Beginning on Jan. 10, the gospel readings for Sundays are taken, for the most part, from Mark’s Gospel. The weekday gospels are a continuous reading from Mark, starting on Jan. 11. Mark’s Gospel is the shortest of our four Gospels. Today almost all New Testament scholars believe that Mark was the first written. During the […]
Advent has begun and in many gatherings in our churches we sing/hear the familiar hymn, “O Come, O Come, Emanuel.” Beginning on December 17, the “O Antiphons” will be recited during the Liturgy of the Hours; December 23 features “O Emmanuel.” On one level the name Emmanuel can signal haunting melodies, Advent wreathes, winter’s arrival, […]
The readings of the Eucharistic liturgy for November 8th present two major understandings of the notion of wisdom in Scripture, one in reference to God and the other to human beings. The first reading (Wisdom 6:12-16), picking up on Lady Wisdom of Proverbs 8, presents wisdom as an attribute of God; while wisdom belongs to God, it can […]
These days we often hear “turn the other cheek” with a reference to the words of Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount from Matthew’s gospel. Understanding a gospel passage involves a consideration of its context in the gospel, and its context in the circumstances of the characters and the audience. The Sermon on the […]
This year on Aug. 16 we hear Jesus utter the words, “O woman, great is your faith” (Matt. 15:28). The woman is a Canaanite, the first gentile woman portrayed as having faith in Jesus in this gospel. Jesus and the disciples are in Gentile territory and an unnamed woman approaches him and begs for the […]
The Sunday Gospel readings this July contain several of Jesus’ parables. In teaching with parables, Jesus is clearly using a technique from his Jewish background since these short narratives are found in the Old Testament and later rabbinic literature. What is a parable? It is a brief story using something familiar to the reader/hearer to […]
As I write this (May 8) the New York State Police have issued an Amber Alert for a 9-year-old missing boy, Gustavo, probably kidnapped. The alert features the boy’s name, hair and eye colors, and what he is wearing. All were asked to be on the look-out for him. Thankfully, he was found safe. The […]
The present Covid-19 global pandemic reveals to all of us our vulnerability and the mitigation efforts call us to an awareness of community around us and all over the world. At this time we naturally turn to prayer and ask for help and healing from our God. Our situation calls to mind the healing ministry […]
In 2002, I gave a presentation on Mary in the Gospels. During the discussion, one person remarked that she had heard that the blood and water coming from the side of Jesus on the cross in John 19:34 was a birthing image – the amniotic fluid and blood involved in human birthing. Since I was […]
