The Jews were expelled from Rome several times in the history of that city. The author of the Letter to the Hebrews references one of those episodes in the very first line of today’s first reading. “Remember the days past when, after you had been enlightened, you endured a great contest of suffering.” Sometime in the fourth decade or early fifth decade of the first century,...
The parable that Jesus uses in the Gospel text for today is very familiar to all of us. It is almost too familiar. Consequently, we find it hard to expect anything fresh coming from this parable. We even may find it difficult to listen to the parable because we assume that we know everything that there is to know about the sower and the seed.
Perhaps it would do us well to pay attention to...
The first reading from the Letter to the Hebrews, our psalm response, and the Gospel text from St. Mark all speak to the issue of God’s will. The Hebrew Scriptures, the Christian Scriptures and Quran all speak of God’s will and regard it as the first cause of everything that exists. God created, redeemed and sanctified everything that has come to be in our world and our...
One of the more prevalent ways to meet someone is to begin with the simple question: “How are you feeling?” The answer to that question reveals there is a flip side to every feeling: well or ill, confident or anxious, tired or refreshed. In a similar fashion, the sacred author of the Letter to the Hebrews refers to God’s Word as a two-edged sword: comforting or upsetting,...
The story that we hear from St. Mark’s Gospel today offers us an opportunity to find a place for ourselves in this story. Imagine that you are in Capernaum and are one of the characters in this remarkable story. Perhaps you see yourself as one of the four who are lowering the paralytic down to Jesus. Another way to visualize this...