Getting 20/20 Vision: The Readings for the 30th Sunday in OT

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Sorry this post is late. I'm subbing for John Kincaid, whose had some stresses this week.  Plus I've been gone all weekend and only seldom had internet access.--JB

My vision is terrible.  Uncorrected, it’s probably much worse than 20/200.  My glasses prescription is about -8.0 diopters, for those of you who know what that means.  Without my glasses, the whole world looks like a poorly-executed Impressionist painting.  I’ve often wondered in Monet had bad eyesight, too.  

Bad vision usually isn’t too much of an inconvenience these days.  High index lenses have taken the bulk out of the old “coke bottles.”  For sports, I can slip in a pair of contacts.  However, there remains a more serious form of “visual impairment” in the spiritual realm: the inability to see reality properly, to see it from God’s perspective.  The Readings for this Sunday seem to be about physical sight on the surface, but on a deeper level point us to our need to see things through the eyes of God.

1. Our First Reading is Jer 31:7-9: 

How Can I Live Forever? The 28th Sunday in OT

Very few of us want to die.  In fact, there’s an obsession in this country with staying young and looking young.  Entire industries have developed around cosmetics, nutritional supplements, plastic surgery, and fitness gyms, all for the sake of staying young and staving off the natural effects of aging.  I think it’s partly a refusal to embrace the inevitability of death.  

Along one of the roads between Steubenville (where I live) and Pittsburgh, there is a cyrogenics warehouse that stores the frozen corpses and heads of persons who paid a lot of money to be preserved until medical technology is able to thaw them out and cure their ailments.  I suppose that’s the ultimate attempt to gain eternal life for those who believe we are composed of nothing but a physical body.

The desire to live forever is not new.  We see it in this Sunday’s Gospel reading, when a wealthy young man comes to Jesus to ask for the path to eternal life.  Jesus’ answer does not involve cyrogenics or nutritional supplements.  His answer is as relevant now as it was then.

1. Our First Reading is Wis 7:7-11:

The Unexpected Ways of God: The 26th Sunday in Ordinary Time

In this 26th Sunday in ordinary time, the church puts before us a series of passages that should serve to challenge the tendency to restrict the workings of God to what merely conforms to our expectations. This can be seen in the first reading, for even Joshua was preliminarily unable to comprehend the unexpected work of God.

First Reading: Numbers 11:25-29

The LORD came down in the cloud and spoke to Moses.
Taking some of the spirit that was on Moses,
the LORD bestowed it on the seventy elders;
and as the spirit came to rest on them, they prophesied. 

Now two men, one named Eldad and the other Medad,
were not in the gathering but had been left in the camp.
They too had been on the list, but had not gone out to the tent;
yet the spirit came to rest on them also,
and they prophesied in the camp.
So, when a young man quickly told Moses,
"Eldad and Medad are prophesying in the camp, "
Joshua, son of Nun, who from his youth had been Moses’ aide, said,
"Moses, my lord, stop them."
But Moses answered him,
"Are you jealous for my sake?
Would that all the people of the LORD were prophets!
Would that the LORD might bestow his spirit on them all!"

 Our reading breaks up an account of Israel complaining regarding lack of food in the desert and God’s provision of Quail as well as the sending of a great plague (Numbers 11:1-15; 31-35). In the midst of the people’s infidelity, God moves to help Moses in the task of leading Israel in the desert by granting Moses seventy elders to share in the leadership burden.

When the seventy elders gathered around the tent of meeting, God came down in the cloud and took some of the spirit that was on Moses and LORD bestowed it on the seventy elders; and as the spirit came to rest on them, they prophesied.

Why Doesn't Being Good "Work"? 25th Sunday in OT

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When I was younger, especially from high school through my early days as a Protestant pastor, I had this strong sense that if a person always did what was right, “things would work out.”  That is to say, righteousness was the path to the good life.  God would pave the way in front of the person that does his will.  

There is some truth to that, of course.  A great deal of interior and exterior suffering is cause by our wicked and selfish choices.  When I used to work as an urban missionary, occasionally I would have the chance to witness a fairly significant conversion in the life of a person who had been living a life basically consisting of criminal activity.  Sometimes there would often be a “honeymoon” period after the person’s conversion, as so much stress and sadness in their life faded away as they stopped making evil choices.  

The wisdom literature of the Bible stresses the link between righteousness and natural prosperity.  Under normal conditions, the virtues—hard work, honesty, kindness, courage—bring blessing and success.

However, the world is not always normal.  In fact, it seldom is. And there are frequently situations where honesty and courage will get you marginalized or even killed, because those who have power are committed to a lie.  St. Thomas More was arguably the most honest man in England in his day, and he got beheaded for his efforts.

Is the answer, then, to just “go along to get along”?  To be righteous, but not so righteous that we provoke opposition?  Not if we are followers of Jesus.  This Sunday’s Readings explore the theme of the suffering of the righteous.

1. Our First Reading is from Wisdom 2:12, 17-20:

The Cross and Discipleship: Readings for 24th Week of OT

We have been getting a number of rousing challenges from Jesus in the past several weeks, as our readings have followed the progress of his ministry, and Jesus repeatedly makes clear that following him is not going to be easy in any way.  This Sunday we get another challenge from Jesus to “fish or cut bait” in our relationship with him.  Paradoxically, however, if we think we are going to preserve our lives and comfort by turning away from him, Jesus warns us: long term, that’s a bad strategy.

1.  Our First Reading is one of the Servant Songs of the Book of Isaiah:

What Does It Mean to be Deaf? The 23rd Sunday in OT

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The reality of sight and hearing are a great mystery that natural science has difficulty explaining. 

Robots, of course, can be equipped with sensors to detect sound and light, and react in various ways to audio and visual stimuli.  But a robot cannot “see” or “hear” in the way that a human person does.  A robot cannot create the visual field that each of us “sees” when we open our eyes.  A robot can sense the frequencies of sound but cannot feel the harmonies of Mozart or experience the sensations of good music.  A robot is not conscious.  True sight and hearing are experiences of consciousness, of the mind.  Without the gift of the mystery of consciousness, everything is blackness and silence, because there is no mind to perceive anything.  When God breathed into Adam the “breath of life” and gave him the gift of consciousness, then light and sound came into being for the first man.

To hear and to see are mysterious gifts of the creator God.  In this Sunday’s readings, we are invited to ponder more deeply the different senses of what it means to be blind and deaf, and how Jesus can heal us of these maladies.

1.  Our First Reading is from Isaiah 35:4-7:

Obedience from the heart: The twenty second sunday in Ordinary Time

In this twenty second Sunday in ordinary time the Church offers us a series of readings that center on the nature of true obedience. One of the most important questions that one can ask is: what does it mean to obey God? In turning to this week’s readings, we find valuable guidance regarding the obedience that God requires, beginning with our first reading from Deuteronomy 4:1-2, 6-8.

 

FIRST READING: Deuteronomy 4:1-2, 6-8.

Moses said to the people:
“Now, Israel, hear the statutes and decrees
which I am teaching you to observe,
that you may live, and may enter in and take possession of the land
which the LORD, the God of your fathers, is giving you.
In your observance of the commandments of the LORD, your God,
which I enjoin upon you,
you shall not add to what I command you nor subtract from it.
Observe them carefully,
for thus will you give evidence
of your wisdom and intelligence to the nations,
who will hear of all these statutes and say,
‘This great nation is truly a wise and intelligent people.’
For what great nation is there
that has gods so close to it as the LORD, our God, is to us
whenever we call upon him?
Or what great nation has statutes and decrees
that are as just as this whole law
which I am setting before you today?"

In giving Israel his law, God offers his own people the roadmap for obedience and, in particular, the obedience that leads to life (Deut 4:2, Lev 18:5). Moreover, in obeying God, Israel’s virtue serves to demonstrate to the entire world that Israel’s God is the true God, for no other nation has gods so close to it as the LORD.

However, mere external obedience to the law is not sufficient, for Moses states that Israel is to love God with all their heart (Deut 6:4-8) and Moses vividly elaborates on this mandate by calling on Israel to circumcise their hearts in order to love and obey God (Deut 10:10-16). To do so, is life; failure to do so leads to exile.

In Deut 30:1-6, it is clear that the curse of exile is inevitable, and it seems right to infer that this is due to Israel’s inability to circumcise their collective hearts. Instead, upon return from exile it is God who will circumcise Israel’s heart so that they would be enabled to obey him.

The Feast of Wisdom: The 20th Week of OT

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As I approach this weekend's Readings, I remember “Babette’s Feast,” a beautiful movie about a french cook in Denmark who wins the lottery and spends her entire earnings to throw a lavish feast for the two old spinsters she works for and all their friends.  It's well worth watching if you haven't seen it already!  Babette is a French Catholic, her employers are some sort of "free church" Danish Protestants. 

The feast that Babette throws for twelve guests at the end of the movie is an obvious and intentional Eucharistic allegory.  Like the Eucharist itself, the feast is not fully appreciated, and only one guest realizes how good it really is.   The readings for this Sunday (20th of Ordinary Time), which are all closely united by the themes that also run through that movie: eating, wisdom, and thankfulness.

1.  Our first reading is taken from Proverbs 9:1-6:

Bread from Heaven: Readings for the 18th Sunday of OT

What does it mean to be a human being?  What are we really?

The answer our children are taught in school is that we are just animals, the result of a long process of accidents in which an amoeba became a fish, became a lizard, became a monkey, became us.  So all we are is a material body, a fluke of the universe, a "selfish gene," and when we die, that's it.

Of course, virtually no one can or does live consistently with this "materialist" view of human beings.  Even radical atheists like Richard Dawkins get "mad" at Christians for the supposed "wrong" things they do.  But getting "mad" and moral concepts like "right" and "wrong" make no sense if we are simply material beings, biological robots.

Jesus Christ, and before him all the prophets of Israel, emphatically renounced the view that all we are is animals.  The readings for this Sunday point relentlessly to the fact that we are something more: spiritual beings, personal beings, made for communion with God and eternal life.


We are in a stretch of the Church calendar when the Lectionary takes a leisurely stroll, week after week for five weeks, through St. John's account of the Feeding of the 5,000 (John 6).  Each week, the next section of John 6 is read, and paired with different Old Testament type of the Eucharist in the first reading.


1.  The first reading this week is Exodus 16:2-4, 12-15:

The Seventeenth Sunday in Ordinary Time: The Importance of Mystagogy-Elisha, Jesus, and Miraculous Food

In paragraph 1075 of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, it states that “Liturgical catechesis aims to initiate people into the mystery of Christ (It is ‘mystagogy.’) by proceeding from the visible to the invisible, form the sign to the signified, from the ‘sacraments’ to the ‘mysteries.’”

In our readings for this week, the Church offers us the opportunity to receive mystagogical instruction and as a result, we have an important opportunity to be further initiated into the mystery of Christ, beginning with the first reading from 2 Kings.

The Shepherd Teaches the Flock: 16th Sunday in OT

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After my conversion to Catholicism, I can remember the first time I witnessed a Mass celebrated by a bishop who preached with his crosier in hand.  I believe, in fact, was Bishop (now Archbishop) Vigneron of Detroit.  I was so powerfully impressed by the symbolism of the bishop teaching in the person of Jesus, the Good Shepherd.

At this time in the Church year, we are working our way through the Gospel of Mark, approaching the record of the Feeding of the 5,000 (Mark 6).  In the next five weeks, we are going to take a break from Mark in order to meditate on John’s account of the same event (John 6), which will provide a lengthy opportunity to reflect on the theology and biblical basis for the Eucharist.  This Sunday, however, we will only read the introduction of the account of the 5,000, and focus on the issue of leadership for God’s people rather than the Eucharist itself.

1.  Our first reading comes from the prophet Jeremiah:

 Jer 23:1-6

Choosing Unlikely Messengers: Readings for 15th Sunday of OT

The readings for this upcoming Sunday are united by the theme of God’s choice of his messengers.  And, as is typical for God, he chooses some unlikely candidates. 

1.  Our first reading is from the prophet Amos 7:12-15:

The Little Way: The Fourteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

 For this fourteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, I would like to offer a reflection on the readings informed by St. Thérèse of Lisieux and her “little way.” While there are other potential ways of uniting the readings for this Sunday, it appears fitting to draw on the wisdom of St. Thérèse in order to illuminate the readings the Church has selected, beginning with the first reading from the prophet Ezekiel.

 

 

 

First Reading: Ezekiel 2:2-5

 

 As the LORD spoke to me, the spirit entered into me
and set me on my feet,
and I heard the one who was speaking say to me:
Son of man, I am sending you to the Israelites,
rebels who have rebelled against me;
they and their ancestors have revolted against me to this very day.
Hard of face and obstinate of heart
are they to whom I am sending you.
But you shall say to them: Thus says the Lord GOD!
And whether they heed or resist—for they are a rebellious house—
they shall know that a prophet has been among them.

                    

 

In giving Ezekiel his prophetic commission, God sends Ezekiel to the exiled house of Judah, a people that God describes as hard of face and obstinate of heart.

 

It should come as no surprise that the theme of hardness of heart plays a major role in the message of Ezekiel to Judah in exile (see Ezek 3:6-7; 11:19-20; 36:26-27), and this directly follows not only from the words God speaks to Ezekiel, but from Israel’s covenantal relationship to God.

In the book of Deuteronomy, Moses tells the people of Israel to circumcise their hearts in order to offer God the kind of obedience that he can bless. In fact, it is possible to connect the admonition that Israel circumcise their collective hearts with the Shema of Deuteronomy 6:4-7, for there Moses famously tells Israel to “love the LORD your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might” (Deut 6:5). Quite significantly, Moses then states that “these words which I command you this day shall be upon your heart” (Deut 6:6), and this is not only for the conquest generation, but they are to be taught “diligently to your children” (Deut 6:7).

In Deuteronomy 10:16, Moses commands Israel to circumcise their hearts, yet only after admonishing them once again to love God with all of their heart, for this is what Yahweh requires of his people (Deut 10:12). While Moses is clear that God has set his electing love upon Israel, they are not free to confess that it is due to their own righteousness that he has chosen them to be his people (Deut 9:4). Therefore, in light of Israel’s repeated disobedience, from the worship of the golden calf at Mt Sinai (Exodus 32) to idol worship at Beth-Peor (Numbers 25), the call to circumcise their hearts is not mere rhetorical flourish but absolutely necessary for covenant fidelity. As a result, God is also clear that failure to circumcise their hearts through genuine love for him would be an act of provocation, for he is a God who is impartial and executes justice (Deut 10:17-18).

This sets the backdrop for Judah’s exile, for it is due to their failure to circumcise their hearts that they are sent into exile in Babylon, an exile that the book of Deuteronomy takes as inevitable (see Deut 30:1-2). Therefore, when God sends Ezekiel to prophesy to exilic Judah, he sends them to a people with a “heart problem.”

It is against this backdrop that I will jump ahead to the Gospel reading in order to best connect the readings for this week.  

Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 123:1-4

 

R. (2cd) Our eyes are fixed on the Lord, pleading for his mercy.
To you I lift up my eyes
who are enthroned in heaven —
As the eyes of servants
are on the hands of their masters.
R. Our eyes are fixed on the Lord, pleading for his mercy.
As the eyes of a maid
are on the hands of her mistress,
So are our eyes on the LORD, our God,
till he have pity on us.
R. Our eyes are fixed on the Lord, pleading for his mercy.
Have pity on us, O LORD, have pity on us,
for we are more than sated with contempt;
our souls are more than sated
with the mockery of the arrogant,
with the contempt of the proud.
R. Our eyes are fixed on the Lord, pleading for his mercy.

 

Second Reading: 2 Corinthians 12:7-10

 

Brothers and sisters:
That I, Paul, might not become too elated,
because of the abundance of the revelations,
a thorn in the flesh was given to me, an angel of Satan,
to beat me, to keep me from being too elated.
Three times I begged the Lord about this, that it might leave me,
but he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you,
for power is made perfect in weakness.”
I will rather boast most gladly of my weaknesses,
in order that the power of Christ may dwell with me.
Therefore, I am content with weaknesses, insults,
hardships, persecutions, and constraints,
for the sake of Christ;
for when I am weak, then I am strong.

 

Gospel: Mark 6:1-6

Jesus departed from there and came to his native place, accompanied by his disciples.
When the sabbath came he began to teach in the synagogue,
and many who heard him were astonished.
They said, “Where did this man get all this?
What kind of wisdom has been given him?
What mighty deeds are wrought by his hands!
Is he not the carpenter, the son of Mary,
and the brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon?
And are not his sisters here with us?”
And they took offense at him.
Jesus said to them,
“A prophet is not without honor except in his native place
and among his own kin and in his own house.”
So he was not able to perform any mighty deed there,
apart from curing a few sick people by laying his hands on them.
He was amazed at their lack of faith.

In our Gospel reading from Mark 6, we find Jesus preaching in his hometown synagogue on the Sabbath, and his fellow Nazarenes are astounded at Jesus’ wisdom. To further contextualize this Gospel passage, the Nazarenes could have reasonably hoped that they were the recipients of the post-exilic promise that when Yahweh brings Israel back to the land he will circumcise their hearts (Deut 30:6).

While all of the northern tribes had not returned to the land, Judah returned from the Babylonian exile around 539 BC, and what is more, Israelites from other tribes certainly lived in the land at the time of Christ, including in Galilee. In rejecting Jesus, the Nazarenes show themselves to still be uncircumcised of heart, like Judah when Ezekiel was sent to them.

It is tempting to view both exilic Judah and the Nazarenes as remarkably sinful in rejecting the mighty works of God so clearly put before them. However, to view it from this angle alone is to run the risk of missing an even deeper point, namely, that without true faith, all humanity is left in the hardness of their hearts, unable to both see and receive the liberating work of God. In order to drive this point home, I turn to the Apostle Paul for help.

In his letter to the Romans, after issuing his introduction (1:1-15) and famous thesis statement (1:16-17), Paul offers a scathing critique of Gentile sinfulness (1:17-31). From there, Paul turns and indicts anyone who judges another, for the one who judges is guilty of hypocrisy, and their hard heart will be judged by God (2:1-5).

At this point a Jewish reader of Paul’s letter might be tempted to place themselves outside of this indictment, for they have the law to guide their conduct so as to be righteous before God. However, Paul indicts Israel along with the Gentiles due to Israel’s failure to do what the law requires, thereby demonstrating that they lack the promised circumcision of the heart (Rom 2:28-29; Deut 30:6). As a result, Paul is able to conclude that both Jews and Greeks alike are under the power of sin (3:9-20) and thereby lack the glory of God and stand in need of his justifying grace (3:23-26).

Why do I use this example from Romans in reference to exilic Judah and the Nazarenes? The reason can be stated as follows: no one is able to indict the hard-heartedness of Judah and the Nazarenes without also indicting themselves as well, for apart from God’s grace everyone has a “heart problem.”

If we all have a heart problem apart from grace, what should our proper response be before God? Both the responsorial Psalm and the second reading from 2 Corinthians offer important guidelines in this regard, for the Psalmist declares the importance of fixing our eyes on God, pleading for his mercy.

In the second reading Paul recounts his request that the Lord remove a thorn in the flesh, yet the response is no, for Christ’s power is made perfect in Paul’s weakness. Why is this so?

I would suggest two interconnected reasons, the first being directly related to our analysis to date, and that is that left to himself, Paul, like all humans, is weak and sinful, and should he overvalue his position and abilities as an apostle, he would inevitably fall into failure. In order to keep Paul humbly dependent upon him, Christ gives Paul a thorn in the flesh, one that demonstrates that it is by God’s power that Paul is able to fulfill his apostolic mission.

With this being said, there is a second reason that I would suggest illuminates how God’s power is made perfect in weakness and that centers on the nature of divine grace. Paul is told that Christ’s grace is sufficient, and this is precisely what Paul repeatedly tells his various Churches in numerous ways throughout his letters.

In a previous letter to the Church at Corinth, Paul states that he is the very least of the apostles, and although he works harder than all of the apostles, it is not Paul but the grace of God within Paul (I Cor 15:8-10). In fact, Paul tells both the Romans and Galatians at length that it is only by grace through faith that one made just by God and empowered to do what the law calls for without being under the law as such. Therefore,  Paul is able to tell the Romans that “boasting” in one’s own self-generated efforts is excluded (Rom 3:27), yet if one is to boast of one’s work, Paul is clear that such boasting can only occur on the basis of God’s grace empowering the work to be truly praiseworthy (Rom 15:15-18).

 

Conclusion: When I am weak, I am strong, the “Little Way” of Thérèse of Lisieux

In summation, how are we to respond in such a way as to not follow the hard-heartedness of exilic Judah and the Nazarenes in the Gospel reading? Our response should not be to think that we are intrinsically better than they are and would never reject Christ. Instead, we should follow the Psalmist and plead for God’s mercy.

As for a clear example of what this looks like in practice, we have the example of Paul, for in his weakness God’s grace empowered him to change the world perhaps more than any other man other than Jesus himself.

As for the kind of conclusions we should draw from this analysis, I would like to highlight the “little way” of St. Thérèse of Lisieux. In her “little way”, St. Thérèse calls on those who belong to Christ to embrace the reality of their littleness and weakness and instead of self-reliance and self-promotion, depend entirely on the grace of God. Her approach to the spiritual life can appropriately be summarized by Paul’s statement in 2 Corinthians 12:10 found in the second reading, When I am weak, then I am strong. While spoken to her sister, I would like conclude with the following words of  St. Thérèse, words that all of us can apply to our lives as if addressed to us:

Whenever you are lacking in virtue, you should not excuse yourself by throwing blame on physical causes, on the weather, or some other trial. Instead, you should make it a means of self-humiliation, and then go take your place in the rank and file of little souls, since you are so weak in the practice of virtue. Your soul’s urgent need at present is not the ability to practice heroic virtue, but rather to acquire humility.

 

 

The Goodness of Life: 13th Week of Ordinary Time

The readings for this Sunday focus on the theme of life, and God’s desire for it.  They discuss God’s relationship with, and intentions for, the natural world: topics that resonate with Pope Francis’ newly-released encyclical on the environment. 

1.  The first reading poses some issues that have to be discussed:

Reading 1 Wis 1:13-15; 2:23-24

God did not make death,
nor does he rejoice in the destruction of the living.
For he fashioned all things that they might have being;
and the creatures of the world are wholesome,
and there is not a destructive drug among them
nor any domain of the netherworld on earth,
for justice is undying.
For God formed man to be imperishable;
the image of his own nature he made him.
But by the envy of the devil, death entered the world,
and they who belong to his company experience it.

The modern person, of course, will immediately object that natural history seems to indicate that death was always a part of nature.  Plus, there are poisonous plants and animals, and isn’t nature “red in tooth and claw,” etc.  So what do we say?

What I Like about Peter Singer

Peter Singer, the atheist ethicist who teaches at Princeton, just got disinvited from a philosophy conference in Cologne after this interview with a Swiss newspaper was published:

Neue Zuricher Zeitung: You do not consider an infant to be more worthy of protection than an embryo. On the other hand, you do not necessarily ascribe a higher status to humans than to animals.

Plato and Marriage Redefinition

 

I majored in Classical Languages in my B.A. program, and despite the fact that it made me perhaps less employable than not having any degree at all, I have never regretted the decision, for a variety of reasons.

One of the reasons I appreciate the study of the Classics is that it provides some perspective from which to evaluate and analyze contemporary culture.  To enter into the world of ancient Greek literature, for example, is to enter a society and culture quite different from twenty-first century America.  By doing so, I became more aware that many of the values, opinions, and customs that Americans accept as obvious or natural, were not shared by all people at all times, and are in fact the product of our unique cultural and intellectual history.

One of the shocking aspects for Christian students of the Classics—at least it used to be shocking—is to discover the widespread practice and approval of same-sex physical relationships among ancient Greeks.  Take, for example, the term “Platonic relationship.”  If modern people have heard of this concept, they think it refers to a non-sexual friendship between a man and a woman.  But Plato was not actually much concerned with male-female relationships.  The discourses he wrote which gave rise to the terms “Platonic love” or “Platonic relationship” were actually advocating non-sexual friendships between men.  Male-to-male eroticism was widely practiced among elite Greek men in Plato’s day; in fact, it was assumed that the ideal love relationship between to human beings was not between a husband and wife, but between an older man and younger (usually adolescent) man.  

Jesus, Trees, and Seeds: The 11th Sunday of OT

In this week’s Mass readings, Jesus teaches us about himself and the Church using agricultural images.

It is the Eleventh Sunday of Ordinary Time.  The last time we had a Sunday of Ordinary Time was on February 15^th, and that was the Sixth.  The logical question is, what happened to the 7^th, 8^th, 9^th, and 10^th?  The 8^th, 9^th, and 10^th Sundays were pre-empted this year by Pentecost, Trinity Sunday, and Corpus Christi, and the 7^th was squeezed out because otherwise the calendar would not end with the 34^th Sunday of Ordinary Time (Christ the King) prior to Advent 2016.  As a result, we get no Gospel Readings from Mark 2-3 this year.  

Knowing the Love of Christ: Solemnity of the Sacred Heart

This Friday we celebrate the Solemnity of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, a wonderful feast day in which we meditate on the love of Christ for us, symbolized by the icon of his sacred heart. 

The Readings focus on expressions of the love of God.  Our First Reading is Hosea 11:1, 3-4, 8c-9:

Thus says the LORD:

When Israel was a child I loved him,

out of Egypt I called my son.

Yet it was I who taught Ephraim to walk,

who took them in my arms;

I drew them with human cords,

with bands of love;

I fostered them like one

who raises an infant to his cheeks;

Yet, though I stooped to feed my child,

they did not know that I was their healer.

Scandalously Close to God: Readings for Corpus Christi

This is a truly joyful time of the Church year as we conclude the long sequence from Advent to Pentecost with these great feasts celebrating central truths of our faith: the Trinity last Sunday, and the Eucharist this week, followed by the Sacred Heart on Friday.

One might ask, What is the relationship between the Trinity and the Eucharist?  Why does the one feast follow the other?