Feast of the Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary Luke 1:39-56 God of all times and ages, may your Spirit be with us in our own “visitations” with family and friends, with all who come to us in need, with those who extend their hand to us. May we not shrink away from the opportunity …
Mark 10:32-45 Greatness in Jesus’ kingdom required that the disciples drink his cup and undergo his baptism, both of which are references to his suffering. James and John insist that they are able, but do not yet understand that greatness means servanthood.“Whoever would be great among you must be your servant,” said Jesus, “and whoever …
Mark 10:17-27 In today’s gospel a rich young aristocrat comes running to a poor man (Jesus) and asking Jesus for what he has. Here was a man who supposedly had everything that money can buy yet there was something missing. But Jesus could see right through this man – he was a phony. He was …
Feast of the Most Holy Trinity Matthew 28:16-20 What does the doctrine of the Blessed Trinity tell us about the kind of God we worship and the kind of people we should be?The Trinity shows us that three is community, three is love at its best. Each one of us becomes fully human only when …
Feast of St. Philip Neri Mark 10:13-16 This passage tells us a great deal about Jesus. It tells us that he was the kind of person who cared for children and that children were not afraid of him. He could not have been a stern, gloomy and joyless person. He must have smiled easily and laughed …
Feast of St. Bede the Venerable, St. Mary Magdalene de’Pazzi Mark 10:1-12 Jesus came to raise the moral law to a higher level than ordinarily practiced. We see a perfect example of “fulfilling the law” in this lesson from Mark’s gospel. We want to water down the claims of the gospel to make it more …
Mark 9:41-50 These verses remain a strong challenge to the wishy-washy Christian. They are a clarion call to the eliminating of evil in our lives. We ought to ruthlessly prune out the briars that strangle the life of purity and purpose. We need to rid our lives of the habits and lusts which deflect us …
Mark 9:38-40 In today’s gospel, Jesus’ disciples are declaring that exorcists who drive out demons in Jesus’ name but do not follow him should be prevented from using Jesus’ name. But Jesus has a much broader picture, declaring that others cannot use his name to accomplish their deeds and at the same time speak ill …
Feast of St. Rita of Cascia Mark 9:30-37 “They fell silent, for on the way they had been arguing about who was the most important.”I think we could all agree that the theme of today’s readings is competition. Competition is an integral part of life – in a sense we cannot live without it yet …
Feast of St. Christopher Magallanes & Companions Mark 9:14-29 In this passage, we can get lost in the story of the possessed man – but what catches our attention is the interaction between Jesus and his disciples. It begins and ends with his disciples. They had just experienced an overwhelming moment at the Transfiguration – …
