(1Cor.4:1-5; Ps.37:3-6,27-28,39-40; Lk.5:33-39) “The salvation of the just is from the Lord.” “For the Lord loves what is right, and forsakes not His faithful ones.” And so He comes. He comes bearing a new garment; He comes with the blood of a New Covenant, His own blood, to wash us clean and make us whole as He is. Drinking this new wine indeed we are made holy. It is not as “John’s disciples” or as “the disciples of the Pharisees” we shall find our salvation – only as disciples of the Son of G...
Sep 05, 2024•5 min
(1Cor.3:18-23; Ps.24:1-6; Lk.5:1-11) “Amazement at the catch they had made seized him and all his shipmates.” What a truly remarkable scene! Here upon the call of the apostles, the first of apostles, Simon Peter, “fell at the knees of Jesus.” Here in his barque, boats once desolate now suddenly fill to bursting with fish flopping about everywhere, unable to be contained… This is a painting for the ages, this blessed moment! It is this image which drives the Church forth, filling the barque of Pe...
Sep 04, 2024•5 min
(1Cor.3:1-9; Ps.33:12-15,20-21; Lk.4:38-44) “To other towns I must announce the Good News of the reign of God, because that is why I was sent.” “And He continued to preach in the synagogues of Judea.” And He continues to preach to all hearts through His blessed apostles, and His Church continues to grow. To the ends of the earth the kingdom progresses, and we each have a hand in its rising. Yes, “he who plants and he who waters work to the same end,” but “neither he who plants nor he who waters ...
Sep 03, 2024•5 min
(1Cor.2:10-16; Ps.145:8-14,17; Lk.4:31-37) “We have the mind of Christ.” The demon has been cast from us and we see the Lord as He is: “Good to all and compassionate toward all His works.” “The glorious splendor of [His] kingdom” is before our eyes, and it is this which gives us light. We have bowed ourselves down before Him, the demon has thrown us “to the ground before everyone’s eyes,” and we have found that “the Lord lifts up those who are falling.” No longer “the natural man” who finds “wha...
Sep 02, 2024•5 min
(1Cor.2:1-5; Ps.119:97-102; Lk.4:16-30) “Your faith rests not on the wisdom of men but on the power of God.” Paul comes to the Corinthians with preaching that has “none of the persuasive force of ‘wise’ argumentation, but the convincing power of the Spirit,” and with them he determines to “speak of nothing but Jesus Christ and Him crucified.” Similarly, when “Jesus came to Nazareth where He had been reared,” in the synagogue He simply read the passage from Isaiah which prophesies the coming Mess...
Sep 01, 2024•5 min
(1Cor.1:26-31; Ps.33:12-13,18-21; Mt.25:14-30) “He called in His servants and handed His funds over to them according to each man’s abilities.” All comes from the hand of God. Yes. Do you see this? God it is who provides any talent you possess on this earth and “God it is who has given you life in Christ Jesus.” Not yourself. It is not from you any power comes. God has proven His power by choosing “the lowborn and despised, those who count for nothing,” and making them strong. This is you. You a...
Aug 30, 2024•5 min
(1Cor.1:17-25; Ps.33:1-2,4-5,10-11; Mt.25:1-13) “The world did not come to know Him through its ‘wisdom’.” “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and thwart the cleverness of the clever,” says the Lord God. And in its place we find the Gospel, “the message of the cross,” which is “complete absurdity to those who are headed to ruin, but to us who are experiencing salvation it is the power of God.” It is this wisdom which saves us, even as the wisdom of the world falls to dust. The wisdom of the ...
Aug 29, 2024•5 min
(1Cor.1:1-9; Ps.145:1-7; Mt.24:42-51) “He will strengthen you to the end, so that you will be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Brothers and sisters, “you lack no spiritual gift as you wait for the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ.” The Lord provides all you need, generously and faithfully. You “have been consecrated in Christ Jesus and called to be a holy people” and so “have been richly endowed [by God] with every gift,” that you might fulfill the call He places upon your soul...
Aug 28, 2024•5 min
(2Thes.3:6-10,16-18; Ps.128:1-2,4-5; Mt.23:27-32) “You shall eat the fruit of your handiwork.” “Anyone who would not work should not eat” was the rule laid down by Paul among the Thessalonians. A man must earn his bread. And as on earth, so in heaven. For who shall come to the fruits of the kingdom if they are not as Paul, who has labored “to the point of exhaustion” for the sake of the reign of God? This is the “straight path” laid down for us by all the apostles: in the Lord’s name we must wal...
Aug 27, 2024•4 min
(2Thes.2:1-3,14-17; Ps.96:10-13; Mt.23:23-26) “He shall rule the world with justice and the peoples with His constancy.” “Brothers, stand firm.” Be not “easily agitated or terrified” “on the question of the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered to Him.” This should not preoccupy your thoughts because this is not in your mind to know or your hands to control. The day and the hour are with God alone. Rather, you should pray that the Lord will strengthen your hearts “for every good...
Aug 26, 2024•5 min
(2Thes.1:1-5,11-12; Ps.96:1-5; Mt.23:13-22) “Which is more important, the offering or the altar which makes the offering sacred?” The Pharisees in their blindness taught: “If a man swears by the altar it means nothing, but if he swears by the gift on the altar he is obligated.” Indeed, “How blind [they] are!” For what do they do but exalt that which is secondary beyond that which is primary? What do they do but invert logic? And what is the significance of their blindness? Why does it bring them...
Aug 25, 2024•5 min
(Ez.37:1-14; Ps.107:1-9; Mt.22:34-40) “I will open your graves and have you rise from them, and bring you back to the land of Israel.” The commentary in the missal I read states: “The lesson here is return from captivity, not life after death.” And so the speaker proves once again the limited vision of so many of our scholars – indeed, how like the Pharisees and the Sadducees and the lawyers of Jesus’ time these faithless are, how blind… how dry their bones without spirit. Certainly the prophet ...
Aug 22, 2024•6 min
(Ez.36:23-28; Ps.51:12-15,18-19,Ez.36:25; Mt.22:1-14) “Cast me not out from your presence, and your Holy Spirit take not from me.” The Lord desires to “prove the holiness of [His] great name,” which has been “profaned among the nations” by the children of Israel. And so He determines to “gather [them] from all the foreign lands,” to bring them back from their exile from His sight, and bless them again upon their “own land.” He will “cleanse [them] from all [their] impurities… a new heart and… a ...
Aug 21, 2024•5 min
(Ez.34:1-11; Ps.23:1-6; Mt.20:1-16) “I myself will look after and tend my sheep.” How grateful we should be that “the Lord is [our] shepherd,” for with Him we want for nothing. Indeed, our “cup overflows” and “only goodness and kindness follow [us] all the days of [our] life”; for it is He who watches over our every step, and He is only goodness, He is only kindness – His mercy endures forever. How the Lord’s hand contrasts with the false shepherds’ of the house of Israel. These “pastured themse...
Aug 20, 2024•5 min
(Ez.28:1-10; Dt.32:26-28,30,35-36,39; Mt.19:23-30) “Only with difficulty will a rich man enter the kingdom of God.” Yes, “close at hand is the day of their disaster, and their doom is rushing upon them!” – those like the prince of Tyre who are “haughty of heart, and say, ‘A god am I! I occupy a godly throne in the heart of the sea!’” What condemnation they mount up for themselves, those who by their “great wisdom applied to [their] trading… have heaped up [their] riches,” for “the most barbarous...
Aug 19, 2024•4 min
(Ez.24:15-24; Dt.32:18-21; Mt.19:16-22) “Son of man, by a sudden blow I am taking away from you the delight of your eyes, but do not mourn or weep or shed any tears.” A striking similarity there is between our first reading and our gospel: as Ezekial’s wife dies, and so his most valuable treasure is taken from him by the Lord, so the rich young man is told by Jesus, “Go, sell your possessions, and give to the poor,” thus calling him to give up his treasure. But an ironic contrast also exists: Ez...
Aug 18, 2024•4 min
(Ez.18:1-10,13,30-32; Ps.51:12-15,18-19; Mt.19:13-15) “Cast away from you all the crimes you have committed, and make for yourselves a new heart and a new spirit.” “A clean heart create for me, O God, and a steadfast spirit renew within me,” David cries out in his psalm. Ezekial speaks of the same cleansing needed to find the life of God. And Jesus amongst the children reveals the purity to which we are all called. “Turn and be converted from all your crimes, that they may be no cause of guilt f...
Aug 16, 2024•4 min
(Ez.16:1-15,60,63 or Ez.16:59-63; Is.12:1-6; Mt.19:3-12) “I will remember the covenant I made with you when you were a girl, and I will set up an everlasting covenant with you.” Ezekial first “make[s] known to Jerusalem her abominations,” telling the people, “You were thrown out on the ground as something loathsome, the day you were born.” And though by the Lord’s blessing they “grew and developed”; and though when they were “old enough for love” He “spread the corner of [His] cloak over [them]”...
Aug 15, 2024•4 min
(Ez.9:1-7,10:18-22; Ps.113:1-6; Mt.18:15-20) “Where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I in their midst.” And so the four living creatures, the cherubim gathered beneath the feet of the Lord, “rise from the earth” and move “straight forward,” the breath of the Spirit animating every beat of their wings. And so the angels called forth by the voice of God protect or destroy the inhabitants of His city, according to His command. And so Jesus can assure His disciples, “Whatever you decla...
Aug 13, 2024•4 min
(Ez.2:8-3:4; Ps.119:14,24,72,103,111,131; Mt.18:1-5,10,12-14) “How sweet to my palate are your promises, sweeter than honey to my mouth!” And is there a sweeter promise or a sweeter teaching than that which Jesus gives today in our gospel? In answer to the disciples’ question, “‘Who is of greatest importance in the kingdom of God?’ He called a little child over and stood him in their midst and said ... ‘Whoever makes himself lowly, becoming like this child, is of greatest importance in that heav...
Aug 12, 2024•4 min
(Ez.1:2-5,24-28; Ps.148:1-2,11-14; Mt.17:22-27) “His majesty is above earth and heaven.” Gleaming like gold or silver, shining forth like burning fire, splendorous as “the bow which appears in the clouds on a rainy day” – “such was the vision of the likeness of the glory of the Lord” given the prophet Ezekial. And this is but His likeness; nothing could describe the glory of the One who has beneath His feet the four living creatures whose wings beat “like the roaring of mighty waters, like the v...
Aug 11, 2024•5 min
(Nah.2:1,3,3:1-3,6-7; Dt.32:35-36,39,41; Mt.16:24-28) “It is I who bring both death and life, I who inflict wounds and heal them.” When the Lord comes indeed “He will repay each man according to his conduct.” And the justice and judgment that are the Lord’s alone are evident in His work amongst Israel and their enemies, spoken of in our first reading and psalm today. “The flame of the sword, the flash of the spear, the many slain, the heaping corpses, the endless bodies to stumble upon!” such is...
Aug 08, 2024•5 min
(Jer.31:31-34; Ps.51:12-15,18-19; Mt.16:13-23) “I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah.” Do not the days come to pass, is not this promise made through Jeremiah fulfilled, when the Lord declares to Peter, “On this rock I will build my Church, and the jaws of death shall not prevail against it”? Does Jesus not hereby wrest the covenant from the hands of the leaders of the Jews and thus make His people anew, here founding His New Covenant and His new Church upon...
Aug 07, 2024•4 min
(Jer.31:1-7; Jer.31:10-13; Mt.15:21-28) “Shouting, they shall mount the heights of Zion, they shall come streaming to the Lord’s blessings.” In our first reading Jeremiah prophesies the restoration of “all the tribes of Israel” to the grace and “age-old love” of their Lord and God. The Lord promises His virgin daughter Israel: “Carrying your festive tambourines, you shall go forth dancing with the merrymakers.” He will “turn their mourning into joy” as this “remnant of Israel” returns to the hol...
Aug 06, 2024•4 min
(Jer.30:1-2,12-15,18-22; Ps.102:16-23,29; Mt.14:22-36) “His assembly before me shall stand firm.” The words of the prophet Jeremiah are fulfilled in the Apostle Peter and in the Church, for upon this Rock we have our firm foundation. “The Lord looked down from His holy height, from heaven He beheld the earth”; and when the time had come, He sent His only Son. And that Son, in all His wisdom, chooses those who would follow Him, making certain thereby that indeed “the children of [His] servants sh...
Aug 05, 2024•5 min
(Jer.28:1-17; Ps.119:29,43,68,79-80,95,102; Mt.14:13-21) “Take not the word of truth from my mouth, for in your ordinances is my hope.” The word of truth is what Jeremiah speaks in the face of the lies of Hananiah. The false prophet declares in the name of God: “I will break the yoke of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, from off the neck of the nations,” even as he “took the yoke from upon the neck of Jeremiah” – which he wore to symbolize the exile to which Judah was fated – and broke it “in the...
Aug 04, 2024•4 min
(Jer.26:11-16,24; Ps.69:14-16,30-31,33-34; Mt.14:1-12) “In truth it was the Lord who sent me to you, to speak all these things for you to hear.” Jeremiah speaks to the people in the Lord’s name, even as he is threatened with death: “Reform your ways and your deeds; listen to the voice of the Lord your God, so that the Lord will repent of the evil with which He threatens you,” he declares at his trial – he does not hide the truth. And the words of David’s psalm are proven genuine: “His own who ar...
Aug 02, 2024•4 min
(Jer.26:1-9; Ps.69:5,8-10,14; Mt.13:54-58) “No prophet is without honor, except in his native place, indeed in his own house.” How consonant are our readings today, speaking all of the persecution the prophet of God must bear in bringing the truth to His people. (Indeed I had thought to refer to the incident in our gospel before having even come to it, while still reading the words from Jeremiah, for elsewhere in the gospels the same quote of Jesus written above causes His people to lead Him to ...
Aug 01, 2024•5 min
(Jer.18:1-6; Ps.146:1-6; Mt.13:47-53) “Like clay in the hand of the potter, so are you in my hand, O house of Israel.” “I went down to the potter’s house and there he was, working at the wheel.” According to the Lord’s words Jeremiah goes, and a marvelous sign is provided him. For there in the hands of the potter and in his work, he sees the Lord huddled over His creation. And what in particular does he witness in this vision: “Whenever the object of clay which he was making turned out badly in ...
Jul 31, 2024•5 min
(Jer.15:10,16-21; Ps.59:2-4,10-11,17-18; Mt.13:44-46) “If you repent, so that I restore you, in my presence you shall stand.” The Lord called Jeremiah even from before he was formed in his mother’s womb, but it seems he falls short of fulfilling that call, for the Lord says to His prophet today, “If you bring forth the precious without the vile, you shall be my mouthpiece.” Indeed it seemed that Christ’s words in His parable today – “The reign of God is like a buried treasure which a man found i...
Jul 30, 2024•5 min
