This coming weekend is the Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time. The gospel is Matthew’s well known “Sermon on the Mount.” In yesterday’s post we covered the context for the Sermon as well as some overarching views of the Sermon regarding its context and audience. Today we consider the nature and alternative outlines of the Sermon. Continue reading
In today’s gospel Jesus proclaims, “...if a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand.” (Mark 3:25). The gospel says it I believe it, my experience reveals it to be true, it makes sense – and ultimately such divided houses do indeed fall. But it is my experience that sometimes it takes a long time to collapse and in the interim, living in the house is an increasingly difficult and unpleasant time. Continue reading
This coming weekend is the Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time. The gospel is Matthew’s well known “Sermon on the Mount.” In today’s post we cover the context for the Sermon as well as some overarching views of the Sermon regarding its context and audience. Continue reading
Recently, I read “The History of Florida” by Michael Gannon, a professor emeritus at the University of Florida. The book is a monographic sweep through Florida history from the pre-Columbian landscape, the settling by native peoples, the arrival of the first European explorers, the history of ethnicity and immigration, and to the changing landscape of life and people that forms the great state we live in. So far I have also learned an amazing amount by the early Franciscan missionaries in Florida and Georgia in the 16th and 17th centuries. It put me in a “historical mindset” when looking at this week’s readings. Continue reading
This coming Sunday is the 3rd Sunday in Ordinary Time. In the previous post we discussed the phrase: “the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” Today we summarize the gospel as a prelude to the Sermon on the Mount – the gospel for the 4th Sunday. “His fame spread to all of Syria, and they brought to him all who were sick with various diseases and racked with pain, those who were possessed, lunatics, and paralytics, and he cured them. And great crowds from Galilee, the Decapolis, Jerusalem, and Judea, and from beyond the Jordan followed him.” (Mt 4:24-25) Continue reading
Children’s Mass | Ezekiel 34:11-16 and Luke 15:1-7
This coming Sunday is Word of God Sunday when the Catholic Church celebrates the great gift of the Bible. We celebrate the stories from the Old Testament like the one this morning from the Prophet Ezekiel as well as our Gospel from St. Luke. But more importantly we celebrate that all these stories are one unified story that all lead to Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior. Continue reading
This coming Sunday is the 3rd Sunday in Ordinary Time. In yesterday’s post discussed some insights about fishing in the first century as well as being “caught” in our time. Today we will consider the phrase: “the kingdom of heaven,” a phrase unique to Matthew’s gospel. He often uses it in place of Mark’s “kingdom of God.” Perhaps, if we assume a Jewish background for Matthew, it is a way of avoiding saying and thus possibly misusing the name of God. Continue reading
This coming Sunday is the 3rd Sunday in Ordinary Time. In yesterday’s post we looked to the people called to accompany Jesus on his mission. Today we discuss some insights about fishing in the first century as well as being “caught” in our time.Clearly Jesus is calling the disciples to a life with him. But every “calling to” is by default a “calling from” in some sense. Fishing was not as easy as getting a boat and “having at it.” Continue reading
This coming Sunday is the 3rd Sunday in Ordinary Time. In yesterday’s post we explored the meaning behind the Biblical land travelog that opens our gospel passage. Today we look to the people called to accompany Jesus on his mission.
From that time on, Jesus began to preach and say, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” As he was walking by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon who is called Peter, and his brother Andrew, casting a net into the sea; they were fishermen. He said to them, “Come after me, and I will make you fishers of men.” At once they left their nets and followed him. He walked along from there and saw two other brothers, James, the son of Zebedee, and his brother John. They were in a boat, with their father Zebedee, mending their nets. He called them, and immediately they left their boat and their father and followed him. He went around all of Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom, and curing every disease and illness among the people. (Mt 4:17-23)
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The first reading is taken from Hebrews chapter 6:10 and following, but the larger context for the writer’s thought begins at Hebrews 5:11 where a metaphor is employed, one familiar then and now: that of milk and solid food, little children and adults. The basic problem is that those hearing this word are receiving it as children, when they should be teachers. The problem is that the hearers are refusing to grow up in their understanding of Christianity. They are stuck at the level of the ABCs and worse, they need someone to again teach them the ABCs of the faith. Continue reading
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