The Presentation of the Lord places us in the midst of the Law of Moses that governed the sacrifices due for the purification of a mother following the birth of a male child Lv 12 1 ndash 8 and the regulations concerning the consecration of a firstborn male child Ex 13 1 ndash 2 13 15 There a

The Gospel of Matthew sets the beginning of Jesus rsquo ministry in a particular historical context Jesus began his mission only after the arrest of John the Baptist It was time But in moving from his home in Nazareth to Capernaum in the ancient territory of Naphtali Matthew also sets Jesus rs

John the Baptist has not just one of the greatest roles in salvation history but one of the great lines in the Bible The day after John baptized Jesus ldquo he saw Jesus coming toward him and declared lsquo Here is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world rsquo rdquo The sacrifi

Why did Jesus need to be baptized It was a delicate issue for the earliest Christians as one can see in Matthew rsquo s baptism account in which ldquo John would have prevented him saying lsquo I need to be baptized by you and do you come to me rsquo rdquo One of the sensitivities was tha

Jesus rsquo love for the weak and marginalized is made manifest in a powerful account in Luke rsquo s Gospel as is the human willingness to label and disenfranchise people we consider less worthy In today rsquo s narrative Jesus suggests that we start to identify who we truly are in relationship

As we ponder Jesus rsquo confrontation with the Sadducees regarding life in the world to come we are compelled to ask ldquo Do I believe in resurrection rdquo How one answers this question orients how we live today It is a question that is not so much answered intellectually though it is not