Reflections

Had yesterday not been the Solemnity of the Birth of St. John the Baptist, it would have been the Monday of Week 12 in Ordinary Time Year II.  The Old Testament Reading prescribed for that day (2 Kings 17:5‑8, 13‑15, 18) continues the tragic tale of the Kings of Israel and Judah and the punishments […]

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 as Christ himself said, John was the greatest of the sons of men.  John, it

Yesterday I had to look deep to see the connection between the Scripture readings.  That is not the case today.  The theme seems to be that God reveals himself by calming stormy water. During the Sundays of Ordinary Time this year, we are reading from Mark’s Gospel. Mark gradually reveals to us who Jesus is,

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 through God’s intercession in yesterday’s readings.  The story relates a now

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 on King Ahab. When her son, King Ahaziah died at the

After hearing about the exploits of Elijah in the Second Book of Kings, concluded in yesterday’s reading, today (Sirach 48:1‑15) we hear Sirach’s poetic description and praise of this prophet.  Sirach provided a similar writing about David’s life. Recall that in a previous Daily Reflection we discussed that the Book of Sirach is among the

For some time now, the First Readings at Mass have followed the prophet Elijah, arguably the most righteous person in the Old Testament.  He has lived a long life, been at the center of many dramatic events, and has trained a replacement, young Elisha.  But now, Elijah’s time is over, and God is about to

The Old Testament readings this week continue the narrative about King Ahab and his wife Jezebel. Starting in 1 Kings 21, we hear the story of Naboth, a man from Jezreel, a fertile plain in the northern part of present-day Israel.  Naboth owns an excellent vineyard that is next to the palace of Ahab, king

Our Gospel readings of this past week have been taken from the Sermon on the Mount.  This sermon stretches over 3 chapters in Matthew’s Gospel and is the longest single stretch of Jesus’ teachings to be found in Scripture.  The purpose of the sermon is to teach his followers about what the Kingdom of God

In 587 BC, the Babylonians conquered Jerusalem and destroyed the Temple, the center of Israel’s worship of God and the visible sign of His presence with them.   Most of the people were carted off to Babylon, where they would stay, in exile, for the next 70 years.  While to say this was a difficult