Category: readings

  • Tikkun Olam.

    Today’s Readings: Acts 5:17-26 John 3:16-21 For God sent not his Son into the world, to judge the world, but that the world may be saved by him. He that believeth in him is not judged. But he that doth not believe, is already judged: because he believeth not in the name of the only begotten…

  • Resist!

    Today’s Readings: 1 Peter 5:5B-14 Mark 16:15-20 Be sober and vigilant. Your opponent the Devil is prowling around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, steadfast in faith. 1 Peter 5:8 These words are the opening of Benedictine Compline (and the traditional Roman Compline), an office I sang for a long…

  • Except you ravish me.

    Today’s readings: Acts 4:21-33 John 3:1-8 And now, Lord, take note of their threats, and enable your servants to speak your word with all boldness…Acts 4:29 At this time there were about 3,000 Christians in the whole world. Some Protestants would have us imagine that, essentially, those 3,000 would be the entire population of Heaven.…

  • The Thomas Option

    Today’s Readings: Acts 2:42-47 1 Peter 1:3-9 John 20:19-31 On the evening of that first day of the week, when the doors were locked, where the disciples were, for fear of the Jews… Thomas, called Didymus, one of the Twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. John 20:19a, 24 Where was Thomas that first night…

  • Fer’im R Agin’im?

    Today’s readings: Jeremiah 7:23-28 Luke 11:14-23 Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters.Qui non est mecum, contra me est: et qui non colligit mecum, dispergit.Luke 11:23 This verse is often contrasted with Luke 9:50, which seems to say the reverse:Whoever is not against you is for…

  • 70×7=Eternity

    From CatholicLink Today Readings: Daniel 3:25, 34-43 Matthew 18:21-35 Jesus answered, “I say to you, not seven times but seventy-seven times.Dicit illi Jesus: Non dico tibi usque septies: sed usque septuagies septies.Matthew 18:22 Forgiveness is one of the seven Spiritual Works of Mercy. The full list is at the end of the posting. I don’t…

  • Work? What Work?

    Today’s Readings: 2 Samuel 7:4-5A, 12-14A, 16 Romans 4:13, 16-18, 22 Matthew 1:16, 18-21, 24A Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary your wife into your home. Joseph, fili David, noli timere accipere Mariam conjugem tuam.Matthew 1:20 You’ll admit that Joseph was brave.What would people say?And goodness knows that Jesus would never…

  • Her Englightenment

    Today’s readings: Exodus 17:3-7 Romans 5:1-2, 5-8 John 4:5-42 Jesus said to her, “I am he, the one speaking with you.”Dicit ei Jesus: Ego sum, qui loquor te.John 4:26 You’ll be happy to know this never happened.  Well, something like this may have happened, you know; but this, this event, never happened. Jesus never made…

  • God’s Family Servants.

    The Holy Family Window, St Joseph, a young Jesus, and the BVM. Today’s readings: Isaiah 1:10, 16-20 Matthew 23:1-12 The greatest among you must be your servant. Whoever exalts himself will be humbled; but whoever humbles himself will be exalted.Matthew 23:12 Continuing from yesterday, where Lust is the fruit of Pride, we have today’s reading…

  • Don’t judge me, bro.

    Today’s Readings: Daniel 9:4B-10 Luke 6:36-38 Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful. Stop judging and you will not be judged. Stop condemning and you will not be condemned.Luke 6:36-37a This verse can be thrown in our faces at times. Anytime a comment about morality is made it can turn into a “Don’t judge…

  • The Ur-Leaving

    Today’s readings: Genesis 12:1-4a 2 Timothy 1:8B-10 Matthew 17:1-9 Go forth from the land of your kinsfolk and from your father’s house to a land that I will show you.Genesis 12:1b At the Stations of the Cross on Friday night we were meditating on the woes of Migrants, leaving their families and homelands and seeking…

  • Before Our Father

    A Patristic Homily on the Gospel Reading for today, Tuesday in the First Week of Lent, from the Catena Aurea of St Thomas Aquinas, using the words of Sts Augustine, John Cassian, John Chrysostom, and Pope Gregory the Great. Judaism has the teaching that God is the Father of us all. In the teaching of the…

  • Who is my Brethren?

    A Patristic Homily for the Monday in the First Week of Lent. From the Catena Aurea of St Thomas Aquinas, and the words of Sts John Chrysostom, Jerome, Augustine, Remigius, Gregory the Great, Rabanus, and Origen, the Teacher of the Fathers. Whatever you did for one of these least brothers of mine, you did for…

  • Lo, Mercy is Feasting.

    A Patristic Homily for the Saturday after Ash Wednesday. From the Catena Aurea of St Thomas Aquinas, and the words of Sts Bede the Venerable, Cyril, John Chrysostom, Ambrose, and Theophylact. Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners? Luke and Mark, for the honor of the Evangelist, are silent as to his…

  • Why Not Fast?

    A Patristic Homily for the Friday after Ash Wednesday.From the Catena Aurea of St Thomas Aquinas, and the words of Sts John Chrysostom, Jerome, Rabanus, Augustine, Hillary. Then came to him the disciples of John, saying, Why do we and the Pharisees fast often, but thy disciples fast not?” This is arrogance – to take…