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The readings for this Sunday revolve around the theme of return from exile for God's people. In the Old Testament, we read about God's people Israel being exiled from their land because of their violations of their covenant with God. The great Israelite prophets, however, predicted that God would bring his people back from the places they were exiled, just as he brought them out of Egypt by the hand of Moses long ago. This is often called the "New Exodus" theme in the prophets. 1. Our First Reading is one such prophetic oracle, Jeremiah 31:7-9: Thus says the LORD:...

The Readings for this upcoming Lord's Day focus on the themes of suffering and leadership: in particular, how Christ, our definitive leader, embraced suffering on our behalf, and so modeled true leadership for all who would follow him. 1. Our First Reading is Isaiah 53:10-11: The LORD was pleased to crush him in infirmity. If he gives his life as an offering for sin, he shall see his descendants in a long life, and the will of the LORD shall be accomplished through him. Because of his affliction he shall see the light in fullness of days; through his suffering,...

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 cryogenics warehouse that stores the frozen corpses and heads of persons who paid a lot of money to be preserved until medical technology is...

By Dr. John BergsmaThe Readings for this Sunday provide the homilist with an ideal opportunity to teach Christian doctrine concerning marriage and children. The opportunity is timely, too, as one of our political parties has taken an official stand supporting "same-sex marriage," an arrangement that is not intrinsically related to the birth and rearing of children, does not provide the same benefit to society as true marriage, and can never be as optimal for the well-being of children as to be raised by their own biological father and mother. In the midst of the confusion about the very nature of...

Our Readings for this Sunday may seem dour at first, dominated by discussion of going to hell and the merits of self-amputation, but the First Reading actually points us in the right direction to overcome sin and hell and live in joy. We will see how as the Readings unfold: 1. Our First Reading is from 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,...

When I was younger, especially from high school through my early days as a non-Catholic Christian 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...

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...

This weekend is another great liturgical feast, the Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ, otherwise known as Corpus Christi. Corpus Christi is one of a handful of feasts that celebrates the very gift of the Eucharist itself. It is one of my favorite feasts, because the doctrine of the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist was instrumental in my becoming Catholic. Back in the Fall of 1999 I was reading through the Apostolic Fathers and came to this passage in Ignatius of Antioch’s Letter to the Smyrneans (c. AD 106): “But consider those who are...