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These thoughts are based on Cycle B, our 2021 lectionary cycle. This Sunday’s Gospel is the account of how Jesus cleansed the temple, driving out the merchants selling things there. (Some Masses, where those preparing for Easter sacraments are present, may use the Cycle A Gospel.) I was thinking about…
I always feel sorry for preachers on this Cycle B second Sunday of Lent, because the first Hebrew Scripture reading is the story of Abraham sacrificing his son Isaac. It’s a story that makes God look bad (why would God ask such a thing? Is God a tester?) and Abraham…
Lent might seem a somewhat severe season, but our readings today are positive and uplifting. The opening prayer might be a purpose statement for Lent — that we may grow in understanding of the riches hidden in Christ…. In the brief Gospel, Jesus leaves the desert to announce to us…
After COVID, most of us may hear with heightened awareness this Sunday’s Gospel about Jesus healing a leper. The leprosy of our Gospel stories probably was not our Hansen’s disease, which is not very infectious, but more like fungal or parasitic skin infections which spread easily. So the result for…
A year ago at this time, I was in the midst of a 30-day retreat at a retreat center in Colorado. The silence, the time for prayer, the opportunity to immerse myself in the beauty of nature was healing and wholing (if that’s a word; if not, it should be).…
Things do not begin well in our first reading today. We hear about Job, a broken man. He has been assigned “months of misery” and “troubled nights,” and he laments that he “shall not see happiness again.” But Job is wrong, our responsorial psalm proclaims: Praise the Lord, who heals…
We are now a little more than four weeks into the new year and the weather in the Midwest gives the impression that it is reflecting the mood of the nation. We have had far more cloudy and oppressive days than those that are bright and revealing. Nature seems to…
In our second reading this Sunday, Paul says, I should like you to be free from anxieties (1 Cor 7:32-35). We are still in our anxiety-driven COVID year. The disease itself has been bad enough, but its collateral damage is also hugely anxiety-producing — the economic consequences for many people,…
Today’s Gospel might sound like last week’s! Today is Mark’s version of Jesus calling his first apostles; last week we heard John’s account. In both Gospel versions the disciples respond immediately to Jesus. They leave everything and follow him without hesitation. But this week our Gospel is paired with a…
This week (Jan 18-25) is the Week of Christian Unity. Formerly called the Church Unity Octave, it is a week of prayer that begins with the feast of the Chair of St. Peter and ends with the feast of the Conversion of Paul. This year’s theme is “Abide in my…
