The Good Word

With the mission of the Twelve underway Mark has asked his reader to look beyond the life of Jesus to the continuation of God s offer of His kingdom to those who repent As their mission proceeds they keep central the call to repentance so as to enjoy the Kingdom and support their call with ast

The first reading for October 8 is Galatians 2 1-2 7-14 but we will look at the whole of the chapter Paul moves to explain the acceptance of the Gospel he preaches by the Church as a whole and he describes his encounter with the Apostolic Council in Jerusalem described also in Acts 15 Paul doe

As in the past so now does Mark present the theme of rejection after astounding miracles The rejection this time comes from his native place specifically from the synagogue attendees in Nazareth The intended irony of the story is that these long-time neighbors and friends of Jesus should

I think of yesterday s first reading 1 6-12 as the opening of the Body of the letter The omission of the Thanksgiving strikes me even now as a little shocking because even in situations that seem to have run out of control in other cities think Corinth Paul manages more than a perfunctory Tha

Mark has picked up again his recital of powerful deeds from Jesus The present two stories are notable for their vivid features which indicate that these particular stories remained very much alive in their color and drama over many years of retelling A particular sign of this remembrance is the

Paul writes in Philippians 4 6-9 Brothers and sisters Have no anxiety at all but in everything by prayer and petition with thanksgiving make your requests known to God Then the peace of God that surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus Finally brothers

Sometime soon the Catholic University Press of America will publish a book authored by Cornelia Horn of Saint Louis University and myself on children in the early Church titled Let the Little Children Come to Me Children and Childhood in Early Christianity The genesis of this book was a s

Mark has shown his readership the powers of Jesus then offered explanations for both the successes seed produced fruit – 4 8 and failures of his sowing and has shown God s work in the sowing of the kingdom and its invincible spread to include all nations Leaving all and followin

A couple weeks ago I attended a daily mass in a Manhattan church Pretty big church people spread out but enough people present so that everyone was just a couple pews from everyone else at most At the Sign of Peace many people just stood in place and gave a polite wave Often they were jus

Following upon the central parable of the sowing if you do not understand this parable how will you understand any other is the parable of the lamp This small parable about light meant to shine is interpreted by the notions of secret come to light Given the next words of Jesus meanin