The Better Part

John 6.51-59 (full reading). For the youngest child, we read only verse 51. Listen to the Gospel and Reflection We know that Jesus says he is the Good Shepherd to help us understand who he is. But Jesus has other ways of helping us understand him. In the Gospel for this Sunday, Jesus tells us a little more about who he is. We can put this new information beside what we already know about the Good Shepherd so that we understand even more. Listen: I am the living bread that cam

John 6.51-59 Listen to the Gospel and Reflection This Sunday has a great long name: The SOLEMNITY OF THE MOST HOLY BODY AND BLOOD OF CHRIST. Sometimes we call it by a shorter name: Corpus Christi. Either way, we think more about who Jesus is and who we are with him. In the Gospel for this Sunday, he says, I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats of this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh. He tel

John 6.51-59 and the first reading: Deuteronomy 8.2-3, 14-16 Listen to the Gospel and Reflection This Sunday is the SOLEMNITY OF THE MOST HOLY BODY AND BLOOD OF CHRIST. Jesus helps us to understand who he is and what he does. In the Gospel for this Sunday, Jesus begins with something that every one of the people who gather about him recognize: I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Every person gathered knows about the bread that came down from heaven. They all kn

John 3.16-18 Listen to the Gospel and Reflection In the Gospel for this Sunday, we hear Jesus speaking to a man named Nicodemus. Nicodemus seems to have a question deep in his heart: "Who are you, God?" Nicodemus knows Jesus, but he wants to know more. Jesus says, “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.” Jesus begins with God. God loves the world—the mountains, the oceans, the lakes

John 3.16-18 Listen to the Gospel and Reflection This Sunday is called Trinity Sunday. We say that God is Trinity—One God, three Persons. It does not seem to make a lot of sense. It is mystery. On this Sunday, we stop to think a bit more about this mystery—about who God is. Long before Jesus was born, we hear in the Bible of a man named Moses who asks God what he should say if someone should ask him for God's name. God says to Moses, “I AM who I AM.” This is a strange name, i

John 3.16-18 Listen to the Gospel and Reflection This Sunday is Trinity Sunday and our Church asks us to stop and think for a while about the mystery of who our God is. Because it is a mystery, we cannot solve it, but by thinking closely about who God is, we draw closer to the mystery and deeper into the love of God. “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.” These words of Jesus tell

Acts 2.1-11 Listen to the Gospel and Reflection This Sunday is a new feast. We celebrate the coming of the Holy Spirit. We call this feast Pentecost, and the colour of the feast is red. Last Sunday, we heard about Jesus returning to God in heaven. Before he goes, he asks his disciples to go and make new disciples in all countries of the earth. How can they do this, if they do not speak all the languages of the earth? This Sunday we find out what happens next. When the day of

Acts 2.1-11 Listen to the Gospel and Reflection Last week, we heard about Jesus ascending into heaven to oversee the building of the Kingdom. We also heard that the Lord works with them to build it. We wondered how this could be. How can Jesus sit at the right hand of God, overseeing the work, and at the same time be with us? We are missing something. Something has to happen between Jesus ascending, and the beginning of the building of the Kingdom. This Sunday, we celebrate t

Acts 2.1-11 Listen to the Gospel and Reflection This Sunday is Pentecost, when we celebrate the coming of the Holy Spirit to the disciples and Mary in Jerusalem. We consider this day the birthday of the Church, because on this day, 3000 people are baptized and receive the Holy Spirit. The light of Jesus' Risen life begins to spread. Image by Holger Schué from Pixabay The account of Pentecost is filled with sound. there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it fill