Category: readings

Revelation 11:4-12Luke 20:27-40 …those who deny that there is a resurrection…Luke 20:27 The Sadducees insisted on the literal meaning of the text, following only the first five books of the Bible (excluding the Prophets, the Wisdom books, and the Historical books from their sense of “Scripture”). They also insisted there was no bodily resurrection, no…

Revelation 10:8-11Luke 19:45-48 I took the small scroll from the angel’s hand and swallowed it. In my mouth it was like sweet honey, but when I had eaten it, my stomach turned sour.Revelation 10:10 Chesterton rather famously said, “Christianity has not been tried and found wanting, it has been found difficult and not tried.” Every…

Revelation 5:1-10Luke 19:41-44 If this day you only knew what makes for peace – but now it is hidden from your eyes.Luke 19:42b These came to me in College, they are called, Bailey’s Four Spiritual Flaws of Human Interaction: Humans are primates. Primates are Territorial. Humans have evolved to a point where “territory” includes abstract…

Revelation 4:1-11Luke 19:11-28 Worthy are you, Lord our God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things; because of your will they came to be and were created.Revelation 4:11 The Introduction to a Devout Life by St Francis de Sales has been my evening and morning reading for a month or…

Revelation 3:1-6, 14-22Luke 19:1-10I know your works, that you have the reputation of being alive, but you are dead… I know your works; I know that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either cold or hot. So, because you are lukewarm, neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of…

Revelation 1:1-4; 2:1-5Luke 18:35-43Jesus asked him, “What do you want me to do for you?” He replied, “Lord, please let me see.” Jesus told him, “Have sight; your faith has saved you.” He immediately received his sight and followed him, giving glory to God.Luke 18:40c-43a This blind man, asking for pity. Jesus says, “What?” The…

Malachi 3:19-20aII Thessalonians 3:7-12Luke 21:5-19 Jesus said, “All that you see here– the days will come when there will not be left a stone upon another stone that will not be thrown down.”Luke 21:6 In the weeks leading up to Advent the western Lectionary gets apocalyptic. Today it comes out in full swing! The collection…

III John 5-8Luke 18:1-8 Beloved, you are faithful in all you do for the brothers and sisters, especially for strangers; they have testified to your love before the Church. Please help them in a way worthy of God to continue their journey. For they have set out for the sake of the Name and are…

II John 1:4-9Luke 17:26-37 Remember the wife of Lot. Whoever seeks to preserve his life will lose it, but whoever loses it will save it.Luke 17:32-33 For some time there has been a growing fear that “some Christians supporting Trump” will get turned into “all Christians”. Most secularists can’t tell the difference between a Charismatic…

Philemon 1:7-20Luke 17:20-25 I, Paul, write this in my own hand: I will pay. May I not tell you that you owe me your very self. Yes, brother, may I profit from you in the Lord. Refresh my heart in Christ.Philemon 1:19-20 The Epistle to Philemon is one of those passages from St Paul that…

Ezechiel 41:1-2,8-9-12 I Corinthians 3: 9c-11, 16-17 John 2:13-22 He made a whip out of cords and drove them all out of the temple area, with the sheep and oxen, and spilled the coins of the money-changers and overturned their tables, John 2 (NABRE) Simony, in the church, is the buying and selling of church…

Titus 2:1-8, 11-14Luke 17:7-10We are unworthy servants; we have only done what was our duty.Luke 17:10 My tendency is to crave recognition for things I have done. I confess that ad libitum, ad nauseum, along with my other sins. But I’m happy to note that we live in a world where I can get little…

Titus 1:1-9 Luke 17:1-6 [A Bishop] must hold firm to the sure word as taught, so that he may be able to give instruction in sound doctrine and also to confute those who contradict it. Titus 1:9 his passage is about a Bishop or “Elder” or “Overseer” in a congregation, but it is true of…

II Maccabees 7:1-2, 9-14 II Thessalonians 2:16-3:5 Luke 20:27-38 Pray for us, that the word of the Lord may speed on and triumph, as it did among you, and that we may be delivered from wicked and evil men; for not all have faith. But the Lord is faithful; he will strengthen you and guard…

Philippians 4:10-19Luke 16:9-15 I know how to be abased, and I know how to abound; in any and all circumstances I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and want. I can do all things in him who strengthens me.Philippians 4:12-13 One of the things that drives me bonkers about modern charity…