Today's Scripture Let’s face it, people hear what they want to hear. Unfortunately, today’s Gospel is a perfect example of it. In an exchange with His Apostles about fasting, Jesus explains that it would be inappropriate for His disciples to fast NOW, because He (the bridegroom) is with them. So many people want to take that as ‘Christians have no need of fasting’. Well I hate to break it to you, but that is not what Jesus was saying, and it certainly was not what His discipl

Today's Scripture There is A LOT going on in today's Gospel. This is one of the busiest passages that you will read in Scripture. Jesus is working at a fever pace. Healing well into the night and rising before dawn to pray. I have written more than once about this frenetic pace. But today it was another line that drew my attention: "For this purpose have I come." While what Jesus is doing is truly fascinating, we have to agree that why He is doing it is ultimately more impor

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/011326.cfm It is really amazing at times how inoculated we can become to the amazing events of the Gospels. We can read or hear them and not be overcome with wonder. The original witnesses to today's Gospel certainly didn't feel that way. They recognized several layers of Jesus' person that provoked awe and wonder. First was His authority. I have heard the difference between power and authority described this way: Power is the ability to

Today's Scripture Anyone who has ever had the duty of getting volunteers for a church or community event has to be in awe of Jesus in today's Gospel. He asks, they come. Done. Jesus doesn't even give them a clear description of what it is they will be doing, where they will do it, or for how long. And it is an interesting proposition that He makes to them: I will make you 'fishers of men'. At our parish fish fry during Lent, I spend time each week greeting people and visiting

Today's Scripture I've always loved the exchange between the leper in today's Gospel and Jesus. First the leper recognizes and calls upon Jesus' amazing abilities - 'Lord if you wish, you can make me clean.' I think most of us rightly read this as 'if you desire to'. Jesus wasn't really in the business of wishing for things, but it's also more than a desire. The classic definition of love is this: to will the good of the other. How is this different than 'desiring' the good o

Today's Scripture Jesus, at the beginning of His ministry, sets some high expectations: The Spirit of the Lord is upon me because he has anointed me to bring glad tidings to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, and to proclaim a year acceptable to the Lord. Oh, is that all? In reality He will far exceed these expectations. He will do all of this and will give himself for the forgiveness of o

Today's Scripture An actual first century boat recovered from the Sea of Galilee What a ride it must have been to accompany Jesus, huh? I do think though that we might romanticize it a bit and not think of how jarring and challenging it was to have your perception of all of reality changed right in front of you. This came crashing down on me today as I read this line from the Gospel: "They had not understood the incident of the loaves. On the contrary, their hearts were harde

Today's Scripture An interesting fact about today's Gospel is that it is the only miracle that appears in the accounts of all four Gospel writers (other than the Resurrection). There are so many layers to the multiplication of the loaves and fishes. Today I couldn't help but focus on how the Apostles must have felt going through this. At first the task seems impossible to even consider, and they go to Jesus for help: Dismiss the crowds! Seems like a good, reasonable plan, rig

Today's Scripture As John the Baptist is arrested, leaving a void for his thousands upon thousands of followers, Jesus steps in to proclaim a bold new message: "Repent, the kingdom of heaven is at hand." This is radically different than John's message of "Repent, the kingdom of heaven is at hand." Wait, what? For those who were there, there was a subtle difference in these two proclamations. John's could have ended with the phrase - "and He's standing right there." Jesus coul