Baruch is not one of the major prophets. With only five chapters, his book is relatively brief, certainly when the long books of Ezekiel, Isaiah and Jeremiah are considered.

32ND SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME 1 Kings 17:10-16; Hebrews 9:24-28; Mark 12:38-44 The First Book of Kings furnishes this weekend with its first reading. Political governance, in the minds of the ancient Hebrews, was not the chief function of their kings. Rather, assuring the nation’s faithfulness to God and to the law of God given […]

Jeremiah 31:7-9; Hebrews 5:1-6; Mark 10:46-52 The Book of Jeremiah provides this weekend’s first reading. A few facts about Jeremiah are known from the book itself. He was from Anatoth, a village only a few miles from Jerusalem. He was the son of Hilkiah, a priest. He was a prophet for more than 40 years. […]

Deuteronomy 4:1-2, 6-8; James 1:17-18, 21b-22, 27; Mark 7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23 The Book of Deuteronomy provides this weekend’s first reading. In it, Moses presents to the people the revelation he received of God’s law. It is God’s law, revealed by God, not the invention of Moses given on the authority of Moses. While he was […]

Proverbs 9:1-6; Ephesians 5:15-20; John 6:51-58 The Book of Proverbs, the source of this weekend’s first reading, is part of the Wisdom Literature. This literature, forming an important part of the Old Testament, came to be in an interesting development of history. As years passed, and in circumstances good and bad, many Jews left the […]

Exodus 16:2-4, 12-15; Ephesians 4:17, 20-24; John 6:24-35 The Book of Exodus provides us with the first reading in this weekend’s Liturgy of the Word. As the name implies, this book of the Bible traces the path of the Hebrews as they fled Egypt, under the leadership of Moses, and proceeded across the desolate Sinai […]