Thirty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time – November 17, 2024 We come almost full circle since we began the Year of Mark, and today’s Gospel should sound familiar. The verses that follow this pericope were proclaimed on the First Sunday of … Read More
Thirty-second Sunday in Ordinary Time – November 10, 2024 Many landmarks and much of the infrastructure we take for granted were built by persons enslaved and exploited by unjust systems. I think of the White House, of rail and roadways … Read More
Thirty-first Sunday in Ordinary Time – November 3, 2024 On this Sunday before Election Day in the United States, the Lectionary gives us a blessing in disguise. Today’s pericope of the greatest commandment is so familiar that we might miss … Read More
Thirtieth Sunday in Ordinary Time – October 27, 2024 At the edge of Jerusalem, after misunderstandings, disappointments, and misguided requests by Jesus’s followers and would-be disciples, we finally find a worthy companion for Christ on the road to the cross. … Read More
Twenty-ninth Sunday in Ordinary Time – October 20, 2024 In Mark’s Gospel, the language about the cross and what it requires is violent and unambiguous. Jesus will suffer greatly and be rejected, killed, and handed over. He will give up … Read More
Twenty-eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time – October 13, 2024 Does Jesus want us to sell everything we have to inherit eternal life? Or is this another hyperbole to get our attention? Recall that in the first Christian community, “no one … Read More
Twenty-seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time – October 6, 2024 Hopefully no one in their homily last week advocated for self-harm or mutilation as an actual response to human weakness. We do not interpret Scripture literally or use it to invoke … Read More
Twenty-sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time – September 29, 2024 To really understand today’s Gospel and Jesus’s over-the-top rant, read the verses of Numbers 11 that lead up to today’s first reading pericope. Moses was fed up. He had had enough … Read More
Twenty-fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time – September 22, 2024 Last week Jesus left us with this paradox: Lose your life to save it. He continues this week saying that to be first, one must be last. All their bickering about … Read More
Twenty-fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time – September 15, 2024 Look up a 2010 TED Talk called “How to Start a Movement.” In it, author and entrepreneur Derek Sivers analyzes a three-minute home video of an outdoor music festival. A shirtless … Read More