Praying Alone Together: CYCLE-A-2023

Showing posts with label CYCLE-A-2023. Show all posts

THE FEAST OF CHRIST THE KING

The Last Sunday of the Year-ADear Friends,This famous Gospel text is not as simple and straight forward as it seems on the surface.I do not know of anyone who has turned away more needy, homeless and addicted women and their children than my sister who is a nun. If we take a literal interpretation of...

Matthew 25:14-30Dear Friends, Today’s Gospel puts the focus on the end of time for both the Church Year and, more importantly, it highlights fact that our world, personal and communal, will come to an end sooner than later. The gift of life expressed in our time, talent and treasure needs to cherished....

Matthew 25:1-13 Dear Friends, We are in the final three weeks of this Church year. This particular liturgical time has a special message for us about time. It may be better stated that the Church invites us to ponder the mystery of time.In today ‘s Gospel about the ten virgins, both wise and foolish,...

Matthew 23:1-12Dear Friends, In my second or third year as a young priest, at the end of the Second Vatican Council, I began to tell people to drop the Father and just call me Tracy. Very shortly one of the wise leaders of the parish pulled me aside to tell me a simple truth: It was not about me! She...

Matthew 22:34-40Dear Friends, The leaders once again are trying to entrap Jesus. Today’s Gospel selection is the third of four conflict stories in chapter twenty two of Matthew. Each time Jesus turns the challenge around to give a deeper insight into his Gospel message. In fact, today’s lesson is about...

Matthew 22:15-21Dear Friends Today’s Gospel has Jesus undergoing four conflicts with different groups. Each separate group tries to entrap Jesus in way that endangers his life. He turns each disagreement into a teaching opportunity. Today’s message is not about the separation of church and state. It...

St. Matthew 22:1-14Dear Friends, Today’s gospel from Matthew has many layers of meaning and challenges. There are two points I want to consider. We have received an invitation to the wedding feast and that has consequences for us. In the Bible, the theme of the invitation or call is repeated often....

Matthew 21:33-43Dear Friends, Our journey with the Gospel of Matthew is drawing to a conclusion. In the next few Sundays, we will have selections that highlight two things: Jesus’ conflict with the Jewish leaders and His call to make a decision on His message.Down through Church history these final...

Matthew 21:28-32Dear Friends, The events of today’s text from Matthew take place just after Jesus’s glorious entry into Jerusalem on the back of a donkey. The next item leading to further conflict is the cleansing the temple. The impact of these events set the scene for even deeper conflict with the...

Matthew 20:1-16Dear Friends, Each Sunday the Gospel message invites us into a new world, a world where the values of Jesus call and challenge us to change. In this world, we are told that the last shall be first, the leader is to be the servant of all. The response to violence is not revenge but to...

Mt 18:21-35The Forgiving Community There is a clear message in this final section (Mt 18:21-35): Forgiveness is the life-blood of the loving community. To get this point across, Jesus uses a parable. Parables tend to make us glide over the surface and miss the depth of their main message. This is especially...

Mt 18, 15-20The second section of Matthew’s teaching on the church in chapter 18 (Mt 18:15-20) raises some truly challenging issues about the church as community. It is much more complicated than just having an accurate parish list.Forgiveness and acceptance of the sinner is the coin of the realm for...

Matthew 16: 21-27Dear Friends, From time to time, when I am frustrated working with people, especially in the Church, I say Jesus made only one mistake. He chose to let people to do His work. Of course, this is basically no different than what Peter told Jesus in today’s Gospel. In the beginning of...

Matthew 16:13-20Dear Friends, Peter had quite a journey from the time Jesus asked him to leave his boat and nets and follow Him. He saw it all: the blind seeing, the lame walking, the devils cast out, the loaves and the fish and, of course, his short, ill-fated attempt to walk on the water and a lot...

Matthew 15:21-28 Dear Friends, It is very hard for us to grasp how deeply the Jews at the time of Jesus cherished their role as the Chosen People of God to the exclusion of all others. It penetrated and permeated their reality with a clear vision and an acutely guarded set of protocols that defined...

Matthew 14:22-33Today’s Gospel story of Jesus walking on the water is filled with symbolism and echoes of the divine in the Old Testament. The disciples found themselves alone in a storm-tossed boat. Suddenly, Jesus was present to assure them, teaching them, and us, that there is no conflict, no struggle,...

Mt 17:1-9Dear Friends, Today’s Gospel passage skips the opening phrase, “Six days later…” (Mt 17:1) These words are an important connection to the critical section of chapter sixteen where Jesus asks, who do you say that I am. Peter proudly says, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” (Mt...

Matthew 13:44-52 Dear Friends, Today is the third Sunday of parables in chapter thirteen in the Gospel of St. Matthew. Many scholars of the Bible say today’s parable of the treasure is the most important of all the parables. It begins with the statement, “The kingdom of heaven is like…” (Mt. 13:44)....

St. Matthew 13:24-30Dear Friends, I had my introduction into this parable of the weeds and the wheat when I was a sophomore in high school. It was the time of the McCarthy hearings on TV. The politics of the day were about the infiltration of Communists into our government and society. I was very interested...

Mt 13:1-23 Dear Friends Today we begin the first of three Sundays exploring parables from chapter thirteen of St. Matthew. A parable is simply a story taken from the ordinary events of daily life that leads to a deep insight into reality. Even though the parables are prone to different interpretations,...

Praying Alone Together

THE FEAST OF CHRIST THE KING

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