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33rd Sunday Ordinary Time Malachi 3:19-20a 2 Thessalonians 3:7-12 Luke 21:5-19 Today’s gospel and Old Testament readings are apocalyptic. In the Old Testament, this refers to the “Day of the Lord,” when God will intervene in history to punish evildoers and reward the...

32nd Sunday Ordinary Time 2 Maccabees 7:1-2, 9-14 2Thessalonians 2:16-3:5 Luke 20:27-38 This week’s gospel reading raises some puzzling questions for me. Jesus’s argument in verses 34-36 seems to assume that the reason we marry is because we will die, because he says...

31st Sunday Ordinary Time Wisdom 11:22-12:2 2 Thessalonians 1:11-2:2 Luke 19:1-10 Too often we can read the Hebrew Scriptures as involving more judgment than mercy, but today’s first reading shows how wrong it is do that. God not only has created us all, but we would...

  30th Sunday Ordinary Time   Sirach 35:12-14, 16-18 2 Timothy 4:6-8, 16-18 Luke 18:9-14   Ludwig Wittgenstein, considered by many to be the greatest 20th century philosopher, believed the purpose of Christianity was to become a different person. Early...

29th Sunday Ordinary Time Exodus 17:8-13 2 Timothy 3:14-4:2 Luke 18:1-8 When you stop to think about it, this parable is at odds with itself. The moral point of it is that we need to be persistent in prayer, and not lose heart. We are to keep praying, no matter what,...

28th Sunday Ordinary Time 2 Kings 5:14-17 2 Timothy 2:8-13 Luke 17:11-19 What I love about the gospels is that no matter how many times I read them, I am always discovering new ways of understanding them. I had always read today’s passage from Luke as a moralistic...

26th Sunday Ordinary Time Amos 6: 1a, 4-7 I Timothy 6:011-16 Luke 16:19-31 This famous story of Lazarus and the rich man is found only in Luke, who, like Jesus, cared a lot about the poor and the dangers of wealth. It seems to illustrate the warning from last week...

25th Sunday Ordinary Time Amos 8:4-7 I Tim 2:1-8 Luke 16:1-13 Three important points about this parable modern readers could easily miss would have been clear to the Palestinian peasants Jesus was talking to. The rich man would have been seen as someone akin to our...

24th Sunday Ordinary Time Exodus 32:7-11, 13-14 I Tm 1:12-17 Luke 15:1-32 The gospel reading for this Sunday reveals two shocking truths about Jesus and the Father, but they may no longer astonish us as much as they should. Let’s start with Jesus. The Pharisees and...

Twenty-third Sunday Ordinary Time Wis 9:13-18b Philemon 9-10, 12-17 Luke 14:25-33 This part of today’s gospel is usually skipped over in the homilies I have heard (verse 26). But it is one of my favorite gospel passages, especially the part about hating your parents!...