Author name: Essjay Peatoo

In today’s First Reading (Philippians 2:1-4), Paul makes an eloquent appeal for unity among the Christians of the church at Philippi. As he writes from prison, the encouragement and comfort he wishes most from them is that they, “…be of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord …”.  As will become […]

We are approaching the end of the Church year. In the Gospels of these Sundays, we are looking at the final phase of Jesus’ life before his suffering, death and resurrection. Last week we saw Jesus leaving Jericho on the last stage of his journey to Jerusalem. He healed the blind beggar, Bartimaeus, who, once

The past few weeks, we have been reading from St. Paul’s letter to the church in Ephesus.  Today, our focus changes to St. Paul’s   letter to the Philippians.  It is an inspiring testimony of commitment to Jesus and the work of the Gospel. Paul is in prison but, despite that, “Christ is proclaimed”. One

Many of us in “temperate” climates feel a wistfulness as October fades and autumn loses its visual splendor to the shorter days and longer shadows of November. The air becomes more chilled than crisp; trees are shorn of their multicolored leaves by the whipping rains, leaving bare branches raised to heaven, as though in supplication

Life, at least for one who is striving to follow the way of the Lord, can be quite difficult at times.  Our readings today remind us that part of the problem is not just human.  We are in a spiritual struggle, even an all-out spiritual war.  St. Paul (Ephesians 6:10‑20) describes the equipment we have

Today’s readings focus on faithfulness.  Paul calls to us in our First reading (Ephesians 6:1-9) to  be faithful in our calling:  Children, obey your parents; parents do not provoke your children, but teach them the ways of God. The directives given to slaves and their masters hopefully sound strange to us.   They might make

Think about the time and planning that goes into a building a home. Once you obtain a location, you must secure the necessary permits. You do the necessary excavation. You pour the footings and the foundation. A lot of time and effort goes into something that most people will never see. When, if ever, was

Today we celebrate the Feast of Saints Simon and Jude. These two saints are often confused for more prominent characters in the Gospel narratives, so, unfortunately, we know comparatively little about them. Despite knowing little biographical information, we do know their most distinctive identity: they were faithful followers of Jesus. St. Simon is known as the

Today’s gospel passage (Mark 10:46-52) comes at the end of a long section where Jesus is forming his disciples.  This section begins way back in Chapter 7 with the healing of a man who is deaf and dumb.   In that miracle, the man is taught how to hear and to speak.  These are necessary

Today, Jesus mentions two apparently recent incidents in which lives were lost (Luke 13:1-9).  In one case, Pilate the Roman governor, had some Galileans executed in the Temple precincts. It is not clear as to why.  In the other, eighteen people were killed when a tower in Siloam, inside the south-east section of Jerusalem’s wall,