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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...

"Reverse Psychology" describes the attempt to motivate individuals to action by telling them to do the opposite of what is actually desired. The method is based on the assumption of the perversity of human nature. Since we tend to do disobey whatever commands we receive, why not command what is wrong, and then our natural "disobedience" will result in good? It sounds fine in theory, but I've tried it with my kids: "Don't do your chores. Don't finish your schoolwork. Eat up all the remaining ice cream." Reverse psychology doesn't seem to work in practice. In this Sunday's Gospel, though,...

The Readings for Mass this week call us to purify our walk with God, and make an examination of conscience: are my "religious" practices helpful, or are they distracting me from what is central in my relationship with God? 1. The First Reading is from 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...

The readings for this upcoming Sunday are some of the most difficult and challenging in the Lectionary. The Church is calling us to make a decision. There can be no more sitting on the fence. Are we going to accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Son of God, and therefore submit to his Word—even if it seems difficult to understand or accept? Or are we going to move on and seek some other guru in life, some other bodhisattva, novelist, psychologist, sociologist, theologian, philosopher, talk show host, or politician who will tell us right from wrong and show us the...

A couple of months ago I finally had the chance to watch "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. Babette's Feast was an obvious and intentional Eucharistic allegory, and I couldn't help thinking of it while reflecting on the readings for this Sunday (20th of Ordinary Time), which are all closely united by the themes of eating, wisdom, and thankfulness. 1. Our first reading is taken from Proverbs 9:1-6: Wisdom...

I've been involved in some form of church ministry--either training for it, practicing it, or training others for it--for over twenty years now, and I know one of the major challenges we face in ministry is burnout. At Franciscan University we train a large number of prospective youth ministers. The attrition rate in this field is very high. I don't have exact statistics but would not be surprised if half of new youth ministers leave the field for some other line of work within three to five years. Burnout is a problem for spiritual leaders, but it’s also a problem...

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...

God could have made us with solar cells in our skin, so all we would have to do is lie in the sun to get the energy we need for life. But he didn't. In his divine plan, God created us as creatures that need to eat. The first command he ever gave us concerned food: what to eat and what not to eat. We turned away from him by an act of eating. And now, since the coming of Christ, we can turn back to him by an act of eating. Our need to eat reminds us that we...

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...

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: Amaziah, priest of Bethel, said to Amos, “Off with you, visionary, flee to the land of Judah! There earn your bread by prophesying, but never again prophesy in Bethel; for it is the king's sanctuary and a royal temple." Amos answered Amaziah, "I was no prophet, nor have I belonged to a company of prophets; I was a shepherd and a dresser...

This Sunday’s readings draw a comparison between three groups: (1) stiff-necked Israelites in the time of the prophets, (2) the townsfolk of Nazareth in the days of Jesus, and (3) you and I sitting in the pew. The message to us is: repent, and believe the Good News. 1. Our first reading comes from near the beginning of the book of Ezekiel, when that great prophet was receiving his initial call from God: Reading 1: Ezekiel 2:2-5As the LORD spoke to me, the spirit entered into me and set me on my feet, and I heard the one who was...

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: Wisdom 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...

I’ve always had a bit of apprehension swimming in large bodies for water, like lakes or oceans. Especially if the water is dark and cold. I grew up in Hawaii, where there are many almost crystal-clear bays and the water is generally around eighty degrees, but even there, especially in the winter, the surf could rise and be extremely threatening. Finding out I spent half my life in the Aloha state, people ask me why I never surfed, but the reason is it is flat-out dangerous. A person can get seriously hurt surfing, and those who lived there knew it...

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 Gospel is moving ad seriatim (sequentially) through Mark. We are going to read virtually all of Mark this year by the end of November, with the exception of the Passion and Resurrection accounts (Mark 14-16), which were already read during the Triduum. The second reading at this time of year is moving through Paul’s Epistles to the Corinthians. The first readings for the rest of the year are selections from the Old Testament chosen to...

This Sunday we pick up with the Tenth Sunday in Year B on this Lord’s Day. We are still near the beginning of the Gospel of Mark, following Our Lord’s early ministry. On this Sunday, the readings are tied together by the theme of defeating Satan. 1. Our first reading recalls the sorry introduction of Satan’s influence into human history: First Reading: Genesis 3:9-15After the man, Adam, had eaten of the tree, the LORD God called to the man and asked him, "Where are you?" He answered, "I heard you in the garden; but I was afraid, because I was...