Reflections
2023
Seventeenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Yet more parables about the Kingdom! And at the end of it Jesus says to the disciples, “ok, do you get it now?” To which they respond, “oh yes!” (Mt 13:44-52) I have to wonder whether they were being entirely…
Sixteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
This week we hear three parables about the Kingdom (Mt 13:24-43). The reading finishes with a fiery furnace and wailing and gnashing of teeth - very atmospheric but in a way unfortunate because it tends to…
Fifteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
“... blessed are your eyes, because they see, and your ears, because they hear.” So that’s good - our eyes and ears are working, we’re seeing and hearing what Jesus is saying. And that’s a lot better than all…
Fourteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Last week we previewed Jesus’ statement that following him was not difficult. Maybe not a walk in the park, but he isn’t out to make our lives more challenging. What struck me, seeing the passage in context…
Thirteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
How difficult is it to be a Christian? Sometimes it sounds a breeze - “My yoke is easy and my burden is light” Jesus tells us one time (Mt 11:30). But today’s gospel reading (Mt 10:37-42) seems to give us a…
Twelfth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Jeremiah lived about 5000 years ago. His world sounds very familiar. There is a lot of denouncing going on, and people trying to get back at their enemies. This was the world as they understood it and, not…
Eleventh Sunday in Ordinary Time
We are used to the connection between the first of our readings and the gospel reading, while second often follows its own independent path. But today the more obvious connection is between the first and…
Solemnity of the Body and Blood of Christ
I suspect the early Christians would have found the idea of a feast specifically devoted to the Body and Blood of Christ a little strange. For them the idea of participation in the Body and Blood of the Lord…
The Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity
Easter is over, and we return to “Ordinary” Time. But not quite. We still have two more big feasts. Next week is the Feast of the Body and Blood of Christ, and today of the Holy Trinity. It’s like Easter…
Pentecost Sunday
As Christians we believe in God, the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. We also know we have received the Holy Spirit through our baptism. But if we were asked by someone who knew nothing of Christianity - so what…
The Ascension of the Lord
We may struggle a little with the story of the Ascension (Acts 1:1-11). Our first reaction might be to wonder, ok, what actually happened? Jesus disappears up into the sky, then what? This is probably the…
Sixth Sunday of Easter
Before we get to the main course for today, let’s take a quick side trip. Last week we heard how Philip really didn’t do very well at understanding what Jesus was telling him, and Jesus, in the nicest way…
Fifth Sunday of Easter
Last week we heard how the Pharisees failed to understand Jesus when he talked about being the gate to the sheepfold. We mentioned the similarity to Jesus saying that he was “the Way”. Today we hear directly…
Fourth Sunday of Easter
We’re very used to hearing Jesus compare himself to a shepherd, talking about “his sheep”, and so on. At first we might think today’s reading from John’s gospel (Jn 10:1-10) is another one of these accounts.…
Third Sunday of Easter
Given the importance of the Resurrection and the appearances of Jesus after his death, it’s perhaps surprising how little consistency there is in the various accounts we have of these events. Today we hear…
Second Sunday of Easter
The story of Thomas, “Doubting Thomas” as he is often called, is very familiar (Jn 20:19-31). We hear it every year on this Sunday just after Easter. But after so many years I noticed something I had never…
At the Easter Vigil in the Holy Night of Easter
We have traveled through the up and downs of Holy Week, through 40 days of Lent, and if not 40 years in the desert, then some years in a world that may seem strange and alien and disconnected from our inner…
Good Friday of the Lord’s Passion
Yesterday we focused a little on the divinity of Christ. Today is unambiguously about his humanity. The story of how one man is tortured and killed. The pain and the suffering is all too relatable. But it is…
Maundy Thursday
As I read again the familiar story of Jesus washing his disciples’ feet at their last supper together (Jn 13:1-15), I wonder if we’re not as shocked as we should be. In the long history of the Church there…
Seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time
Today we hear the final section of Jesus’ reformulation of the Law (Mt 5:38-48). He moves on from how we should handle situations where relationships have been damaged (as we saw last week) to the demands of…