Palm Sunday (The Mass Readings Explained)

This week's video for Palm Sunday from The Mass Readings Explained.  Enjoy!

Baptism as Re-Creation: Laetare Sunday

The drama increases as we progress toward Easter.  This Sunday’s readings are united by the themes of anointing and light.

The First Reading (1 Sam 16:1-13) recounts Samuel’s anointing of David as King over Israel.  Samuel journeys to Jesse of Bethlehem, and scrutinizes each of his sons in search of God’s chosen king, but to no avail.  Finally, the youngest of the eight, David, is called in from shepherding the sheep.  This at last is the future king:

Reading 1 1 Sm 16:1b, 6-7, 10-13a:

The Spit of Jesus and the Man Born Blind (The Mass Readings Explained)

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Wooing Israel: Readings for 3rd Sunday of Lent

You know we are “picking up steam” in the season of Lent when the Lectionary starts turning to the long readings from the Gospel of John (John 4, 9, 11).  The Church turns to these texts from John at this point in the liturgical calendar, because John is, in so many ways, a mystagogical document, a gospel intended to takes us deeper into the mysteries, that is, the sacraments.

The Start of the New Exodus: 2nd Sunday of Lent

 

This Sunday we are only eleven days into Lent, still very early along on our Lenten pilgrimage.  The readings share the theme of beginning the journey of faith, even while giving us a glimpse of our final destination.

In all three years of the lectionary cycle (A, B, C), the readings for the Second Sunday of Lent always pair a key pericope from the Abraham narrative (Gen 12-22) with an account of the Transfiguration from one of the Synoptic Gospels.

What Are the Biblical Roots of Ash Wednesday?

This week's video for The Mass Readings Explained is now out.  May it benefit your entire Lenten journey this year.  You can find the full-length version by subscribing to this series at the link above.

God bless.

Ash Wednesday

(Posts on 7th Sunday of Ordinary Time and 1st Sunday of Lent are below)
Happy Lent, everyone! It’s Ash Wednesday!

Holy Mother Church calls us to begin the Great Fast in preparation for Easter by proclaiming the following Scriptures:

Jesus the New Adam: The First Sunday of Lent A

The readings for today’s Mass are exceptionally rich and could be the subject of several week’s worth of lectures, so we will have to limit ourselves today to a few central themes.

The First Reading is the account of the Fall, in which Eve, followed by Adam, gives in to temptation by eating the fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.

Reading 1 Gn 2:7-9; 3:1-7

The LORD God formed man out of the clay of the ground
and blew into his nostrils the breath of life,
and so man became a living being.

Turn the Other Cheek: The 7th Sunday of OT

This Sunday’s Readings include some of the best known—and hardest to practice—passages from the Gospel, including Jesus famous command to “turn the other cheek.”  Biblical scholarship can only go so far in elucidating some of Jesus’ challenging commands; beyond that, we need the saints. 

1.  Our Readings start off showing the continuity between Jesus’ teachings and the Old Testament, quoting a section from Leviticus (19:1-2, 17-18):

The Sermon on the Mount, Part 4 (The Mass Readings Explained)

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Holiness: Readings for 6th Sunday of OT

The “Hippie” Jesus is one of the common misunderstandings of Christ that are circulating in popular culture.  People think of Jesus as a laid back guru who traveled around Israel in this Volkswagen Vanagon, accompanied by twelve dudes in tie-died T-shirts.  Jesus taught that all we need is Love, and not to be so uptight, like all those rule-bound priests and scribes.

The Sermon on the Mount, Part 3 (The Mass Readings Explained)

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Light, Salt, Temple: Readings for the 5th Sunday in OT

Basilica of the Annunciation in Nazareth, Israel

The Readings for this Sunday remind me of the Basilica of the Annunciation in Nazareth, which I’ve had the privilege of visiting a couple of times.  This beautiful church is built on a hillside and is easily visible from much of the modern city of Nazareth.  The architect designed the dome of the basilica to look like a lighthouse, symbolizing the light of Christ going out to all Nazareth and the rest of the Galilee region, in keeping with the theme of last week’s Gospel, “Those walking in darkness have seen a great light.”

The theme of light continues in this Sunday’s Readings, in which Jesus calls the people of God, the Church, to be a kind of lighthouse or beacon calling the whole world to the safe harbor with God.

Salt of the Earth (The Mass Readings Explained)

This week's video for The Mass Readings Explained is now out.  Enjoy!

The Feast of the Presentation

We have a truly unusual situation this Sunday.  Under normal circumstances, it would be the Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time, but it just so happens that this year, the Feast of the Presentation (pegged to Feb. 2) falls on the Sunday and “outranks” the regular Lord’s Day obligation.  The result is that many persons who do not regularly attend daily mass will have the rare experience of celebrating the full liturgy for the Feast of the Presentation. 

The Presentation of the Lord (The Mass Readings Explained)

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Enjoy!

The First "Biblemas" Ever! Readings for the Feast of the Word of God

For the first time in the history of the Church, we are celebrating the Feast of the Word of God this Sunday, the Third Sunday of Ordinary Time.  By his beautiful motu proprio “Aperuit Illis”, Pope Francis established a new feast day to be observed every year on the Third Sunday of Ordinary Time, celebrating the Word of God.  It is the Mass of the Bible, or “Biblemas.”  Get your Biblemas cards now!  They are going fast!  Put up your Biblemas tree!

The Third Sunday of OT is a wise choice for the observance of this feast day, because it is on the Third Sunday that we begin the ad seriatim or sequential reading of the Gospel of the year that will continue until the end of November. 

Jesus' Public Ministry Begins (The Mass Readings Explained)

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The Afterglow of the Baptism: 2nd Sunday of OT

The Second Sunday of OT is one of those “unofficial” feast days in the Church’s calendar, which aren’t given a name, but due to the Readings that always occur on them, have a unique and particular character to them.  The Second Sunday of OT might be called “Afterglow Sunday,” and every third year it is the “Feast of the Wedding at Cana.”   

Why is this? The Readings for the Second Sunday of Ordinary Time this year are like a “holy hangover” from the Feasts of Epiphany and Baptism that we celebrated last week.  Traditionally, three events of our Lord’s life have been celebrated clumped together around January 6, between the Christmas season and the transition to ordinary time.  These are the arrival of the magi (Epiphany), the Baptism, and the Wedding at Cana.  These are the three events in the various Gospels that “manifest” or show forth Jesus’ glory at the beginning of his life or career: the Magi in Matthew, the Baptism in Mark and Luke, and the Wedding at Cana in John.   

FREE Bible Conference in Santa Maria, CA on February 14-16, 2020

Please consider joining John Kincaid and me for a special Bible Conference at St. Louis de Montfort Catholic Church in scenic Santa Maria, California, this coming February 15. The event is FREE. We will be speaking out the theme of my new book, Salvation.

Indeed, salvation is at the very heart of the Gospel message. But, we might ask, what is salvation? It is more than simply getting out of hell. It is more than just going to heaven. It is more than just a moment.

I am very excited about this event! If you'd like to learn more, here is the flyer.

The Lamb of God (The Mass Readings Explained)

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The Feast of the Baptism

Happy Feast of the Baptism!  The celebration of the Lord's baptism brings to a close the Christmas season.  (In the extraordinary form calendar, the Christmas season continues till Feb. 2, the Feast of the Presentation.  Thus, the custom of some of leaving their Christmas tree up until "Ground Hog Day.")  We are sad to leave behind the beautiful mysteries surrounding the birth of Our Lord on which we have been meditating for the past several weeks, but the tenderness of the childhood of the Lord must give way to the maturity of his manhood and the beginning of his public ministry.  John the Baptist, that greatest of prophets and remarkable saint, has been accompanying us almost from the start of Advent, and makes a critical appearance once again in the Gospel for this feast.  John plays the role of both priest and prophet as he mediates the washing and anointing of the King, the Son of David, in the waters of the Jordan.  Traditionally, each new Son of David was washed and anointed before beginning his reign, so the Baptism in a sense marks the beginning of Jesus' reign over his kingdom.  Shortly afterwards, he will inaugurate his earthly ministry with the royal proclamation: "The kingdom of heaven is at hand!" (i.e. is here!).

The Baptism of the Lord (The Mass Readings Explained)

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The Readings for Epiphany!

The word “Epiphany” comes from two Greek words: epi, “on, upon”; and phaino, “to appear, to shine.” Therefore, the “Epiphany” refers to the divinity of Jesus “shining upon” the earth, in other words, the manifestation of his divine nature.

The Feast of the Epiphany has an interesting history, and arose from the commemoration of various events in the childhood or early ministry of Our Lord in which his divinity was revealed.