospel, there are yet no angels, no announcement of the Lord’s rising; rather, Mary Magdalene, Peter and the Beloved Disciple puzzle over the empty tomb.     Was Peter driven to the tomb by his inner turmoil? He […]

The final and devastating plague meted out on a stubborn and recalcitrant Pharaoh and his hapless subjects, is also the only plague that the Israelites had to consciously and actively choose to evade. According to the Exodus account all the other plagues assailing Egypt left the Land of Goshen (where the Israelites dwelt) untouched—all this […]