This coming Sunday is the 33rd Sunday in Ordinary Time. All week we have delved into the Olivet Discourse from the Gospel of Mark. It is a very apocalyptic reading, filled with symbols and signs, laced with uncertainty of “when and where,” but ever a message of hope. Continue reading
This coming Sunday is the 33rd Sunday in Ordinary Time. In the previous post we considered Jesus’ meaning of the parable of the fig tree and what it portends about the “things to come.”
32 “But of that day or hour, no one knows, neither the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. 33 Be watchful! Be alert! You do not know when the time will come. 34 It is like a man traveling abroad. He leaves home and places his servants in charge, each with his work, and orders the gatekeeper to be on the watch. 35 Watch, therefore; you do not know when the lord of the house is coming, whether in the evening, or at midnight, or at cockcrow, or in the morning. 36 May he not come suddenly and find you sleeping. 37 What I say to you, I say to all: ‘Watch!’” Continue reading
This coming Sunday is the 33rd Sunday in Ordinary Time. In the previous post we began to explore the meaning of the apocalyptic signs and symbols in this Olivet Discourse. Now, Jesus resumes his instruction and preparation of the disciples.
28 “Learn a lesson from the fig tree. When its branch becomes tender and sprouts leaves, you know that summer is near. 29 In the same way, when you see these things happening, know that he is near, at the gates. 30 Amen, I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all these things have taken place. 31 Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away. Continue reading
This coming Sunday is the 33rd Sunday in Ordinary Time. In the previous post we set the background for the gospel known as the Olivet Discourse: the days during Holy Week, Jesus’ final preparation for the disciples, but also a message to the Christian community of Rome in the first century (60s) when they were undergoing their own persecutions and hearing the stories of war between Rome and Judah. Continue reading
This coming Sunday is the 33rd Sunday in Ordinary Time. In Liturgical Year B, the first reading of the year, the 1st Sunday in Advent is Mark 13:32-37. The reading, in part, appears again at the end of the liturgical cycle of Year B – here on the 33rd Sunday when we proclaim Mark 13:24-34. Our gospel reading is the end piece of the larger “Olivet Discourse” in Mark 13:1-37. In the Gospel of Mark there is no passage more problematic than the prophetic discourse of Jesus on the destruction of the Temple. Continue reading
Today is the feast day of St. Mark the Evangelist. Tradition has it that this is the same John Mark, the cousin of St. Barnabus who was on the first missionary expedition of St. Paul – which was actually led by Barnabus. For some reason Paul went on his own for his second and third missionary trips. Tradition has it that in the course of time, Mark founded the Church in Alexandria and later resided in Rome where, with St. Peter, as his source, wrote the Gospel of Mark. There are other traditions and scholars debate them to this date. In any case, we honor the St. Mark the Evangelist on this day. Continue reading
This coming Sunday is the 16th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B. “The apostles gathered together with Jesus and reported all they had done and taught. He said to them, “Come away by yourselves to a deserted place and rest a while.” People were coming and going in great numbers, and they had no opportunity even to eat. So they went off in the boat by themselves to a deserted place.”
At the conclusion of their mission to the Galilean villages the disciples returned to Jesus. He had commissioned them to be his emissaries (Ch. 6:7–13), and it is appropriate to this circumstance that they should report to him how they had fulfilled their commission. While the word “apostles” is accurately translated in v.30, there is a tendency in modern reading to associate this with “the Twelve” and to associate the term with an official title. What might get lost is the whole purpose of why they were sent. Simply put they were missionaries. Continue reading
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