25TH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME Amos 8:4-7; 1 Timothy 2:1-8; Luke 16:1-13 The first reading for this weekend is from the Book of Amos. This prophet, regarded as one of the minor prophets, was from Tekoa, a rural area of Judea, about 10 miles from Jerusalem. Amos was a shepherd. He knew well the religious […]

23RD SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME Wisdom 9:13-18b; Philemon 9-10, 12-17; Luke 14:25-33 The Book of Wisdom provides this weekend’s liturgy with its first Scriptural reading. This book was written, according to scholars, in Alexandria by a Jew who had emigrated from the Holy Land, or whose forebears had come from the Holy Land. Originally, it […]

21ST SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME Isaiah 66:18-21; Hebrews 12:5-7, 11-13; Luke 13:22-30 The Book of Isaiah provides the first reading for this weekend. Isaiah is a fascinating book of Scripture, covering a long period of Hebrew history. Its early chapters deal with events and conditions in the southern Hebrew kingdom of Judah, before the kingdom’s […]

19TH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME Wisdom 18:6-9; Hebrews 11:1-2, 8-19; Luke 12:35-40 The Book of Wisdom is the source of the first reading for this weekend. Nighttime was when the Exodus began, the Hebrews’ flight from Egypt where they had been enslaved. They saw God as their protector, assuring that their escape would succeed. Moses […]

17TH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME Genesis 18:20-32; Colossians 2:12-14; Luke 11:1-13 The Book of Genesis is the source of this weekend’s first story. As with other passages in this marvelously profound religious book, the story of Sodom and Gomorrah sadly is often overwhelmed by arguments about where these cities were in Middle Eastern geography millennia […]

15TH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME Deuteronomy 30:10-14; Colossians 1:15-20; Luke 10:25-37 The Book of Deuteronomy, the source of the first reading for this weekend, is one of the first five books of the Bible, collectively called the Pentateuch, from the Greek word meaning “five.” These books have been venerated for many years as containing the […]

13TH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME 1Kings 19:16b, 19-21; Galatians 5:1, 13-18; Luke 9:51-62 The First Book of Kings is the source of this weekend’s first reading. As the names of these two volumes imply, First and Second Kings were written, to a degree, to be a chronicle of the lives and reigns of Israel’s early […]

TRINITY SUNDAY Proverbs 8:22-31; Romans 5:1-5; John 16:12-15 The church celebrates Trinity Sunday this weekend, and it uses the celebration to teach us about the Holy Trinity, the mystery of three Persons in the one God. For its first reading, the church offers us a passage from the Book of Proverbs. Proverbs is one of […]

THE ASCENSION OF THE LORD Acts of the Apostles 1:1-11; Ephesians 1:17-23; Luke 24:46-53 The Acts of the Apostles supplies the first reading, the story of the Ascension of the Lord from earth into heaven. This passage is the beginning of Acts. As is the case with the Gospel of Luke, Acts seems to have […]

FIFTH SUNDAY OF EASTER Acts of the Apostles 15:21-27; Revelation 21:1-5a; John 13:31-33a, 34-35 Once again in this Easter season, the Acts of the Apostles supplies the first reading for the Mass. It reports some of the missionary activities of Paul and Barnabas. Although eventually they parted, Paul and Barnabas, Paul’s disciple, visited several prominent […]