The common theme for today’s readings is the missionary mandate that we have received from God.  While there will be many challenges along the way, we are assured that our efforts and sacrifices will not go without reward.   The first reading (2 Kings …

We have come to the end of our readings about the history of the Kings, contained in the two books of Samuel, the two books of Kings and the books of Chronicles. We began with Saul and finished with Zedekiah, a puppet king installed …

Today we come to the end of the sad story of Israel’s degradation and humiliation – the second deportation (2 Kings 25:1‑12). Yesterday we saw how Mattaniah, renamed Zedekiah, had been made a vassal king of Judah, the southern kingdom, by Nebuchadnezzar. Zedekiah was no improvement …

For the past few weeks, we have been following the stories of a succession of Jewish Kings, and by inference the Jewish people, in the 600-700 years before the birth of Jesus.  We have seen how the Jewish society split into two kingdoms, Samaria …

SOLEMNITY JUNE 24, 2026 Apart from Mary and Joseph, John the Baptist is the only saint who has two feasts to himself: One, in August, that celebrates his death; and one, in June, that celebrates his birth. This is as it should be, for …

In today’s first reading (2 Kings 19:9‑11, 14‑21, 31‑36), after conquering and deporting the Northern Kingdom, the Assyrians turn their attention to the Southern Kingdom of Judah and Jerusalem. What happens is almost the exact opposite of the earlier passage.   The Sennacherib, the …

In our readings today (2 Kings 17:5-8,13-15,18) we continue with the tragic story of the kings and the punishments they and their people suffered for their serious violation of the Lord’s will for them. We see in today’s reading the fall in 721 BC …

It is the beginning of the sixth century before Christ, about the year 590 BC. The Kingdom of Judah and its capital Jerusalem are terrified. The Babylonians are on the march. They have conquered the Assyrians. Tarsus and Damascus to the North have fallen. …

When I first read today’s readings (2 Chronicles 24:17‑25 and Matthew 6:24–34), they did not seem to belong together.  Chronicles tells us about King Joash seeming to have learned nothing from the consequences of a sinful society, even though he himself had been saved from death …

If we thought Queen Jezebel was bad, wait until we read about Queen Athalia (2 Kings 11:1-20).  She was a daughter of King Ahab, but Jezebel probably was not her mother.  Her influence on King Jehoram, her late husband, however, paralleled that of Jezebel …