The Better Part

John 1:29-34   Listen here to the Gospel and Reflectio n After weeks of preparing and celebrating the feast of Christmas, we return to Ordinary Time. The church changes the colour back to green. However, in only a few short weeks we will enter another season of preparation and we look toward the feast of Easter. Always, Jesus' death and Resurrection is with us. In the Gospel reading for this Sunday, though, Jesus' death and Resurrection is still in his future. He just got bap

Matthew 3.13-17 Click here to listen here to the Gospel and Reflectio n At the close of the Christmas season, we leave the secret years of Jesus' childhood behind and join the grown-up Jesus in the waters of the Jordan river. The feast of Christmas that celebrates God becoming human like us comes to an end with a particular look at Jesus' baptism. We have to ask ourselves, why does Jesus need to get baptized? John the Baptist sees a problem with this. Surely Jesus does not h

Matthew 2.13-15 , 19-23 Listen here to the Gospel and Reflectio n Last week, we thought about Joseph who never speaks in the Gospels, but whose actions speak louder than words. God speaks, and Joseph acts. He listens to God who speaks to him in his dreams. In the Gospel reading this Sunday, we hear about three more of those dreams. In the first dream, God speaks and Joseph takes his family away to Egypt when it is no longer safe for them to stay in their home country of Israe

Matthew 1:18-24 Listen here to the Gospel and Reflectio n In Advent, we usually spend a lot of time with St. Luke's Gospel, thinking about the Annunciation to Mary—when the angel Gabriel announces to Mary that she will be the mother of Jesus. This Sunday's Gospel comes from St. Matthew. It allows us to consider the Annunciation to Joseph—how Joseph discovers who this child is to be. Now the birth of Jesus the Messiah took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been engag

Matthew 11.2-11 Listen here to the Gospel and Reflectio n This Sunday we light the third candle of the Advent wreath for Gaudete  Sunday, the Sunday of rejoicing . Last Sunday, we heard about John the Baptist, the one with the disturbing message about cutting away the dead wood, preparing us for the new abundant life that Jesus brings. Now, stuck in prison, he hears rumours about Jesus and he wonders. “Are you the one who is to come, or are we to wait for another?” He asks if

Matthew 3.1-12 Listen here to the Gospel and Reflectio n Each Advent , as we prepare  ourselves for the feast of the Light of God coming into the world, we hear about John the Baptist. We might even think of him as the   preparation  person. He prepares  people for Jesus, the Light of the World. Photo by Robert Thiemann on Unsplash In those days John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness of Judea, proclaiming, “ Repent , for the Kingdom of God has come near.” This is the one

Matthew 24.37-44 Listen here to the Gospel and Reflectio n This Sunday we begin the season of Advent . It is a time of preparing  for the feast of God coming into the world as one of us. God, who knows what it means to be cold and hungry, who knows what it is like to dance and to play sports, to laugh with friends, to be nervous before a test. God, who knows us . It is a good feast. To prepare, we change the colour of the season to purple . We notice that the reading today co

Luke 23.35-43 Listen here to the Gospel and Reflectio n This Sunday is the last Sunday of the Church year. The year ends with a feast—Christ the King. The Gospel reading for this Sunday takes us to the moment of the crucifixion. It seems a little strange that the celebration of Christ the King should include scripture about Jesus dying on the cross. Would it not make more sense to celebrate the Resurrection? Why proclaim his death? And the people stood by, watching; but the l

Luke 21.5-19 Listen here to the Gospel and Reflectio n In the Gospel for this Sunday, Jesus seems to take a perfectly ordinary conversation and turn it upside down. When some were speaking about the temple, how it was adorned with beautiful stones and gifts dedicated to God, Jesus said, “As for these things that you see, the days will come when not one stone will be left upon another; all will be thrown down.” Jesus' disciples seem to praise the beautiful Temple built for Go

John 2.13-25   Listen here to the Gospel and Reflectio n This Sunday, we celebrate the oldest Catholic basilica found in Rome. A basilica is an impressive palace-like church that stands as a reminder of the glory of God. In the Gospel reading, Jesus arrives at the Temple in Jerusalem to pray. Like our basilicas, the Temple stands as a visible dwelling place   for the invisible God whose great mercy brought the people out of slavery to freedom. The Passover of the Jews was nea

Luke 7.11-17 Listen here to the Gospel and Reflectio n Each year we celebrate All Saints Day on November 1st and then All Souls Day on November 2nd. On All Saints, we remember the crowd of people that the Church knows for sure are filled with the Risen Life of God. On All Souls, we remember the crowds of people who died before us. We begin this month, the last month of the Church year, thinking about death. Why? Jesus went to a town called Nain, and his disciples and a large

Luke 18.9-14 Listen here to the Gospel and Reflectio n In the Gospel for this Sunday, Jesus tells another parable about prayer. We know that prayer is conversation with God, both listening and speaking. Conversation deepens relationships. This parable, then we can say, is about relationship with God . “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The people listening to Jesus know Pharisees and tax collectors. Pharisees are good people

Luke 18:1-8 Listen here to the Gospel and Reflectio n In the Gospel for this Sunday, Jesus tells us a parable about prayer. We know there are different kinds of prayer, different reasons for praying. We can pray in thanksgiving for the blessings we enjoy. We can praise God, telling all the world how great and good God is. The kind of prayer that most people know, though, is prayers of petition or intercession—asking for God's help for ourselves or for someone else. This is th

Luke 17.11-19 Listen here to the Gospel and Reflectio n Much of the time, Jesus preaches to the people about the Kingdom of God. He...

Luke 17.5-10 Listen here to the Gospel and Reflectio n Sometimes, the things that Jesus says just seem wonky. In the Gospel for this...

Luke 16.19-31 Listen here to the Gospel and Reflectio n In the Gospel for this Sunday, Jesus tells another parable. This is his best way...

Luke 16 .1-13 Listen here to the Gospel and Reflectio n In the Gospel for this Sunday, Jesus tells an odd parable about a manager who did...

John 3.1 3-17   Listen here to the Gospel and Reflectio n This Sunday we celebrate the feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross. To...

Luke 14:25-33 Listen here to the Gospel and Reflectio n In the Gospel for this Sunday, Jesus tells the large crowds of people following...

Luke 14:1, 7-14   Listen here to the Gospel and Reflectio n In the Gospel for this Sunday, Jesus gathers with a bunch of people for...