“Come out!”
Fifth Sunday of Lent – A Unless you have had elect celebrating the scrutinies, the last time your assembly heard this Gospel was at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic in March of 2020. Since then, we have had over … Read More
Faith seeks reason
Solemnity of the Annunciation of the Lord The first chapter of Luke’s Gospel gives us back-to-back annunciations with very different outcomes. First is the angel Gabriel’s announcement to Zechariah, which leaves him mute until the day of John’s birth. A … Read More
Not proof, but love
Fourth Sunday of Lent – A Who sinned? Isn’t this the one who used to beg? How were your eyes opened? Where is he? How can a sinful man do such things? What do you have to say about him? … Read More
Holy Ground
Third Sunday of Lent – A We were in Selma, Alabama, to see the Edmund Pettus Bridge and maybe have our flagging hope revived. He stood in our way beside a card table in the sweltering heat. A man of … Read More
Humanity, fully alive
Second Sunday of Lent – A Though long dead, Moses and Elijah, the great liberator and the prophet of the Jewish people, drop in to chat with Jesus, who emanates dazzling light before the disciples’ eyes. Then God’s voice booms … Read More
The commencement of our mission
First Sunday of Lent – A The Spirit leads Jesus into the desert after his baptism to be tested by the devil. This highlights two important aspects of faith. First, recall that one of Lent’s twofold characters is baptismal (see … Read More
Do Look Around
Ash Wednesday – Year A In the 2021 movie “Don’t Look Up,” a news anchor rebuffs his guest astronomers. Apparently, their announcement of a comet on course to destroy the Earth in six months is too depressing for his TV … Read More
Restraint and Generosity
7th Sunday of Ordinary Time – Year A On this last Sunday before Lent, we come to the climax of the “antitheses” in Matthew’s Sermon on the Mount. It is a fitting prelude to the penitential season in preparation for … Read More
Going Further
6th Sunday of Ordinary Time – Year A We come to a section of Matthew’s Sermon on the Mount that scholars call the “antitheses,” marked by the rhetorical pattern, “You have heard that it was said … But I say … Read More
Can we be salt and light?
5th Sunday of Ordinary Time – Year A Following on his underlying teaching of the beatitudes from last week, Jesus says to the crowd and to us this week: You are salt and light meant to glorify God by being … Read More