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When I was a kid, the phrase “Get wise!” was a provocative taunt—essentially, a way to start a fight. It meant something like: “I invite you to act like a smart aleck, so I will have an excuse to assault you physically.” My elementary school career was a bit rough. But what does it really mean to “Get wise” or “Gain wisdom”? The Readings for this Sunday’s Mass teach us about this issue. During this part of Ordinary Time in Year A, the Church is pursuing a lectio continua (continuous reading, i.e. reading in order) of both Romans and Matthew....

Our Readings for this upcoming Lord’s Day involve a meditation on both God’s mercy and his justice, and the complex way both virtues of God are expressed in his government of human affairs in general and his people in particular. We see that God’s apparent tolerance of evil in the short-term is an expression of his mercy and desire that all should repent; yet ultimately God can and will establish justice. 1. Reading 1: Wisdom 12:13, 16-19:There is no god besides you who have the care of all, that you need show you have not unjustly condemned. For your might...

Ordinary Time focuses on the growth of the Church. I would prefer we called it “Extraordinary Time,” because there is nothing ordinary about the Second Person of the Divinity becoming en-fleshed in our presence through the Sacrament. Be that as it may, the Readings for this Lord’s Day are clearly united by the motif of sowing the seed of God’s Word. 1. The First Reading (Isaiah 55:10-11) is one of the earliest passages in Scripture where an explicit analogy is drawn between the natural cycles of agriculture and the fertility of God’s Word: Reading 1: Isaiah 55:10-11Thus says the LORD:...

We are currently in Cycle A of the Lectionary, reading through the Gospel of Matthew. This Sunday we find Jesus more or less in the middle of his earthly ministry (Matthew 11), and the Readings are marked by a strong theme of the restoration of the world-wide Kingdom of David. 1. Our First Reading is Zechariah 9:9-10: Thus says the LORD: Rejoice heartily, O daughter Zion, shout for joy, O daughter Jerusalem! See, your king shall come to you; a just savior is he, meek, and riding on an ass, on a colt, the foal of an ass. He shall...

God is generous, and he rewards those who help his servants as generously as he rewards his servants themselves. That is the message of the Readings for this 13th Sunday of Ordinary Time. We begin with an account from 2 Kings concerning the reward of a wife of the town of Shunem, who was consistently gracious to the prophet Elisha. In the Gospel Reading, Jesus proclaims a blessing on all those who give succor, refuge, and assistance to those he sends out to proclaim the Good News. This Sunday’s Readings complement last Sunday’s, which emphasized the violent reaction that the...

After the celebrations of Pentecost, Trinity, and Corpus Christi, this Sunday finds us transitioning back to Ordinary Time, and the transition is a bit painful. The Readings for this Sunday shift right back into the reality of persecution in the Christian life, as we read about Jesus advising the apostles to be prepared for the opposition they will encounter as they do the work of evangelization. You would think that following the Prince of Peace would lead to a peaceful life, but sadly that’s not how it usually works out. Those who follow Jesus often find themselves hated, because they...

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...

The Easter Season usually ends with a sort of “trifecta” of major feasts: Pentecost, Trinity, and Corpus Christi, as the Church celebrates the central mysteries of the faith before entering into Ordinary Time once more. This weekend is Trinity Sunday, a meditation and celebration of the central mystery of the Christian faith, the dogma that distinguishes Christianity from all other religions. Christians alone believe in one God, who nonetheless exists in three persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Strangely, our Readings for this Sunday tend not to be classic “proof texts” for the idea that there is more than one...

Pentecost Vigil Readings: Gen. 11:1-9 (Babel); Ex. 19:3-8a; 16-20b (Sinai); Ez. 37:1-14 (dry bones); Joel 3:1-5 (old men will dream, dreams…); Romans 8:22-27 (Spirit prays for us); John 7:37-39 (rivers of living water).The Readings for the Mass of the Pentecost pick up, as it were, where the Readings for the Vigil left off.First Reading: Acts 2:1-111When the time for Pentecost was fulfilled, they were all in one place together. 2And suddenly there came from the sky a noise like a strong driving wind, and it filled the entire house in which they were. 3Then there appeared to them tongues as...

In the provinces of Boston, Hartford, New York, Newark, Philadelphia, and Omaha, Ascension Day is observed on it's proper day, and this Sunday is observed as the Seventh Sunday of Easter. It's a shame that so much of the country will not have a chance to meditate on these Scriptures, but perhaps even those of us living in areas where the Seventh Sunday is not celebrated can benefit by bringing these Readings to our prayer. Holy Mother Church offers as an intriguing theme in these Readings: the paradoxical relationship between glory and suffering. We find these two motifs expressed particularly...

In most of the USA, Ascension Day is observed this Sunday, whereas in the ecclesiastical provinces of Boston, Hartford, New York, Newark, Omaha, and Philadelphia, it is observed on its proper day on the Thursday forty days after Easter. 1. Ascension Day is an unusual Feast, in which the “action” of the Feast Day actually takes place in the First Reading rather than the Gospel. We typically think of all the narratives of Jesus’ life as recorded in the Gospels, overlooking that Acts records at least two important narratives about the activity of the Resurrected Lord (Acts 1:1-11; also 9:1-8)....

So we have arrived at the sixth Sunday of Easter, and Pentecost is only two weeks away! It is hard to believe that this blessed season has traveled by so quickly. Yet we are approaching the end, now is the time to prepare more seriously than ever to be filled anew with the Holy Spirit on this upcoming Feast. Our Readings for this Sunday are filled with instruction and narrative about the gift of the Holy Spirit. In the First Reading, we have the account of the “Samaritan Pentecost,” as the Holy Spirit falls on these much-maligned descendants of northern...

Since the beginning of time, human beings have sought to construct buildings that would bridge the gap between the temporal and eternal, earthly and heavenly planes of existence. These temples have taken widely differing forms in many cultures. One of the greatest was the Jerusalem temple begun by Herod the Great (73–4 BC), an architectural marvel of the ancient world while it stood. The authors of the New Testament texts in this Sunday’s Readings were well familiar with Herod’s great temple, yet they were convinced that God had begun the construction new and greater dwelling place for himself in their...

So we have reached the mid-point of the Easter Season and come to the Lord’s Day unofficially called “Good Shepherd Sunday,” because every year at this time we read from John 10, the famous “Good Shepherd Discourse.” For the most part, the Readings are focused around the idea of Jesus Christ as our divine Shepherd. But what is a shepherd like? In Western culture, shepherding can involve a conflicted relationship with the sheep. Shepherds often drive sheep in different directions using dogs to intimidate them. But in Eastern cultures, shepherds don’t “drive” the sheep, they lead them. Dogs are not...

How do we know that Jesus was someone and something different than the numerous religious leaders or founders of religions that have appeared on the stage of world history over the centuries? Last week we examined one way that he is different: unlike Buddha, Mohammed, or Zarathustra, Jesus rose from the grave after his death, appearing and talking to his followers at length. In this week’s liturgy, the Third Sunday of Easter, we examine another remarkable piece of evidence for the uniqueness of Jesus: the fact that his suffering and resurrection were strikingly foreshadowed by the sacred writings of the...

Behind the readings for this Sunday lies a Gospel text which is never read, but whose influence is felt and whose concepts and images serves as a link between the texts that are read. That passage is John 19:34: John 19:34-35 “But one of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear, and at once there came out blood and water. He who saw it has borne witness — his testimony is true, and he knows that he tells the truth — that you also may believe.”The blood and water flowing from the side of Christ is the background for...

By Dr. John Bergsma (first and second readings) and Dr. Brant Pitre (Gospel Reading)This Sunday’s readings might seem bipolar or schizophrenic. We begin Mass with exultant cheering as we relive Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem. We end the Readings on a note of solemn silence, unable to process the reality of one of the most egregious abuses of judicial process and power in human history, in which the only innocent man ever to live is executed. What does it all mean? Despite a few mysterious prophetic texts that seemed to intimate this possibility, the idea that the Messiah could arrive...

In the season of Lent, the Gospel of John becomes very prominent, especially in Year A, the readings of which can be used in any year that a parish is doing RCIA. Unlike the other Gospels, John recounts only a limited number of miracles of Jesus, which he designates as “signs,” a rare term in the other Gospels. Although John tells us of only a few miracles, he describes them in much greater depth than the other gospel writers do. This is quite evident in this weekend’s Gospel reading, in which we get a very lengthy description of all the...

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 Samuel 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 Samuel 16:1b, 6-7, 10-13a: The LORD said to Samuel: "Fill your horn with oil, and be on your way....

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. If one is not initiated into the sacraments, John remains—in many respects—a closed book. I can attest to this from personal experience. Although I have always loved my name-sake Gospel more...