The Sunday Gospel Ps 123:1-2, 2, 3-4 2 Cor 12:7-10 Mk 6:1-6 The Messiah, it turns out, isn’t quite who people expected. In Mark’s Gospel this Sunday, Jesus returns to his ‘native place’, his hometown of Nazareth, and when people hear him teaching in the synagogue, they can’t believe it. “Astonished” is the adjective Mark…
What has been given you to carry? Where do the needs and pains of others conscript your freedom? When is freedom mitigated by circumstance? What are the situations that you are born into or meet in life to which you must respond, perhaps even at the cost of your life? What may you not walk…
The Sunday Gospel Wis 1:13-15; 2:23-24 Ps 30:2, 4, 5-6, 11, 12, 13 2 Cor 8:7, 9, 13-15 Mk 5:21-43 or 5:21-24, 35b-43 Deep below the outskirts of Rome is a vast network of underground tunnels and chambers, known as the Roman catacombs. There, the early Christians made burial spaces outside the city walls where…
According to the renowned mystic, John of the Cross, we have three essential struggles in life: to get our lives together, to give our lives away, and to give our deaths away. What is asked of us in the first two struggles is more obvious. But what does it mean to give our deaths away?…
Jb 38:1, 8-11 Ps 107:23-24, 25-26, 28-29, 30-31 2 Cor 5:14-17 Mk 4:35-41 Rembrandt got it. Centuries ago, the artist captured the scene in this Sunday’s Gospel – a scene full of raging waves and gathering clouds and sheer, unabashed terror. The apostles are screaming in fear. One of them is leaning over the side…
According to the renowned mystic, John of the Cross, we have three essential struggles in life: to get our lives together, to give our lives away, and to give our deaths away. What is asked of us in the first two struggles is more obvious. But what does it mean to give our deaths away?…
In its calendar, the Church singles out special seasons to celebrate – Advent, Christmas, Lent and Easter. But, outside of these special times, it invites us to live and celebrate Ordinary Time. Ordinary Time. For most of us, I suspect, that phrase conjures up images of something that is less than special – bland, flat,…
The Sunday Gospel Ez 17:22-24 Ps 92:2-3, 13-14, 15-16 2 Cor 5:6-10 Mk 4:26-34 To walk by faith, and not by sight, is one of the challenges and joys of the spiritual journey. This is the invitation extended to all in God’s word this Sunday. As the Church returns to ordinary time, God’s word invites…
Our own complexity can be befuddling. We are better than we think and worse than we imagine, too hard and too easy on ourselves all at the same time. We are a curious mix. On the one hand, we are good. All of us are made in the image and likeness of God and are,…
The Sunday Gospel Gn 3:9-15 Ps 130:1-2, 3-4, 5-6, 7-8 2 Cor 4:13—5:1 Mk 3:20-35 You’re in good company. The Scriptures this Sunday show what Jesus went through in his hometown – and they offer us a valuable perspective. In Mark’s Gospel, Jesus hears some criticism and name-calling that is downright blasphemous, with relatives claiming…
Fr Ronald Rolheiser