Free Republic

Eighteenth Week in Ordinary Time Matthew 17:22–27Friends, in today’s Gospel, Jesus prophesies his Crucifixion and Resurrection: “The Son of Man is to be handed over to men, and they will kill him, and he will be raised on the third day.”What enabled the first Christians to hold up the cross, to sing its praises, to wear it as a decoration is the fact that God raised up and ratified precisely this crucified Jesus.“The author of life you put to death, but God raised him from the dead.” Therefore, God was involved in this terrible thing; God was there, working out...

Today's Homily explains the depth of the Gospel of Christ "Walking on Stormy Water"- And as he invites us to do the same with him. As explained, though this was an actual event documented by all 4 Gospel writers, The iconic, theological Importance of this Gospel is central to all Christians. And for anyone who might find themselves fearing the storms in their lives. 14 min. YouTube clip below:In The Storm? Look To Christ

Matthew 15:21–28 Friends, the Gospel for today is the account of the persistent Canaanite woman. Like all of the “hard” Gospel stories, it packs a spiritual punch.God’s salvific purposes are for the whole world. Israel was chosen so that it would be a vehicle for the salvation of all. Therefore, Jesus’ primary mission is indeed to his fellow Jews, but throughout the Gospels, there are hints that his ministry has a wider purpose.When Jesus enters a pagan territory, a Canaanite woman calls out, “Have pity on me, Lord, Son of David! My daughter is tormented by a demon.” She represents...

MEMORIAL OF SAINT AGNES, VIRGIN AND MARTYRTIME MARK 3:13-19 Friends, today’s Gospel recounts Jesus selecting and appointing the Apostles. Bible scholar and theologian N.T. Wright has explained why Jesus commissioned twelve disciples as Apostles. Wright tells us that when a first-century Jew spoke of the arrival of God’s kingdom, he was taken to mean something very specific. He was announcing that the temple was going to be restored, that the proper worship of Yahweh would obtain, that the enemies of Israel would be dealt with, and that, above all, the tribes of the Lord would be gathered, and through them,...

First Week in Ordinary Time Mark 1:14-20 Friends, our Gospel today is Jesus’ inaugural address, setting the tone for the whole of his preaching. Mark tells us that he was proclaiming the Good News of God, and that this was “the time of fulfillment.” Something was being brought to completion. What was it? It was everything that the Old Testament had spoken of. Jesus gathered up in his person everything that Israel was about—and this is why his presence was so compelling and why following him was of paramount importance. This is why he says, “Repent, and believe in the...

Christmas Weekday John 3:22-30 Friends, today’s Gospel focuses on John the Baptist. I think it’s fair to say that you cannot really understand Jesus without understanding John, which is precisely why all four Evangelists tell the story of the Baptist as a kind of overture to the story of Jesus. John did not draw attention to himself. Rather, he presented himself as a preparation, a forerunner, a prophet preparing the way of the Lord. He was summing up much of Israelite history but stressing that this history was open-ended, unfinished. And therefore, how powerful it was when, upon spying Jesus...

Feast of the Holy Innocents, Martyrs Matthew 2:13-18 Friends, today’s Gospel tells the story of Herod’s massacre of the innocents, which mimics, of course, Pharoah’s murder of the male children of the Hebrews at the time of Moses’ birth. John Courtney Murray commented that a major motif of the Gospels is the ever-increasing agon (struggle) that characterizes Jesus’ life. From the very beginning, he is opposed: Herod trembles in fear at his birth and then tries in the most brutal manner possible to stamp him out, forcing him and his family into exile. And from the first moments of his...

FEAST OF SAINT JOHN, APOSTLE AND EVANGELIST JOHN 20:1A, 2-8 Friends, today we celebrate the feast of St. John the Apostle and Evangelist. St. John is, of course, a spiritual master, but he is a literary master as well. We can see his skill throughout his Gospel, but perhaps especially in the stories dealing with the resurrected Jesus. We can find them in the twentieth and twenty-first chapters of his Gospel. Our passage for today is from chapter twenty, and it contains, in short compass, the whole of Christianity, if we have the eyes to see it. “On the first...

Second Sunday of Advent Luke 3:1-6 Friends, in today’s Gospel, Luke quotes from the prophet Isaiah: "Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight his paths." (Isa. 40:3) Advent is a great liturgical season of waiting—but not a passive waiting. We yearn, we search, and we reach out for the God who will come to us in human flesh. In short, we prepare the way of the Lord Jesus Christ. This preparation has a penitential dimension, because it is the season in which we prepare for the coming of a Savior, and we don’t need a Savior unless we’re deeply...

FIRST WEEK OF ADVENT MATTHEW 15:29-37 Friends, in today’s Gospel, Jesus multiplies the loaves and the fishes. There is no better exemplification in the Scriptures of what I have called the loop of grace. God offers, as a sheer grace, the gift of being, but if we try to cling to that gift and make it our own, we lose it. The constant command of the Bible is this: what you have received as a gift, give as a gift—and you will find the original gift multiplied and enhanced. One realizes this truth when one enters willingly into the loop...

MEMORIAL OF SAINT JOSAPHAT, BISHOP AND MARTYR LUKE 17:26-37 Friends, in today’s Gospel passage, the Lord compares the clueless behavior of our time with that of Noah. Listen to his warning: "Jesus said to his disciples: ‘As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be in the days of the Son of Man.’" Those aren’t very reassuring words. Then he specifies: people were eating and drinking, marrying and being given in marriage, right up to the time of the flood, and then, when it came, with shocking suddenness, they were destroyed. The end of an old world...

MEMORIAL OF SAINT MARTIN OF TOURS, BISHOP LUKE 17:20-25 Friends, in today’s Gospel, Jesus warns that he, the Son of Man, will come on a day we do not expect. What’s so frightening about the coming of the Son of Man? Why isn’t it just good news? Well, if he is the life, that life which is opposed to him has to give way; and if he’s truth, then false claimants to truth must cede to him; and if he’s the way, then the false ways have to be abandoned. So as we await the Lord’s Second Coming, we must...

Todays readings recount the generosity of the widows, the MOST vulnerable, one about to die serving Elijah, the other giving Christ all she had. This Liturgy emphasizes how. As the Bishop says: "Your Being increases, in the Measure that You Give It Away" 14 min. must watch YouTube VideoTrust in the Lord

THIRTY-FIRST WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME LUKE 16:1-8 Friends, like the steward in today’s Gospel, we must regularly take a hard look at ourselves. What are our strengths and our weaknesses? Where do we need improvement? Where are we not in particularly good shape? Is our prayer life strong? Do we frequent the sacraments? Do we participate in the Mass? Are our lives focused around the corporal and spiritual works of mercy? Do we speak out against injustices and moral evils? And, like the steward, we must act with cleverness, firmness of purpose, and boldness. Enough wishy-washiness in the spiritual life!...

Twenty-ninth Week in Ordinary Time Luke 13:1-9 Friends, today’s Gospel includes the parable of a fig tree that bears no fruit. This is a standard trope in the theological literature of Israel: the tree that bears no fruit is evocative of the moral person who bears no spiritual fruit. Every single person has a mission: to be a conduit of the divine grace into the world. Planted in God—think of Jesus’ image of the vine and the branches—they are meant to bring forth the fruits of love, peace, compassion, justice, nonviolence. And notice that this should be effortless. The closer...

TWENTY-NINTH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME LUKE 12:39-48 Friends, in today’s Gospel, we meet a prudent steward who serves his master wisely. I would like to say something about prudence and wisdom. In the Middle Ages, prudence was called “the queen of the virtues,” because it was the virtue that enabled one to do the right thing in a particular situation. Prudence is a feel for the moral situation, something like the feel that a quarterback has for the playing field. Justice is a wonderful virtue, but without prudence, it is blind and finally useless. One can be as just as...

In 2014, when waves of refugees began flooding into western Europe, citizens and officials alike responded with generosity and openness. Exhausted refugees spilled out of trains and buses to be met by crowds bearing gifts of clothing and food, and holding up placards that read “Welcome Refugees.” This was a honeymoon that could not last. Some of the upcoming difficulties had been anticipated: that the newcomers did not speak the local languages, might be traumatized, would probably take a long time to find their footing, and had brought their ethnic, religious and sectarian conflicts with them, causing them to get...

SEVENTEENTH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME MATTHEW 13:36-43 Friends, in our Gospel today, Jesus explains the parable of the weeds among the wheat. God’s word creates the Church, the community of those who strive to build up the kingdom. But this Church is never absolutely pure and untrammeled, for God’s ways are opposed by a spiritual power, an enemy. His task is to sow weeds among the wheat—clandestinely, quietly, unobtrusively. This sort of coming together of good and evil is to be expected. The Church will always be a place of saints and sinners, and the sinners will often look like...

Bishop Barron’s guide to rediscovering Vatican IIThe Church is changing the world, not the other way around — that is the message of the Second Vatican Council.Bishop Robert Barron’s Word on Fire apostolate has just published the Vatican II Collection. It presents the council’s four key documents with commentary by popes and by Bishop Barron. Reading through the documents made me think that what G.K. Chesterton said about Christianity could be said about Vatican II: The Christian ideal has not been tried and found wanting. It has been found difficult; and left untried.As Barron puts it: I believe that the...