Fruits of the fig
In the Church, we are made children of the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob -- the God who makes known His name and His ways to Moses in today's First Reading. Mindful of His covenant with Abraham ...
Heart and mouth
In today's readings, we hear Jesus speaking in Galilee as well as a Jewish sage named Sirach writing in Jerusalem more than a century earlier. The two of them touch upon a single truth: The words ...
Davids and Sauls
The story of David and Saul in today's First Reading functions almost like a parable. Showing mercy to his deadly foe, David gives a concrete example of what Jesus expects to become a way of life ...
Rich in poverty
The blessings and woes we hear in today's Gospel mark the perfection of all the wisdom of the Old Testament. That wisdom is summed up with marvelous symmetry in today's First Reading and Psalm: ...
Into the deep
Simon Peter, the fisherman, is the first to be called personally by Jesus in Luke's Gospel. His calling resembles Isaiah's commissioning in the First Reading: confronted with the holiness of ...
Presenting the present
Today's feast marks the Presentation of the Lord Jesus in the Temple, 40 days after he was born. As the firstborn, he belonged to God. According to the Law, Mary and Joseph were required to take him ...
In the wedding
Think of these first weeks after Christmas as a season of "epiphanies." The liturgy is showing us who Jesus is and what He has revealed about our relationship with God. Last week and the week before, ...
