Blog of the Archdiocese of Washington
The Gospel this Sunday amounts to a summons to faith by Jesus. He is summoning us to faith in Himself and in the truth He proclaims about His presence in the Holy Eucharist. Last week’s Gospel ended with Jesus declaring that He was the bread come down from Heaven. This Sunday’s Gospel opens with His …
Continue reading “Believe What Jesus Says – A Homily for the 19th Sunday of the Year”
All of the readings in this Sunday’s Mass speak of human desire. In the first reading, the Israelites in the desert are hungry, so are the people by the lakeside with Jesus in the Gospel reading, and in the Epistle, St. Paul warns of deceitful desires. In all these passages, God teaches us that our …
The readings at daily Mass this week are from Exodus and say that Moses wore a veil to cover the afterglow of God radiating from his face. In most traditional Catholic settings, we think of the veil as something a woman wears as a sign of traditional modesty. In this sense most of us consider …
Continue reading “What Is the Significance of the Veil Moses Wore?”
The Gospel this Sunday speaks to us of the priority of personal prayer. In last week’s Gospel, Jesus sent the apostles out two by two to proclaim the Kingdom. Now they return, eager to report their progress and the graces they encountered. As Jesus listens, He urges them (perhaps because they are so overjoyed) to …
Continue reading “Four Teachings on Personal Prayer – A Homily for the 16th Sunday of the Year”
One of the biggest reasons why most Christians have difficulty evangelizing effectively is that most lack the requisite freedom and simplicity of life to carry forth the task consistently and coherently. In Sunday’s Gospel, the Lord offers some counsel on what is required for effective evangelization. As we read a Gospel like this, it is …
Continue reading “Five Fundamental Freedoms for the Christian Evangelizer”
The gospel today portrays the Lord Jesus as preacher and prophet, but even the greatest preacher in the world, Jesus, can find His powerful and precious words falling lifeless on the rock-hard surface of many a soul. Yes, even His words can meet with resistance and hostility, indifference and ridicule. Indeed, the gospel today shows …
In modern bibles and in the breviary, Psalm 101 is often called the “Avowal of a Good Ruler.” In other words, it is a kind of oath a ruler takes pledging to promote virtue in the kingdom and to refute error and sin. One can imagine King David saying this himself. While this psalm is …
Following up on Sunday’s Gospel and noting that in the Office of Readings during the sixth week of Easter, we read from the First Letter of John, We return to the connection of the Law and the keeping of the Commandments. The first letter of John emphasizes the Incarnation of Jesus and demands that we …