July 2026

Today’s Old Testament reading (Jeremiah 26:1‑9) is in an historical or biographical form. Some believe these passages may come from the prophet Baruch. It tells of Jeremiah’s discourse to the people warning them about disasters that will come unless they change their ways. His message will not be well received by the priests and people. The […]

Today the symbolic actions of Jeremiah (Jeremiah 18:1‑6) announce the creative intention of God, the divine potter, to collapse the misshapen and useless clay back to its primitive form and start over again in forming the people of Israel, and by extension, forming us. The Gospel today (Matthew 13:47‑53) concludes Matthew’s main section about the

Four years ago, a decree from the Congregation for Divine Worship announced that Pope Francis was including the three sibling saints, St. Martha, St. Mary and St. Lazarus in the General Roman Calendar on a combined Feast Day, “considering the important evangelical witness they offered in welcoming the Lord Jesus into their home, in listening

Today’s Old Testament passage (Jeremiah 14:17-22) was written during a period of death and famine in Jerusalem preceding the Babylonian captivity starting in 587 BC. It is a rebuttal to the false prophets who were, at that time, raising expectations among the people that they are not going to experience “sword and famine” because of

Today’s Old Testament passage (Jeremiah 13:1-11) presents the symbol of the “linen loincloth”. It describes, not something that actually happened, but a symbolic vision. The meaning is clear: Israel, whom Yahweh had fastened as close to himself as a loincloth round his waist, had broken away and contracted the corruption of Babylonian idolatry. Not infrequently

Once upon a time there was a farmer who owned a small farm.  The land was stony, but he worked hard, and for a while he was blessed with a certain degree of happiness and contentment. But then he began to feel that there was something missing in his life, and he felt empty as

Apostle Two of the Apostles went by the name James:   James the Greater (taller) and James the Lesser (shorter).  Today we present James the Greater.  This James is the brother of John the Evangelist. The two were called by Jesus as they worked with their father in a fishing boat on the Sea of

Jeremiah, despite his reputation, is not all gloom and doom. While it was important for the prophet to point out the people’s shortcomings and to warn them of the consequences of their lifestyle, Jeremiah also brought a message of hope.   Today we are given an optimistic vision of Zion in the Messianic age. Today’s

“I remember … how you loved me as a bride.” Early in her history, Israel enjoyed a close and cordial relationship with the Lord, who is often described figuratively as Israel’s husband. Hosea loves to use this image. But it was a love that did not last and later was transferred to “foreign gods”.  In

The woman we remember in today’s feast has had so much imposed upon her since she was first introduced to us in the pages of scripture, that it is difficult to untangle the things that we really know of her, from the things that have been assumed, that have been conflated with others and with