On Losing One's Life
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In today's first reading from Genesis 11, we read the story of the Tower of Babel. This is a great lesson about the consequences of trying to glorify ourselves. In...
Get Behind Me, Satan
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In the first reading today from Genesis 9, God establishes a covenant with Noah and his family. Remember, they were the only humans on the planet at this point. He...
Seeing Clearly
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Are you afraid of Doomsday? I suppose folks have a different idea of what that means, but did you know that God will never destroy all the living things of...
Understanding Jesus
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We see some tough questions from Jesus in today’s Gospel reading. More in a moment. For our first reading, we’re in Genesis 6 and 7, reading about Noah. Everyone else...
Mastering Sin
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In today’s first reading, we see the story of the world’s first murder. Cain killed his brother Abel because God looked favorably on Abel’s offering and Cain became resentful and...
Blessings and Woes
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In the Gospel today from Luke 6, we begin the Sermon on the Plain. Luke 6 records the same sermon that, in Matthew’s Gospel is called the Sermon on the...
The Blame Game
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In today’s Gospel reading from Mark 8, we read about a miracle. Jesus feeds four thousand people with seven loaves and a few fish. And after everyone had eaten their...
Satan's Sweet Nothings
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In the Gospel reading today from Mark 7, Jesus heals a deaf man with a speech impediment. “And immediately the man’s ears were opened, his speech impediment was removed, and...
One Flesh
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Today’s Gospel reading is about a desperate mother who comes to Jesus and asks Him to heal her daughter. Since she is not a Jew, Jesus refuses at first. But...
On Defilement
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In today’s first reading from Genesis 2, we see how God made man in the second creation account. “The LORD God formed man out of the clay of the ground...
Why the Church is Pro-Life
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In the first reading today from Genesis 1, we see the rest of the story of creation. In the Gospel reading from Mark 7, Jesus talks about tradition. He says,...
How It All Started
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Today for our first reading, we begin at the beginning. Genesis 1. “In the beginning…” We’ll be in the book of Genesis for the next couple of weeks. Today we...
Learning to Swim
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In the Gospel reading today from Luke 5, Jesus sees Simon Peter and his fishing buddies cleaning their nets after a hard night of fishing. Not catching, mind you. Fishing....
A Sacrifice of Praise
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In today's first reading from Hebrews 13, the sacred author writes, "Through Jesus, let us continually offer God a sacrifice of praise, that is, the fruit of lips that confess...
Hospitality
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Today’s Gospel reading from Mark 6 is the story of the beheading of John the Baptist. Sad and tragic, yes, but a great story for us about standing up for...
The Heavenly Jerusalem
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Do you ever find yourself bored at Mass? Your mind wanders, you're looking around at what others are wearing or thinking about how good that donut is going to taste...
Discipline is for Disciples
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Today we’re going to talk about discipline. Not a fun topic, I know. If you turned and ran away right now, I wouldn’t blame you! But in today’s first reading...
Faith and Healing
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In today’s first reading from Hebrews 12, the Sacred Author tells us “we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses.” A wonderful reminder that we are never alone....
Go and Tell Your Family
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In today's first reading from Hebrews 11, we hear of the faith of some of the great figures of the Old Testament. But they did not have the Messiah, Jesus....
A Light for Revelation
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Today is the Feast of the Presentation of the Lord. Also known as Candlemas, this is the day when candles will be blessed. There will be three readings today. In...
What is Faith?
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What is faith? In our first reading today from Hebrews 11:1 it says, "Faith is the realization of what is hoped for and evidence of things not seen." The Catechism...
A Marathon, Not a Sprint
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Christianity ain’t for quitters. And becoming a saint (isn’t that our goal?) isn’t easy. We get a glimpse of this in our first reading today. In the Gospel reading from...
Absolute Trust
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Today’s first reading from Hebrews 10 is so chock full of great stuff! We’ll discuss in a moment. In the Gospel reading from Mark 4, Jesus tells His disciples something...
30x, 60x, 100x
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Today's Gospel reading from Mark 4 is the Parable of the Sower. It is one that is very near to my heart, as it sparked my Seeds of Grace talks....
I Come to Do Your Will
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In our first reading today from Hebrews 10, the sacred author, speaking of Jesus, quotes Psalm 40. "Then I said, As is written of me in the scroll, Behold, I...
Strength and Weakness
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In today's first reading from Hebrews 9 we hear more about the once for all sacrifice of Christ. In the Gospel reading from Mark 3, Jesus is accused of being...
Scripture Fulfilled
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In today's Gospel reading from Luke 1 and 4, we see the beginning of Jesus public ministry in Nazareth. Jesus in the synagogue reads a passage from Isaiah and says...
The Call to Conversion
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Today the Church celebrates the Conversion of St. Paul the Apostle. We see the story of Saul's conversion twice the the Acts of the Apostles - in chapter 9 the...
The Twelve
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The first reading today from Hebrews 8 talks about covenant. Jesus came to earth to usher in the New Covenant. A covenant is an exchange of persons. It requires total...
The Sacrifice of the Mass
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In the first reading today from Hebrews 7 & 8, the sacred author talks about the once for all sacrifice of Christ. “He has no need, as did the high...
Day of Prayer for the Legal Protection of Unborn Children
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Today in the United States is the Day of Prayer for the Legal Protection of Unborn Children. It falls on the anniversary of the Roe vs. Wade Supreme Court decision...
The Spiritual Law of Motion
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In today’s Gospel reading from Mark 2, Jesus says something very telling to the Pharisees. “The sabbath was made for man, not man for the sabbath. That is why the...
Jesus Our High Priest
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Today in Hebrews 5, we see a theme that we touched on last week; that Jesus learned obedience from what he suffered. The author of Hebrews was big on this...
Good Advice from Cana
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Do you know what the first sign was that Jesus gave to the world? It was, as told in John’s Gospel, changing water into wine. It happens at a wedding...
The Word as Sword
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In our first reading from Hebrews 4, the author of Hebrews tells us about the word of God. More on that in a moment. The Gospel reading from Mark 2...
Bringing Those We Love to Jesus
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Life is hard. But we can find rest in God. Today's first reading from Hebrews 4 encourages us to "enter into that rest." In the Gospel reading today from Mark...
Tomorrow May Be Too Late
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Today’s Gospel story is from Mark 1, about a leper that comes to Jesus seeking to be healed. Jesus heals him and tells him not to tell anyone. The guy...
He Knows Your Pain
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Back in Hebrews 2 today, we see more about the suffering of Jesus and how that plays to our advantage. More in a moment. In the Gospel reading from Mark...
Made Perfect Through Suffering
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Jesus was fully God and fully man. He was given all authority in heaven and on earth. We see His earthly authority in today's Gospel reading from Mark 1. He...
Fishing and Catching
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Welcome back to Ordinary Time! In the first reading today we begin the Letter to the Hebrews. It's going to be an interesting few weeks going through this book of the Bible....
God's Will and Baptism
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Today the Church celebrates the Baptism of the Lord. We see that moment where John the Baptist has just baptized Jesus when “the Holy Spirit descended upon him in bodily...
Two Types of Sin
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In Catholic theology, we talk of venial sin and mortal sin. Many will say, “Sin is sin! There is no such thing as mortal sin and venial sin.” Oh, really?...
Lord, If You Wish
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You, my friend, are a winner! You are victorious over the world. How do I know? St. John says so in our first reading today. "Who indeed is the victor...
Victory Through Faith
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Have you ever felt like you can conquer the world? If not, why not? St. John gives us some good insight into that in our first reading today. More in...
F.E.A.R.
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Strong words from St. John today in our first reading from 1 John 4. St. John talks about fear. More on that in a moment. We see fear, too, come...
The Feeding of the Five Thousand
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Today's Gospel reading from Mark 6 is the story of the feeding of the five thousand. Jesus was teaching a huge crowd and told His disciples to feed them. They...
Test the Spirits
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In the Gospel reading today from Matthew 4, we read about the early part of Jesus’ public ministry. He went about preaching, teaching and healing. Great crowds came from the...
Getting to Jesus
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Today we celebrate the feast of the Epiphany. In the Gospel reading from Matthew 2 we see the story of the magi coming to visit the baby Jesus. We often...
What are You Looking For?
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Today's first reading from 1 John 3 can be a difficult one to grasp. St. John writes, "Whoever sins belongs to the Devil, because the Devil has sinned from the...
The Beatific Vision
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Do you know John 1:29? If you’re Catholic, I’m certain you do. We hear it every time we go to Mass, as the priest holds the consecrated host aloft, right...