2025

As I reflect on the readings for today, two themes are apparent: God’s grace and our hypocrisy.  The first reading (Romans 3:21-30) and the responsorial psalm (Psalm 130) resound with God’s grace and mercy. But in the gospel (Luke 11:47-54), Jesus takes the Scribes and the Pharisees (and us) to task for living lives of […]

Today Jesus continues to attack the attitudes of Pharisees (Luke 11:42-46). These remarks are not to be thought of as applying to all Pharisees, many of whom were good people. Paul himself was once a Pharisee, as was Nicodemus, who came to Jesus by night, and Gamaliel, who, in the Acts of the Apostles (Acts

In our Gospel reading for today (Luke 11:37-41), Jesus continues to highlight what is central to our relationship with God. He had been invited to dinner by a Pharisee. Jesus apparently went straight into the dining area and reclined at the table prepared to eat. The Pharisee was shocked because Jesus had not first washed

By Ed Masters Cristoforo Columbo was the given name of the man known to the English-speaking world as ‘Christopher Columbus’ and to the Spanish world as ‘Cristobal Colon.’  His descendants living in Spain still carry this surname. He was born in the Republic of Genoa in 1451, a scant two years before the fall of

We hear just a little bit of a wonderful story in today’s First Reading (2 Kings 5:14-17).   I highly recommend that you read the whole of chapter five of Second Kings to get some context before re-reading today’s selection.  Naaman is a commander of a foreign king to whom the Lord has granted a

In today’s Gospel (Luke 11: 27-28), Jesus teaches a wonderful lesson in just 12 words.   “Still happier those who hear the word of God and keep it!”  Before sharing the lesson, Luke sets the scene.  A middle-aged woman is standing in the crowd.  She is entranced by the person of Jesus.   As she

The Prince of Demons …. Exorcisms …. Unclean spirits …. Signs from Heaven …. Finger of God. Luke’s gospel today (Luke 11:15-26) is faintly reminiscent of a horror film. Every time I listen to this gospel, it leaves me a little unsettled, a little unnerved. Readers of the gospels are not surprised when hearing of

These words from today’s Gospel (Luke 11:5-13) are a source of great consolation for many millions today and have been for two millennia. They instill hope. But is it false hope? Does it mean literally anything we might ask for? What if we don’t get from God that for which we ask? “LuAnn” is a

Today’s first reading (Jonah 4:1-11) concludes our readings from the Book of Jonah.  After having single-handedly (with some help from the Lord, of course) converted a city of 120,000 people from the king downwards, one would have thought that Jonah would have been filled with a wonderful sense of achievement. At best, he would have

Yesterday, we heard the stories of Jonah and the Good Samaritan, probably two of the most familiar stories of compassion told in Scripture. In Jonah we see the unrelenting compassion of God; and the Good Samaritan illustrates the potential for human compassion. Yesterday, we had the beginning of Jonah’s story (Jonah 1:1-22).  God came to