Truth is Like Medicine
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In 2 Timothy 2 today, St. Paul continues to exhort Timothy, reminding him to preach and teach in a way befitting the office he has accepted. In today’s Gospel, Jesus...
Not God of the Dead
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In the first reading today from 2 Timothy 1, St. Paul says “For God did not give us a spirit of cowardice but rather of power and love and self-control....
Don't Fall for It!
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Today’s Gospel reading contains one of the most famous sayings of Jesus. In fact, even people who are mostly unfamiliar with the Scriptures could probably finish this quote: “Repay to...
A Spiritual Plan
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In our Gospel reading today from Mark 12, Jesus tells a parable about a landowner who plants a vineyard and has tenants care for it. The man sends servants to...
The Body and Blood of Christ
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Today the Church celebrates the Feast of The Body and Blood of Christ, or Corpus Christi. All of the readings today point to the Eucharist, the source and summit of...
Have Mercy
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Today's first reading is from the Letter of Saint Jude. This is one of the shortest books in the Bible, just 25 verses. Saint Jude has an important message for...
How Does This Happen to Me?
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Today is the Feast of The Visitation, when Mary went to visit her cousin Elizabeth, who was pregnant with John the Baptist. Elizabeth didn't live nearby; Mary's journey was a long...
God's Person
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In today’s first reading from 1 Peter 2, St. Peter says “long for spiritual milk.” St. Peter provides a tall, frosty glass of that for us today. More in a...
Life as a Ransom
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In the Gospel reading today from Mark 10, James and John come to Jesus and ask that they be able to sit at His right and His left in His...
What's in it for Us?
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Some interesting readings today, and I'll take them in reverse order. In the Gospel reading from Mark 10, Peter says to Jesus, "We have given up everything to follow you." While...
Honoring Our Fallen Heroes
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I’m going to deviate a bit from our normal format today. I’ve still got the link for today’s readings at the bottom of this post. And, of course, I encourage...
Three Persons, One God
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Today we celebrate the Feast of the Most Holy Trinity; three Persons, one God. The readings today reflect that. The first reading from Deuteronomy 4 tells us that there is...
Our Sacramental Church
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How about this…two sacramental reading days in a row! Yesterday we read about the sacrament of marriage and today we read about the sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick AND...
Two and One
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Today's Gospel reading from Mark 10 is Jesus' teaching on marriage. This is the passage on which the Church bases her teaching on the indissolubility of marriage. It is unchangeable because...
Cutting Sin Out of Our Lives
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Scathing words to the rich today from James 5. Funny thing about wealth, isn’t it? We work so hard to accumulate it here on earth, to the point where it...
Today and Tomorrow
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In today’s first reading, St. James talks about tomorrow. Something we need to think about today. So we will. In the Gospel from Mark 9, Jesus says, “For whoever is...
Enmity with God
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The battle of pride vs. humility is a recurring theme in the Scriptures. We see it in today’s readings from James 4 and Mark 9. St. James reminds us that...
The Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of the Church
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Today, the day after Pentecost, the Church celebrates the feast of The Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of the Church. This is a brand new memorial, instituted by Pope Francis in...
Happy Birthday, Church!
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Today we celebrate Pentecost. Happy Birthday, Church! Rather than give you my own reflection today, I want to share the sequence that you will hear at today’s Mass. (Why try...
Lord, What About Him?
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In Acts 28 today, we see Paul continuing in his ministry, even while in custody. Oh, that we could all have the evangelistic spirit of St. Paul! In the Gospel...
Lord, You Know That I Love You
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In the first reading today from Acts 25, Paul is in Caesarea awaiting trial. He is asked if he wants to go to Jerusalem to have his case heard. Paul...
That They May be One
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We call the “Our Father” The Lord’s Prayer. And rightly so, since it is the prayer that Jesus taught us to pray. But down through the ages, theologians have also...
Wolves Will Come
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St. Paul finishes up his farewell speech to the presbyters of the Church of Ephesus in today’s first reading from Acts 20. After he is done, there were many tears,...
Apostolic Succession
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Today the Church celebrates the Feast of St. Matthias. The Gospel is from John 15, where Jesus says, “It was not you who chose me, but I who chose you...
Answering Questions and Conversations
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St. Paul was a very persuasive guy. Time and again he persuaded people about Jesus being the Christ of God. They weren’t persuaded by St. Paul, but in today’s Gospel...
Consecrated in Truth
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Since we talked about the readings for the Feast of the Ascension on Thursday, today we’ll concentrate on the Seventh Sunday of Easter. The Gospel reading today is from John...
Using Your Gifts
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In today's first reading from Acts 18, we meet Apollos. Apollos was a Jew from Alexandria. He became a famous teacher and evangelist for Christ. Apollos was "an authority on...
Your Grief Will Become Joy
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At the beginning of today’s first reading, the Lord speaks to Paul in a vision, saying, “Do not be afraid. Go on speaking, and do not be silent, for I...
The Ascension of the Lord
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Today the Church celebrates the Feast of the Ascension. In most dioceses around the country, today is not a Holy Day of obligation. For most, this feast will be celebrated...
Ignorance Removed
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In today's Gospel reading from John 16, Jesus tells His disciples, "But when he comes, the Spirit of truth, he will guide you to all truth." This is why we...
An Earthquake of Grace
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Today's first reading from Acts 16 is the story of another jailbreak. More in a moment. In the Gospel reading from John 16, Jesus tells His disciples that He will...
Open Ears, Open Hearts
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In Acts 16 today, Paul and Luke find themselves in the city of Thyatira, where they meet a woman named Lydia. More on that encounter in a moment. In the...
What a Friend We Have
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You may remember or have sung or still sing the old hymn, "What a Friend We Have in Jesus." While that's not a direct quote from Scripture, today's Gospel reading...
Haters Gonna Hate
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More action and adventure today in the first reading from Acts 16. Paul has a vision in which a Macedonian says to him, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.”...
Greater Works
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Today is the Feast of Saints Philip and James. These were two of the Apostles. In the Gospel reading from John 14, Philip says to Jesus, “Master, show us the...
The Magisterium
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In our Gospel reading from John 15, Jesus speaks about joy. "I have told you this so that my joy might be in you and your joy might be complete."...
St. Joseph the Worker
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Today is the Feast of St. Joseph the Worker. It was instituted in 1955 by Pope Pius XII in part to combat communist ideology. "Work" can mean different things to...
Hardships and Peace
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We see in Acts today the further adventures of Paul and Barnabas. These guys never had a dull moment! They went around to the different cities saying, “It is necessary...
Worship God Alone
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In the Gospel reading today from John 14, Jesus says, “Whoever loves me will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and...
Vines and Branches
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Today's Gospel reading from John 15 is really about life in Christ - or, as Christians think of it, life. Jesus talks about vines and branches. "Just as a branch...
Greater Works than Jesus?
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In today's Gospel reading from John 14, Philip says to Jesus, “Master, show us the Father, and that will be enough for us.” Jesus seems to be a bit perturbed...
Troubled Heart?
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Today in the first reading, Paul continues his address to those in the synagogue in Antioch. And in the Gospel reading, we see Jesus in the upper room, at the...
The Devouring Devil
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Today the Church celebrates the Feast of St. Mark. Mark was a disciple of St. Peter. Peter’s teachings are the basis for Mark’s gospel. Mark accompanied St. Paul on his...
Worship, Prayer and Fasting
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In today's Gospel reading from John 12, Jesus says, "I came into the world as light, so that everyone who believes in me might not remain in darkness." It seems...
Once Saved, Always Saved?
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Today in Acts, we see more and more people coming to believe through the preaching and teaching of Barnabas and Saul. We also see the first use of the word...
Getting in God's Way
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In today’s Gospel reading from John 10, we hear Jesus say, “I came so that they might have life and have it more abundantly.” What is the abundant life about...
Good Shepherd Sunday
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Today is referred to Good Shepherd Sunday. In the Gospel reading from John 10, Jesus says, “I am the good shepherd.” He continues with the analogy of referring to his followers...
Are You Convinced?
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In today's first reading from Acts 9, Peter raises a woman from the dead. It's reminiscent of the scene from Jairus' daughter's room. Powerful! In John 6, we finish the...
KNOW THIS VERSE!
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Sometimes we can be so thick-headed that God needs to use a (metaphoric) 2x4 over the head to get our attention. Such was the case with Saul of Tarsus, aka...
Authority and Scripture
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Back in Acts 8 for our first reading today. We see a very interesting story about an Ethiopian eunuch who has an encounter with Philip. More on that in a...