Photo by James Lee on Unsplash

27^th Sunday in Ordinary Time
Isaiah 5:1-7
October 4, 2020

This week we read from the Book of the Prophet Isaiah. Three prophets used the name Isaiah. We have been looking mostly at the two who spoke during and after the return of the Jews to Jerusalem in the 6^th century BC. The Isaiah we will examine today tells us very clearly that he began his ministry in 742 BC within the southern kingdom of Judea. King Uzziah died the year he was called. This is significant. 

Uzziah had reigned for 40 years and had greatly increased the GDP of his kingdom. But he did so by favoring and elite and creating prosperity for some by taking the properties of those not connected to the powerful. This was compounded by his successors who made alliances with Assyria requiring the Judeans to pay vast sums in protection money which the rich managed to avoid further impoverishing the peasants. It is clear why in the very first chapter of Isaiah God says to the people:   Continue reading “27th Sunday of Ordinary Time – Fruitful by God’s Grace” →

St. Matthew and the Angel, Rembrandt, c. 1661, Louvre

Fr. Smith’s Commentary on the First Reading
26^th Sunday in Ordinary Time
Ezekiel 18:25-28
September 27, 2020

We return today to the time of the exile in Babylon. It is, in some ways, the most impressive story in the history of the Jewish People. As we have seen in so many readings during the year, the leaders of the Jews were deported to Babylon from 597 to 587 BC. After the Assyrians defeated the Babylonians in 537 BC, the Jews were invited to return to Jerusalem to become the Assyrian colonial administration. Last week we read from Isaiah who wrote at the beginning of this return, today we read from Ezekiel who was among the very first to go into exile in 597 BC. As with Isaiah, he has much to teach us that is relevant to our time.

Parable of the Workers in the Vineyard, Johann Christian Brandt, 1769, Akademie der bildenden Künste, Vienna

Fr. Smith’s Commentary on the First Reading
25^th Sunday in Ordinary Time
Isaiah 55:6-9
September 20, 2020

Since Easter we have been examining the Second Readings for Sunday Mass: starting with the First Letter of Peter and then Paul’s Letter to the Romans. We return this week to the First Reading for Mass, which as usual, will be from the First Testament: today Isaiah 55:6-9. For a better understanding however we will need to begin with 55:1.

The church uses Isaiah many times during the year. Grasping Jesus’ mission is impossible without an appreciation of the message of Isaiah. It might be better to say messages because as we have seen so many times before there were three people who used the name Isaiah and although they shared much in common, we can discern differences in emphasis and indeed development. Today is certainly one of those times. Continue reading “25th Sunday in Ordinary Time – Being God’s Presence Every Day” →

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon Shows Pope Francis the Golden Rule mosaic at the UN on September 25, 2015 (UN Photo) (more about this image)

Fr. Smith’s Commentary on the 2^nd Reading
23^rd Sunday in Ordinary Time
Romans 13:8–10
September 6, 2020

For the past few weeks, we have seen Paul as a poet and preacher. He has urged us to “offer our very bodies to God” (Rom. 12 1) and exclaimed “the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God” (Rom. 11:33). These are beautiful and profound statements, but we must remember that they are at the service of Paul’s main intent. He is showing the Roman Church how to live together and how to live in general. As we have seen the Church in Rome was mixed with some born Jews and others born gentiles. They all accepted the Lordship of Jesus but differed on what this meant. Paul has spoken eloquently to them about the meaning of Baptism and Life in the Spirit. This is the basis of harmony; a life well lived together. Yet what about the daily tasks of life? How does one live?

Paul grasped in his very being that accepting the new life Jesus offered was a new way of being human. His expression however has sometimes been, to be kind, imprecise and culturally tone-deaf. He told the Corinthians, a very mixed congregation, that “All things are lawful for me” (1 Cor. 6:12) Those born Jews understood this to mean that they were freed from dietary laws and could eat pork. Some gentile Christians, not understanding the Jewish background, thought they could marry near relations (1 Cor. 5:1-7) Paul needed to clarify this and spent a good deal of time doing this.

Conversion of St. Augustine, Fra Angelico, c. 1395-1455, Musée Thomas-Henry

Twenty-Second Sunday of Ordinary Time
Romans 12:1-2
August 30, 2020

Today’s reading is personally significant for me. It was read at my Ordination Mass and it will be read at my funeral. In my mid-twenties, it awoke a sense that the Sacrifice of the Mass was intimately connected with daily life and that my ministry should be judged by how well I joined the two. The pandemic has made these concerns more pressing and the need to have a truly sacrificial life more necessary. The message here is so profound that I will bring in a guest speaker to help me.

Last week’s reading ended with a resounding call to “Give God Glory.” How is this done? What is necessary for Christian worship? Paul will answer not only as a Jew but as a prophet. The great prophets of Israel recognized that the LORD could be neither bribed nor fooled. Performing rituals exactly or offering flocks of animals in sacrifice are worse than useless if our hearts are not contrite and humbled.

Jesus Giving Peter the Keys

Twenty-First Sunday of Ordinary Time
Romans 11:33-36
August 23, 2020

Several weeks ago when we looked at the ending of Romans 8 we saw that Paul can write individual passages that are so beautiful that we can forget that they are not meant to stand alone but to bring a section of the letter to a conclusion. We see the same today. This week’s passage is also meant to do double duty: conclude Paul’s teaching on the relationship between Jewish and Gentile Christians, Rom 9-11, but also the entire letter that went before. Paul as an artist was up to the task.

The Assumption of the Virgin, Titian, 1516–18, Basilica di Santa Maria Gloriosa dei Frari

Twentieth Sunday of Ordinary Time
Romans 11:13–15, 29–32
August 16, 2020

Last week, we began to examine St Paul’s teaching about the relationship between Judaism and Christianity. We saw that for Paul the major issue was the faithfulness of God. He promised the Jews that he would never abandon them, and they would always remain chosen. Yet with the death and resurrection of Jesus, it seems that he has raised up a new people and displaced the Jews. For Paul this would make God a liar and is thus inconceivable.

As we saw Paul reminded the people, Jew and Greek, that God could transform them as a community just as he transformed him as an individual Jew. Although, certainly for us and most likely for his original audience this was a difficult concept, Paul found it important enough to review it and indeed expand on it. Our reading today reflects this, and I would like to remind you that not only does it contain some difficult concepts the passage skips around Romans 11. We will need to fill in a lot of material.