Thirtieth Sunday in Ordinary Time • Year A
On August 2, 1932, the east wing of the Villanova Monastery was burned to the ground. My grandfather, Maestro Angelo, was one of the stone masons who rebuilt that wing of the monastery where I now live. As I come down a well-lit stairway whose west wall is made of magnificent stones, I touch some of the stones and wonder if my grandfather Angelo was the one who put them in place.
Twenty-ninth Sunday in Ordinary Time • Year A
Reality hurts, but illusions kill. If our illusions are shattered along the way it means that no ultimate harm will come to us, because what we have lost is unreal. Being mesmerized by them is the real danger. It remains for us to pursue what truly is real, to keep these other seductive goods in their proper perspective. It’s no wonder that Jesus made the first beatitude “Blessed are the poor in spirit.”
Twenty-eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time • Year A
I was thinking about those Christmas dinners at Nana’s as I reflected on that beautiful passage from Isaiah the prophet:
On this mountain the LORD of hosts
will provide for all peoples
a feast of rich food and choice wines,
juicy, rich food and pure, choice wines.
On this mountain he will destroy
the veil that veils all peoples…
It’s an image of heaven. And that is what God, through the prophet Isaiah, is saying to hispeople now.
Twenty-seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time • Year A
When I analyze my worries, I see that they concern only two days. And I have no control over either of them. The two days are yesterday and tomorrow. The only day I can control is today. Jesus said, “Do not worry about tomorrow. Tomorrow will take care of itself. Sufficient for a day is its own evil.” (Mt 6:34).
Twenty-sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time • Year A
In his world, as in ours, society was divided. Some were strongly committed to violence in opposing Rome, while others chose to collaborate with them to avoid conflict – peace at any price. Neither option embraced John’s words of reform and repentance, an unmistakable call for change and for people to transform their way of thinking. Jesus saw the need to take up the same mission, calling for repentance and renewed faithfulness to the covenant, aware of what John suffered.
Twenty-fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time • Year A
Those who are enthused about or interested in something new, generally, are those dissatisfied with the current situation. In many cases, they are those who have been left out, excluded, not taken into account. These are the ones thought less of, treated differently, who are longing from the depths of their heart for something new, better, different. The newness spoken of in today’s readings is much more than a replacement of what has worn out. It is a spectacular newness, a newness beyond compare.
