Twenty-first Sunday in Ordinary Time Today’s first reading presents us with an image of the diversity of God’s people, gathered from every nation and language. Many of our parishes in the United States are blessed with diverse communities of people, … Read More
Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary Women’s roles in society and in the church have taken on a new meaning in the last few years. With the #metoo movement and a new awareness of how women have … Read More
Twentieth Sunday in Ordinary Time Jesus’s words today don’t bring much comfort. But our comfort isn’t the goal of faith in Christ. Following Christ will call us to do many uncomfortable things. Recall some of the gospels we’ve heard these … Read More
Nineteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time We can obviously read today’s readings with an eye toward the end times when Christ will return in glory. However, as people of faith living in the time between Christ’s Ascension and Second Coming, we … Read More
Eighteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time Many of us whose primary work is in service to the church may never find ourselves rich in earthly treasure. And yet, there still is a warning for us in today’s parable of the rich … Read More
Seventeenth Sunday in Ordinary Time In these summer months, your parish might be preparing to celebrate the Rite of Acceptance into the Order of Catechumens. This rite ritualizes an unbaptized seeker’s intention to follow Christ and the church’s acceptance of … Read More
Sixteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time Poor Martha! She’s always compared to Mary who seems to have done nothing to attend to the needs of dinner, and we laud Mary’s choice as though feeding one’s guest while the food was hot … Read More
In parish ministry, we often have opportunities to celebrate a communal liturgy that is not the Mass. These may be small group meetings, a school gathering, or a workshop setting where the assembly wants to pray something more than just … Read More
Body and Blood of Christ In the Gospels, we often see Jesus put word and action together, where his action embodies his words. We see this most clearly in the Johannine Gospels whenever he said, “I am,” such as when … Read More
The 15th Sunday of Ordinary Time In one of the Facebook groups I participate in, a friend posed the question, “How do I get my parishioners to be more hospitable?” People offered suggestions like scheduling hospitality teams, training ushers, asking … Read More