In today’s Gospel, Jesus issues what seems to be a simple invitation. “If you give even a cup of cold water to someone in need, you will receive your reward.” (Contrast this with much harder-hitting message in James). Doesn’t sound too onerous, does it? Surely, all of us can manage a glass of
Jesus would make a great pediatrician! He loved children as we see in today’s Gospel where he takes a child in his arms and uses a child as an example of how we should relate to each other. We need to serve one another, even the most fragile and vulnerable among us.
Our Mission: Sent Forth to Proclaim and Live God’s Mercy
Fr. Raymond Lafontaine, E.V.September 6, 2015
As you entered church today, hopefully you noticed the new banner hanging over the altar. It will remain throughout the coming year, as a visual reminder of our theme in this, the third year of our journey to the heart of “The New Evangelization.” If you remember, in our first year, we were inv
Last Sunday, we interrupted our sequential Year B reading of Mark’s Gospel to hear St. John’s version of Jesus feeding the multitudes with the loaves and fishes. And now, for the next four Sundays, we are invited to meditate on the spiritual significance of this event: we meet Jesus himself as the living Bread come down from heaven. These texts, from the Bread of Life discourse in Chapter 6 of John's Gospel, seem at first glance to be very repetitive; Jesus seems to be going back and saying the same thing over and over. I remember becoming vividly aware of this the summer of my second year as a priest, when I had to preach five Sundays in a row on what seemed to be the same readings!
Today’s readings begin on a harsh note: God’s stinging condemnation of “shepherds who destroy and scatter, who have failed to care for God’s flock.” This is a hard message to hear – especially for those among us, clergy and lay leaders alike, who bear responsibility for shepherding. When we hear
In today’s Gospel, we meet Jesus, preaching for the first time in front of the folks from home – the villagers who had seen him grow up, including his own extended family. This was a tough challenge. Small towns, which have their definite advantages, also sometimes breed small-mindedness.
Like many of you, I was shocked to hear the news last week of the killing of nine innocent people – all African-Americans – attending a Bible study at the African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina. At a memorial service for their pastor (and South Carolina state Senator) <
Given that World Environment Day actually occurs on June 5, it is a marvelous gift that the readings for our liturgies this weekend provide us with such rich images for our celebration of this special day.
We celebrate today “Corpus Christi”: the Solemnity of the Body and Blood of Christ. For those of “a certain age”, it conjures up images of processions through the streets with the Blessed Sacrament: candles, flowers, people in the streets bowing and even kneeling on the sidewalk as the
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