Reflections for Ordinary Time

This week we hear three parables about the Kingdom (Mt 13:24-43). The reading finishes with a fiery furnace and wailing and gnashing of teeth – very atmospheric but in a way unfortunate because it tends to overshadow everything that comes before.  If we look at the parables as a set, one striking thing is how […]

“… blessed are your eyes, because they see, and your ears, because they hear.” So that’s good – our eyes and ears are working, we’re seeing and hearing what Jesus is saying. And that’s a lot better than all those who are not. So we should be pretty pleased about that, yes? For sure. But

Last week we previewed Jesus’ statement that following him was not difficult. Maybe not a walk in the park, but he isn’t out to make our lives more challenging.  What struck me, seeing the passage in context this week (Mt 11:25-30), is how Matthew positions it alongside a clear christological statement [Christology – the study

How difficult is it to be a Christian? Sometimes it sounds a breeze – “My yoke is easy and my burden is light” Jesus tells us one time (Mt 11:30).  But today’s gospel reading (Mt 10:37-42) seems to give us a different perspective: “whoever does not take up his cross and follow after me is

Jeremiah lived about 5000 years ago. His world sounds very familiar. There is a lot of denouncing going on, and people trying to get back at their enemies. This was the world as they understood it and, not surprisingly, God is described as fitting into it. He will look out for his own and damn

We are used to the connection between the first of our readings and the gospel reading, while second often follows its own independent path. But today the more obvious connection is between the first and second readings. Both talk of the relationship of God with his people (Ex 19:2-6a). At the beginning the Israelites, through

I suspect the early Christians would have found the idea of a feast specifically devoted to the Body and Blood of Christ a little strange. For them the idea of participation in the Body and Blood of the Lord was built into their routine. It was a part of their life, extraordinary and completely routine.

Easter is over, and we return to “Ordinary” Time. But not quite. We still have two more big feasts. Next week is the Feast of the Body and Blood of Christ, and today of the Holy Trinity. It’s like Easter continues to echo or reverberate for another couple of weeks before we get back to

As Christians we believe in God, the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. We also know we have received the Holy Spirit through our baptism. But if we were asked by someone who knew nothing of Christianity – so what does “receiving the Spirit” mean? what happens? – Would we have a good answer? For all

We may struggle a little with the story of the Ascension (Acts 1:1-11). Our first reaction might be to wonder, ok, what actually happened? Jesus disappears up into the sky, then what? This is probably the wrong question to be asking – wrong in the sense that we’re not going to get a useful answer.