Thirty-First Sunday in Ordinary Time • Year A

God’s word today challenges all of us who are priests, prophets, and kings by Baptism, but especially the ordained leadership of the Body of Christ, to reflect deeply on what it means to be Christ for others today. We are most the Body of Christ in the celebration of the Eucharist, which the Second Vatican Council calls “the center and summit of the Christian life,” and therefore, each of us individually and together must be Eucharistically focused.

Thirtieth Sunday in Ordinary Time • Year A

It is the call of those who hear the Scriptures, both Old and New, to stand for values that are counter-cultural. Being compassionate does not get you ahead in society or make a lot of money for you in a world that worships power and wealth at any price. Thinking about the welfare of others before considering what’s in it for you is considered foolish and naive.

Twenty-Ninth Sunday in Ordinary Time • Year A

Governments and their forms change, national boundaries change, social conditions change, cultures and civilizations change, but the problem does not change. What is God’s, what is Caesar’s? Jesus’ real answer is given in response to the question of which commandment in the Jewish law was the greatest. “You shall love the Lord your God,” Jesus said, “with your whole heart, with your whole soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and first commandment. The second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself” (Mt. 22:37-38). Jesus spent his whole life and ministry interpreting this law for all times and places and situations. The two great commandments in the Jewish law, he said, are inseparable. You cannot fulfill the first if you are not fulfilling the second. Loving God and not loving your neighbor is a contradiction.

Twenty-Eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time • Year A

Why? Why kill the messenger? For that matter, why is the invitation unwelcome? Why would anyone want to go to a farm rather than a palace, why would anyone want to go to work instead of a feast? A party with the king means “a feast of rich food and choice wines,” music and dancing and laughter. What’s not to like?

Twenty-Seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time • Year A

It has been said that “indifference, not hate, is the fabric of inhumanity,” and this echoes perfectly with the message of Isaiah. We can fall into this, and look at the national level and throw there all the attention, and forget that each of us is baptized, each of us has been given gifts to use for building the Kingdom of God, and yet we often fail to do anything, remaining indifferent or simply frozen by being overwhelmed, to advance the cause of life, of justice, of peace.

Twenty-sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time • Year A

Prayer is the foundation for a genuine response to the Love of God. As is humility, beautifully articulated today in Paul’s letter to the Philippians. When I pray, I learn to sense the presence of God in myself, and in the events of my life. Prayer helps me to weigh the evidence that is unseen which exercises caution when things seem too good to be true, and offers hope to those in need of a second chance. Prayer is also the primary way to help discern the difference between those who talk the talk from those who walk the walk.

Twenty-Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time • Year A

Whenever we began to follow Christ, whether as infants, children, or adults, we still hold back. We don’t show up at dawn ready to throw our whole lives into the task of following Christ. Rather, we say, “Lord, I’ll give you everything, everything but this desire, everything but this one fault, all I have except this one deceit, this single sin, this precious pleasure.” As many years as we have lived, as many miles as we have followed Christ, we have still hardly started to live and work and love as Christ commands.

Twenty-Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time • Year A

The beginning of the First Reading from Sirach today tells us that “wrath and anger are hateful things, yet the sinner hugs them tight.” What are some ways we can diffuse wrath and anger? Maybe by stepping away from the situation, taking a walk, turning to prayer, or talking to someone for guidance. Unforgiveness imprisons us and can lead to hardness of heart and violence or inappropriate behavior. On the other hand, forgiveness offered to another brings healing, peace, and inner freedom, which is really God’s deepest desire for each of us.

Twenty-Third Sunday in Ordinary Time • Year A

As Christians, as members of Christ’s Body, we are called to continue the legacy of such a prophet as Ezekiel, to be prophets in our own day and to persevere in that call. We are called to be people who speak the truth, the truth that is Christ Jesus himself. It is a truth that is not always easy to speak. As Matthew reminds us in the Gospel, it is a truth that sometimes calls us to task and to mutual accountability.

Twenty-Second Sunday in Ordinary Time • Year A

In our noisy world we are listening to what our “itching ears want to hear.” What is different and what would amaze Saint Paul is our social media, newspaper, and cable tv silos where we are listening with itching ears to so many more voices who agree with what we want to hear. In our different silos the voices are growing to drown out opposing thoughts, sound doctrine, and God’s Will. Sadly, it does not matter what side we take, our itching ears are winning by listening to what we want to hear, rather than what we should hear.

Twenty-First Sunday in Ordinary Time • Year A

Augustine recounts a large period of his life he called “years of ignorance” when despite his success as a professional teacher, and a reader of the greatest books, he could not figure out anything meaningful about Him beyond his name, learned at home as a child. He would acknowledge Jesus was “a great man of extraordinary wisdom…but not God.” And could not understand either what a humble figure like Jesus would be capable of teaching him. Yet, it was precisely in that zone of spiritual blindness where the hidden power of the question opens all the possibilities.

Twentieth Sunday in Ordinary Time • Year A

We have to go one step further, as the woman did. Do we believe that God will help us in those times of our lives when we need help? Do we believe that God loves us enough to be involved in our lives? God may not wave a magic wand over our problems and change them, but God will be there to hold us up and give us the strength we need to get through the difficulties of life. He can help us, but the important faith is that God will help us.

Nineteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time • Year A

This day, Christ says to us: “The bad things of this world do not last. The good things of this world do not last. But you can have me, always, without fail. You cannot have perfection, but you can have my faithfulness. You cannot live without pain, but you can have my mercy. You cannot escape every storm, but you can always have me by your side, a rock that will not crack, a beacon that never dims, a friend who does not vanish with the fair weather.”

Thirteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time • Year A

The gospel warns us three times to shape up or walk the plank. But the story reminds us that every Sunday during Mass, just before communion time, we confess our unworthiness when we say, Lord, I am not worthy to receive you. But that’s not all we say, for immediately we add, But only say the word and my soul shall be healed.

Twelfth Sunday in Ordinary Time • Year A

Jesus then came among us to show the way and imparted this mission to his followers who have passed it on to us. On this Father’s Day holiday we call to mind the exhortation to give as we have received. Our parents taught us the love of God, disciplined us in ways reminiscent of the eagle and its young. The message: to care about others as God has cared for us.