(2Kgs.2:1,6-14; Ps.31:20-21,24-25; Mt.6:1-6,16-18) “As they walked on conversing, a flaming chariot and flaming horses came between them, and Elijah went up to heaven in a whirlwind.” Jesus instructs us in our gospel, “Whenever you pray, go to your room, close your door, and pray to your Father in private.” This prescription the holy prophet Elijah fulfills in our first reading when he miraculously crosses the Jordan River and enters the wilderness, out of the sight of the prophets who remain st...
Jun 18, 2024•5 min
(1Kgs.21:17-29; Ps.51:3-6,11,16; Mt.5:43-48) “Thoroughly wash me from my guilt and of my sin cleanse me.” We have hope, brothers and sisters; we have hope that the very depths of our sin and depravity against the Lord shall be forgiven, and we shall be made new, washed in His blood. For the Lord “sends His rain on the just and the unjust,” and this He proves today in our readings. The Lord forgives David his “blood-guilt,” he who has committed the dual sins of adultery and murder; and Ahab, too,...
Jun 17, 2024•5 min
(1Kgs.21:1-16; Ps.5:2-3,5-7; Mt.5:38-42) “I will obtain the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite for you.” How divergent are the paths of Jezebel and Jesus. This Queen of Israel, wife of Ahab, holds the philosophy that if someone won’t give you what you ask for, take it by force; whereas the Lord says if someone wishes to take something from you, give it and more. Here are the way of the world and the way of heaven in stark contrast. When as a petulant child Ahab refuses to eat after not getting wh...
Jun 16, 2024•5 min
(1Kgs.19:19-21; Ps.16:1-2,5,7-10; Mt.5:33-37) “I will follow you.” Elisha gives His yes to Elijah, and so to God. He “kiss[es] [his] father and mother good-bye” and weds himself to the prophet who has thrown “his cloak over him.” And he shall not turn back, shall not fall short of giving his entire self to the service of God, and so shall be greatly blessed. All he leaves behind. His very livelihood he slaughters, and gives these twelve oxen “to his people to eat.” For he shall not return to wor...
Jun 14, 2024•5 min
(1Kgs.19:9,11-16; Ps.27:7-9,13-14; Mt.5:27-32) “Of you my heart speaks; you my glance seeks.” “Your presence, O Lord, I seek. Hide not your face from me,” David sings in our psalm; and it is the presence of the Lord that is made known to Elijah in our first reading. And that same presence stands most openly before us in the teaching of Jesus in our gospel. Elijah comes to the mountain of God to find shelter against the persecutions of his own people, for as he says, “I alone am left, and they se...
Jun 13, 2024•6 min
(1Kgs.18:41-46; Ps.65:2,10-13; Mt.5:20-26) “You have visited the land and watered it; greatly have you enriched it.” “There is the sound of a heavy rain.” The Lord is speaking. The Lord is teaching. Jesus is revealing the strait path of holiness that leads to the Father, and His words and His Person come like a fruitful rain upon a drought-stricken land. O Lord, “thus have you prepared the land: drenching its furrows, breaking up its clods, softening it with showers, blessing its yield.” By your...
Jun 12, 2024•5 min
(1Kgs.18:20-39; Ps.16:1-2,4-5,8,11; Mt.5:17-19) “If the Lord is God, follow Him; if Baal, follow him.” Today “the only surviving prophet of the Lord” comes to reveal to the people that “the Lord is God!” Elijah seeks to open the Israelites’ eyes to the presence of God, to bring them “back to their senses.” And how evident it becomes that “they multiply their sorrows who court other gods,” and that those “who set the Lord ever before” themselves are able to declare with David in faith: “With Him ...
Jun 11, 2024•5 min
(1Kgs.17:7-16; Ps.4:2-5,7-8; Mt.5:13-16) “The jar of flour shall not go empty, nor the jug of oil run dry, until the day when the Lord sends rain upon the earth.” Again today we see in our readings that the Lord provides for His children’s needs, that indeed He is with us until the end of the age – yes, “the Lord does wonders for His faithful one.” As “the brook where Elijah was hiding ran dry,” the Lord instructed him to go to Zarephath of Sidon, a pagan territory, saying, “I have designated a ...
Jun 10, 2024•5 min
(1Kgs.17:1-6; Ps.121:1-8; Mt.5:1-12) “My help is from the Lord, who made heaven and earth.” It is He whom we seek when we “lift up [our] eyes toward the mountains.” And what do we find but that “the Lord is [our] guardian; the Lord is [our] shade; He is beside [us] at [our] right hand.” Does the Lord not watch over those who trust in Him? Take Elijah for your example. He is led into exile under the stars, separated far from his people, yet he finds “the sun shall not harm [him] by day, nor the m...
Jun 09, 2024•4 min
(2Tm.4:1-8; Ps.71:8-9,14-17,22; Mk.12:38-44) “Put up with hardship, perform your work as an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.” In final words to his blessed disciple, Paul exhorts Timothy with all the strength he is able to muster “to preach the word, to stay with this task whether convenient or inconvenient – correcting, reproving, appealing – constantly teaching and never losing patience.” He even invokes “the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is coming to judge the living and the dead...
Jun 07, 2024•6 min
(2Tm.2:8-15; Ps.25:4-5,8-10,14; Mk.12:28-34) “Guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are God my Savior.” Brothers and sisters, “Remember that Jesus Christ, a descendant of David, was raised from the dead.” He is our Lord. He is our God. He is our Savior who speaks only truth. Listen to Him and walk in His way, “following a straight course in preaching the truth.” After Jesus proclaims the greatest of all commandments today, finally, “no one ha[s] the courage to ask Him any more questions.”...
Jun 05, 2024•5 min
(2Tm.1:1-3,6-12; Ps.123:1-2; Mk.12:18-27) “He has robbed death of its power and has brought life and immortality into clear light through the Gospel.” It is this Gospel which Paul exhorts his “dear child” Timothy to serve, to preach and to teach “with the strength which comes from God, bear[ing] [his] share of the hardship which the Gospel entails.” Paul has suffered for the sake of the Gospel – and suffers “present hardships” till the end – and he would see his favored disciple carry on in his ...
Jun 04, 2024•5 min
(2Pt.3:12-15,17-18; Ps.90:2-4,10,14,16; Mk.12:13-17) “Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s but give to God what is God’s.” “Some Pharisees and Herodians were sent after Jesus to catch Him in His speech.” These “two groups” seem to come one from God and the other from Caesar. But their devious plotting shows the only party present of God is Jesus Himself. And to whom do we belong? Peter makes it abundantly clear in his letter today where our allegiance should lie. He exhorts us to “look for the coming...
Jun 03, 2024•4 min
(2Pt.1:2-7; Ps.91:1-2,14-16; Mk.12:1-12) “I will deliver him and glorify him; with length of life I will gratify him and will show him my salvation.” So the Lord speaks of us through prophecy of His only Son. So the Lord seeks to accomplish in everyone who “acknowledges [His] name.” So indeed He has sent “the Son whom He loved” for our salvation. So He prays with Peter, the Rock of His Church, “May grace be yours and peace in abundance through your knowledge of God and of Jesus, our Lord.” For “...
Jun 02, 2024•5 min
(Jd.17,20-25; Ps.63:2-6; Mk.11:27-33) “Welcome the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ which leads to eternal life.” “As [Jesus] was walking in the temple precincts the chief priests, the scribes, and the elders approached Him.” They come to Him who is the true Temple here in the place where He teaches, but they do not come “praying in the Holy Spirit” or “persever[ing] in God’s love.” Their questions rather are those which hold condemnation. If they had come seeking truth, they would be able to spea...
May 31, 2024•5 min
(1Pt.2:2-5,9-12; Ps.100:2-5; Mk.10:46-52) “Be as eager for milk as newborn babies – pure milk of the Spirit to make you grow unto salvation.” Does not the “blind beggar Bartimaeus” show his eagerness for the milk of the Spirit, for the blood of Christ upon his soul, when he persistently calls out “Jesus, Son of David, have pity on me!” despite those who “were scolding him to make him keep quiet”? And was his ready desire to meet with the Lord not revealed most clearly when “he threw aside his cl...
May 29, 2024•5 min
(1Pt.1:18-25; Ps.147:12-15,19-20; Mk.10:32-45) “The Son of Man has not come to be served but to serve – to give His life in ransom for the many.” As Jesus and His apostles make their “way up to Jerusalem, where the Son of Man will be handed over to the chief priests and scribes,” He tells them that these elders of the people “will condemn Him to death and hand Him over to the Gentiles, who will mock Him and spit at Him, flog Him, and finally kill Him.” He then adds, “But three days later He will...
May 28, 2024•5 min
(1Pt.1:10-16; Ps.98:1-4; Mk.10:28-31) “Set all your hope on the gift to be conferred on you when Jesus Christ appears.” “The Lord has made His salvation known: in the sight of the nations He has revealed His justice.” That “which the prophets carefully searched out and examined” but was hidden from their eyes, that into which “angels long to search” is now indeed made known “by those who preach the Gospel to you, in the power of the Holy Spirit sent from heaven.” Yes, “the divine favor which was...
May 27, 2024•5 min
(1Pt.1:3-9; Ps.111:1-2,5-6,9-10; Mk.10:17-27) “Go and sell what you have and give to the poor; you will then have treasure in heaven.” “You may for a time have to suffer the distress of many trials,” for even if you are not a rich man with “many possessions” to give up, all that you have that is of the world must die before you will find “birth to an imperishable inheritance incapable of fading or defilement, which is kept in heaven for you.” You can have no pride, you can have no greed, you can...
May 26, 2024•6 min
(Jas.5:13-20; Ps.141:1-3,8; Mk.10:13-16) “Let my prayer come like incense before you; the lifting up of my hands, like the evening sacrifice.” “The fervent petition of a holy man is powerful indeed.” For indeed Elijah “prayed earnestly” and “no rain fell on the land for three years and six months.” Then “when he prayed again, the sky burst forth with rain.” And now greater things are accomplished by prayer, especially of “the elders of the Church,” our priests, who, in union with Jesus the Lord,...
May 24, 2024•5 min
(Jas.5:9-12; Ps.103:1-4,8-9,11-12; Mk.10:1-12) “Merciful and gracious is the Lord, slow to anger and abounding in kindness.” And we must be like Him. James makes clear that we must “not grumble against one another,” nor swear on earth, any oath at all,” but rather simply speak “in the name of the Lord”: “Let it be ‘yes’ if you mean yes or ‘no’ if you mean no. In this way you will not incur condemnation.” And as a sign of the endurance we must have to find the Lord’s blessing, he reminds us of “t...
May 23, 2024•6 min
(Jas.5:1-6; Ps.49:14-20,Mt.5:3; Mk.9:41-50) “You lived in wanton luxury on the earth; you fattened yourselves for the day of slaughter.” “You rich, weep and wail over your impending miseries,” James warns all those who trust in their wealth. For though they were “contented with their lot,” to find which they “condemned, even killed, the just man,” yet “like sheep they are herded into the netherworld,” where “quickly their form is consumed.” “Your wealth has rotted, your fine wardrobe has grown m...
May 22, 2024•5 min
(Jas. 4:13-17; Ps.49:2-3,6-11,Mt.5:3; Mk.9:38-40) “Anyone who is not against us is with us.” And whoever is not with the Lord is against Him. There are only two ways by which a man may walk. We choose to place our lives in the hands of God, or we worship the things of this earth. Indeed, anyone who “perform[s] a miracle in [His] name” is with Him, for a tree is known by its fruit. If indeed we commend our lives into the care of the Lord, saying, “If the Lord wills it, we shall live to do this or...
May 21, 2024•5 min
(Jas.4:1-10; Ps.55:7-11,23; Mk.9:30-37) “In the city I see violence and strife; day and night they prowl about upon its walls.” The violence this world holds is known most poignantly, of course, in “the Son of Man… [being] delivered into the hands of men who… put Him to death,” but exists most pervasively and fundamentally in our own bodies, insofar as they are conformed to the spirit of the world. For as James asks so pointedly, “Where do the conflicts and disputes among you originate? Is it no...
May 20, 2024•5 min
(Jas.3:13-18; Ps.19:8-10,15; Mk.9:14-29) “The command of the Lord is clear, enlightening the eye.” What is the wisdom of which James speaks in our first reading but this enlightening of the eye and the mind by following the command of the Lord? It is the words and the wisdom of Jesus, reflected clearly in the Lord’s own life, James relates to the waiting ear this day. What does he instruct but to practice “a humility filled with good sense” and to “cultivate peace,” not to “nurse bitter jealousy...
May 19, 2024•4 min
(Acts 18:23-28; Ps.47:2-3,8-10; Jn.16:23-28) “He went about establishing from the Scriptures that Jesus is the Messiah.” In our gospel today, Jesus again assures the disciples, “Whatever you ask the Father, He will give you in my name,” He tells them of the time when He will no longer speak to them “in veiled language,” but “shall tell [them] about the Father in plain speech.” A most fascinating quote is His statement, “I do not say that I will petition the Father for you.” So great is our onene...
May 10, 2024•5 min
(Acts 12:24-13:5; Ps.67:2-6,8; Jn.12:44-50) “Set apart Barnabas and Saul for me, to do the work for which I have called them.” These words came to the Church at Antioch “while they were engaged in the liturgy of the Lord and fasting”; spoken by the Holy Spirit, they show how intimately the Church and her apostles are connected to the Lord Jesus and His Father. In John’s gospel, Jesus proclaims, “The Father who sent me has commanded me what to say and how to speak.” Jesus is sent by the Father. H...
Apr 23, 2024•6 min
(Dn.13:1-9,15-17,19-30,33-62; Ps.23:1-6; Jn.8:1-11) “Let the man among you who has no sin be the first to cast a stone at her.” “Then the audience drifted away one by one, beginning with the elders.” And no one was left to accuse her. In both our gospel and our first reading a woman is accused of adultery, one justly, the other unjustly. Yet both are freed. For under the old law the innocent were to be set free, but under the new, even the guilty. In the blood of Christ sinners are saved from th...
Mar 17, 2024•5 min
(Dn.3:25,34-43; Ps.25:4-9; Mt.18:21-35) “With contrite heart and humble spirit let us be received.” The Lord “guides the humble to justice, He teaches the humble His way,” and so it is the prayer of these He receives; upon them He showers His mercy. For His mercy is His justice and it is known by those who humbly share the same. Azariah makes his prayer for mercy for his people Israel who suffer the purgatorial fires of their exile from the Promised Land, even as he himself stands in the quite l...
Mar 04, 2024•5 min
(Jer.18:18-20; Ps.31:5-6,14-17; Mt.20:17-28) “Can you drink of the cup I am to drink of?” Do you know what He asks, brothers and sisters? And do you know where it leads? In our gospel today, Jesus is very deliberate in His instruction to His apostles. As He starts out “to go up to Jerusalem,” where the chief priests and scribes “will condemn Him to death” and the Romans crucify Him, He takes “the Twelve aside on the road” to speak clearly to them of the fate which awaits Him. (So objective are H...
Feb 27, 2024•6 min
