Our communion with God, our salvation, depends on faith. God makes his offer of a covenant; we have to trust the Word of God. Abraham believed in God’s word, and his faith changed his destiny (hence the new name) and his people. Many Jews did not believe and cut themselves off from their ancestors and
Today, we celebrate the solemn feast of the Annunciation. “Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary,” said the old missal. That was correct, in a way, for the angel came to announce glad tidings to Mary. “Annunciation of the Lord,” says the new missal. Yes, this is the day that the Good News is announced that
An incontestable truth is that only faith saves. In the history of the Israelites, they demonstrated their belief in this truth. While they were wandering in the desert, they became rebellious to God. They were punished by God by sending them poisonous snakes. Eventually, they repented and asked God to deliver them. They have shown
The first reading is an addition from a later period to the Book of Daniel. Probably, Shushanna (Lily) stands for faithful Israel. And so, in the form of an allegorical tale, the story comments on the faithfulness of the pious Jews to Yahweh, notwithstanding corruption among (some of) the leaders. This popular tale was a
Greeting (See Second Reading) May the Spirit who raised Jesus from the dead be alive in you. May we live Jesus’ life to the full now, that we may be raised up on the last day. May Jesus, the Lord of life, be always with you. R/ And also with you. Introduction by the Celebrant
It is hard for a person who “has been seduced by God,” as Jeremiah says, to be rejected by the very community to which one has dedicated one’s life and before which one bears witness to the spiritual. He is a source of division. So was Jesus. Are we willing to take the risks of
Men and women who claim to know God a bit and to live consistently as his sons or daughters, are queer and bothersome to unbelievers as well as to those who take their religion as a set of duties or religious rites. There is no place for such eccentrics who go against the current, for
When Jesus is questioned and blamed for curing a paralysed man on a Sabbath, Jesus responded to them by saying how he is like the Father. Yes, after the work of creation, God rested on the seventh day. But the work of redemption is going on, the Father and Jesus are always at work, even
Water flows from the Temple and turns the land into a fertile paradise, bringing health and life, says Ezekiel. But this living Temple is Christ, says John. Encountering him means forgiveness, health, and life. These readings on the symbolism of life-giving water and on Christ have been chosen in view of baptism, the Lenten-Easter sacrament:
For people who believe, the golden age lies in the future, not in the past, says the third section of the book of Isaiah. Before the exile, the Jews and their prophets looked to the beginnings, to the past, as the golden era from which humankind had declined. Now the prophet turns to the future.
