Category: readings
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Pigcasting
The Readings for the Memorial of Saint Aloysius Gonzaga II Kings 19:9b-11, 14-21, 31-35a, 36 Matthew 7:6, 12-14 Don’t cast your pearls before swine. Matthew 7:6 (NABRE) APART FROM THE EPONYMOUS comic by Stephan Pastis, this verse usually means don’t give something important to those who don’t know how important it is. It pairs well…
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Let me fix that for you.
The Readings for the 12th Monday, Tempus per Annum 2 Kings 17:5-8, 13-15a, 18 Matthew 7:1-5 Let me remove that splinter from your eye. Matthew 7:4 (NABRE) THIS BIT ABOUT NOT JUDGING is quite familiar to us. We’re often told (as Catholics) that we’re being “too judgey” when it comes to sex or some “inclusion”…
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Dismiss this Crowd
The Readings for the Solemnity of the Most Holy Body & Blood of Christ (C2) Genesis 14:18-20 1 Corinthians 11:23-26 Luke 9:11b-17 He said to them, “Give them some food yourselves.” Luke 9:13 (NABRE) WHEN THE DISCIPLES went to Jesus it was with all good intentions. There’s a whole bunch of people here, nothing to…
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Chez Mammon
The Readings for the 11th Saturday, Tempus per Annum 2 Chronicles 24:17-25 Matthew 6:24-34 Can any of you by worrying add a single moment to your life-span? Matthew 6:27 (NABRE) WORRYING, SO GOES THE ONLINE WISDOM, is a form of Atheism. It seems to arise from something said by the Ven. Fulton J. Sheen, or…
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Validate Me (pt 2)
The Readings for the 11th Friday, Tempus per Annum 1 Kings 21:1-16 Matthew 6:19-23 For where your treasure is, there also will your heart be. Matthew 6:21 (NABRE) HEART IS ONE Of the most important words in the Bible. Especially in the Hebrew Scriptures – and therefore in the teachings of Jesus – it is…
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To Kingdom Come
The Readings for the 11th Thursday, Tempus Per Annum Sirach 48:1-14 Matthew 6:7-15 Thy kingdom come Matthew 6:10 (AV) MINDFUL THAT the original texts (in Hebrew and Greek) had no punctuation, I want to challenge you to read the Lord’s prayer here with a colon instead of a line break, comma, or full stop. Thy…
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Validate Me
The Readings for the 11th Wednesday, Tempus per Annum 2 Kings 2:1, 6-14 Matthew 6:1-6, 16-18 Amen, I say to you, they have received their reward. Matthew 6:2b (NABRE) MANY RECENT CONVERSATIONS have been around the topic of seeking validation. Your host became aware of this issue leaving his job history (of nearly 25 years)…
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The Perfect Name
The Readings for the 11th Tuesday, Tempus Per Annum (C2) 1 Kings 21:17-29 Matthew 5:43-48 So be perfect, just as your heavenly Father is perfect. Matthew 5:48 (NABRE) BE PERFECT JUST as Our Father is Perfect. Father’s Day is this coming Sunday. Are you able to be anything like your father? I mean in some…
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Anyone who asks
The Readings for the Memorial of Anthony of Padua, Doctor (C2) 1 Kings 21:1-16 Matthew 5:38-42 Give to the one who asks of you, and do not turn your back on one who wants to borrow. Matthew 5:42 (NABRE) THIS IS A HARD saying for anyone living in a city or for anyone who works…
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Excursus: Yoke
IN JESUS’ WORLD, righteousness is man’s answer to the Torah, acceptance of the whole of God’s will, the bearing of the ‘yoke of God’s kingdom,’ as one formulation had it.” (Jesus of Nazareth p 17) Jesus says “Take my yoke upon you” seemingly out of the blue. But it is part of a wider rabbinic…
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Ladder Of Divine Ascent
Reading Schedule for 2022 ATRADITIONAL LENTEN practice in the eastern churches is to read St John’s Ladder of Divine Ascent bit by bit through the Fasting Season. (There’s a PDF here.) Although our Western Lent is a couple of days shorter, it can be done. Here’s a reading schedule if you’d like to read along.…
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Sheer Grace
From a sermon by Saint Augustine, bishop(Sermo 185: PL 38, 997-999) Truth has arisen from the earth, and justice looked down from heaven Awake, mankind! For your sake God has become man. Awake, you who sleep, rise up from the dead, and Christ will enlighten you. I tell you again: for your sake, God became man. You…
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Sock it to me, God
The Readings for the 23rd Sunday, Tempus per Annum (A) Jeremiah 20:7-9Romans 12:1-2Matthew 16:21-27 AYEAR AGO I weighed 300 lbs. This was a symbolic weight for me as sometime in the 1980s, in my mid20s, I had said to someone, “If I ever get to 300 pounds you can shoot me.” At the time I…
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The Kingdom is Like a Trigger Warning
The Readings for the 16th SundayTempus per Annum – Wisdom 12:13, 16-19 – Romans 8:26-27 – Matthew 13:24-43 ALL OF THESE PARABLES in Matthew 13 begin “the Kingdom of God is like…”and they always leave me wondering, is the Kingdom like the whole image in the story or like the first symbol in the story…
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Jonah’s New Signs
Readings for Wednesday in the 1st Week of Lent (A2) Jonas 3:1-10 Luke 11:29-32 No sign will be given except the sign of Jonah. Wake up this morning was to news about the Pope’s Lenten Retreat on the Holy Prophet Jonah. This story from the scriptures was, therefore, on my mind as I went to…
Orthoparadoxy 