Catholic Bible Study Made Simple: Recent Episodes
Gene Wilhelm
Exploring Sunday's Mass Readings to provide thematic sense to the readings. That theme is applied to daily life and its challenges. The reflection encourages the reader to consider some change to his/her life—even minimal incremental change. Although the reflections often identify typical impediments to authentic Christian living, they are an encouragement that change is possible.
Sometimes we find God’s truth and His ways unbelievable. We ask, “Why did He do that? Why did He choose me or that person?” God’s ways are not ours. His surpass ours in their perfection. One of the ways He expresses His perfection is in the way He deals with us, the way of love. His love is selfless, for our benefit, not His. Like God, our way of dealing with others, especially those we find difficult, should be for their benefit, not ours.
The Mass readings can be found here: Scripture Readings
The blog post can be found here: Blog Post
Sometimes we are like the people in the first reading who hear God’s word and realize how far we are from the mark. Hopefully, we have encouragers in our lives as they did. Sometimes we are excited as were those in the gospel reading. However, as we shall see next week, their excitement turned to anger when they heard the full message. Regardless of what we see the other members of the Body of Christ doing, we are to do our part in the Body and encourage others to do theirs. This is an essential part of the gospel.
The Mass readings can be found here: Scripture Readings
The blog post can be found here: Blog Post
“Do whatever he tells you” are Mary’s last words recorded in the scriptures. She speaks these words to us as well. If we obey what Jesus tells us to do, we can expect results as the servants at the wedding feast did—perhaps not as spectacular as the servants at the wedding feast did, but life-changing results in our lives and the lives of those around us. God loves us and wants to demonstrate His love for us. Sometimes that means doing things that don’t make sense to us.
The Mass readings can be found here: Scripture Readings
The blog post can be found here: Blog Post
What we fail to realize at times is that, when we were baptized, the Spirit of God not only fell on us but also came to dwell in us; and God the Father said to us and those around us, “This is my beloved Son, Daughter”. These readings are an invitation to us to recall these facts and to thank the Father for loving us so much that we were baptized and that His Only-Begotten Son was sent, baptized, and lived out His mission so that we might join Father, Son, and Holy Spirit for all eternity.
The Mass readings can be found here: Scripture Readings
The blog post can be found here: Blog Post
It is one thing to say that Jesus is Lord. It is another to acknowledge Him as Lord and King in the sense that the scriptures were written. Our modern minds reject the notion of anyone with absolute authority and power. Yet this is who the Savior is.
We are more like the Jewish leaders than the magi. We are so busy with daily life that we fail to recognize the One who is in our midst and treat Him as He deserves.
The Mass readings can be found here: Scripture Readings
The blog post can be found here: Blog Post
The Church uses the readings to teach us God’s standards for family life—even among the messier things of family life: how one honors father and mother, how one treats spouse and children, how to love.
Even if these readings do not describe your family of origin, you are still expected to live up to these standards.
The Mass readings can be found here: Scripture Readings
The blog post can be found here: Blog Post
“Lord, make us turn to you; let us see your face and we shall be saved”, the responsorial psalm proclaims. The face of God is the face of Jesus. Jesus is the light of the world. In that light we can see our lives and the world around us from God’s perspective. Then we are enabled to do whatever it is that God desires us to do. That is what Mary did in the Gospel. Though she had received shocking news that could have turned her focus inward, she turned her focus toward Elizabeth. She is an example not only of how we should live but also that such a life is possible.
The Mass readings can be found here: Scripture Readings
The blog post can be found here: Blog Post
Happy Gaudete Sunday. Gaudete is Latin for rejoice. The second reading tells us to rejoice always—even when one doesn’t think the circumstances call for rejoicing. From a biblical perspective, joy, like peace, is something only found internally, not externally. There can be seeming peace and joy all around us, and we can still not be peaceful and joyful. Let us pray for God’s peace and joy.
The Mass readings can be found here: Scripture Readings
The blog post can be found here: Blog Post
God desires to take us from where we are, with whatever miseries and bondages we are experiencing, into the midst of His Kingdom. He is our deliverer, our redeemer. That is why He has throughout the ages sent human messengers to proclaim His desire for us, and He still does that today. During Advent John the Baptist is the messenger that we hear about most. What many of us fail to comprehend is that we need to accept our deliverance and become John the Baptist to others
The Mass readings can be found here: Scripture Readings
The blog post can be found here: Blog Post
The First Sunday of Advent begins a new liturgical year—the year in which the primary source for the gospels is Luke. The Church ended its liturgical year by urging us to be prepared for Christ’s second coming, to live our lives each day, each moment, as if it were our last. In preparing to celebrate His first coming, the Church uses readings that deal with the second coming to remind us to begin with the end in mind—our earthly death and entry into eternal life.
The Mass readings can be found here: Scripture Readings
The blog post can be found here: Blog Post
If you were told that you were to have a king, and absolute monarch, in your life, would you want it to be Jesus is that King. Life goes better if we recognize that He is King and we desire His kingship.
The Mass readings can be found here: Scripture Readings
The blog post can be found here: Blog Post
Are you ready for the second coming of Christ? These scriptures seem to indicate that even the elect will not escape the calamities that are prophesied to happen before His return. We are called to be knowledgeable of what God has told us and alert for the signs.
The Mass readings can be found here: Scripture Readings
The blog post can be found here: Blog Post
Many of us have decent relationships with God; however, few of us are trusting enough in God’s provision to do what the widows in these readings did, give everything they had to God and His representative. More amazing is that the widow of the first reading was probably a pagan.
The Mass readings can be found here: Scripture Readings
The blog post can be found here: Blog Post
How many gods do you have in your life: money, power, position, or any of the others our world suggests that we should place before all else in our lives? Or do you place the LORD God first in your life? Do you have a loving relationship with Him? These readings call us to place the true God first in our lives and to love Him. Out of that love is to flow love for His children around us.
God as Father demonstrated His great love for us by sending His Son to redeem us. Jesus is the perfect High Priest. He continues that role by continuously interceding for us with the Father.
The Mass readings can be found here: Scripture Readings
The blog post can be found here: Blog Post
Jesus came to heal and to free. That continues to be His role. Consider what inside you that needs to be healed. Where is your spiritual blindness? What is it that has you in bondage that you cannot be free to be the person that God not only created you to be but calls you to be every day?
Jesus has the answer. Jesus is the answer.
The Mass readings can be found here: Scripture Readings
The blog post can be found here: Blog Post
What is it you ask of Jesus? Is it something as self-serving as James and John’s request? Unfortunately, too often we ask God for what we want to satisfy our desires, not God’s. We want, power, prestige, recognition, authority, wealth, and at the end eternal life; but I want these now. Jesus’ call to us is different.
“You call me Teacher and Lord; and you are right, for so I am. If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet.” (John 13:13–14, RSV2CE)
“If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love. These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full. This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you.” (John 15:10–14, RSV2CE)
The Mass readings can be found here: Scripture Readings
The blog post can be found here: Blog Post
“[T]he wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, without uncertainty or insincerity.” (James 3:17, RSV2CE) Why do we so often seek the wisdom of this world and the things that this world says we should? We allow ourselves to be deceived because we do not use the sword of the Spirit, the Word of God, as a means of separating what is false from what is true.
We are to repent of, turn around from, our faulty way of thinking we must have our hearts and minds renewed by the Word that has been given to us, believe it, and live by it.
The Mass readings can be found here: Scripture Readings
The blog post can be found here: Blog Post
Our culture says that marriage is a matter of convenience rather than a covenant relationship established by God. Genuine marriage is between two parties who are committed to laying down their lives for each other.
In Jesus’ day, the idea of a throw away marriage was common as well. Jesus reminds the religious leaders that it was because of the hardness of Hebrew hearts that Moses allowed divorce.
Our issue with God’s law may not lie with marriage, but most of us have areas of hardness in our hearts that question the truth of what God has said about one area or another of our lives.
Jesus laid down His life for His bride, the Church. If we are to be imitators of Christ Jesus, we must lay down our lives for our spouses.
The Mass readings can be found here: Scripture Readings
The blog post can be found here: Blog Post
Our God is a God of surprises. He surprised the Israelite leaders in the first reading. He surprised the disciples in the gospel reading. And He didn’t ask anyone’s permission to pull off His surprise. Nor did He care if what He did didn’t follow and expected way of doing things.
Unwarranted disgust can result when God does not do things the way we expect Him to, especially if He choses to use someone we think not worthy of His choosing, someone who is not a member of the club.
We are much better disciples when we allow God to be God and satisfy ourselves for the part He has given us to play rather than comparing ourselves with other and judging their worth.
The Mass readings can be found here: Scripture Readings
The blog post can be found here: Blog Post
The second reading calls us to account for our attitudes and actions, as does most of the Letter of James. He was a follower of Jesus; and surely, he observed the words and actions of the apostles as they jockeyed for position and attempted to force their views upon Jesus.
This should give us hope. If those who were closest to Jesus were unable to receive, understand, and live the message, why are we surprised that we are not consistent in our Christian life. It was only the Holy Spirit who changed their way of thinking, understanding, and living. The Holy Spirit can do the same for us.
The Mass readings can be found here: Scripture Readings
The blog post can be found here: Blog Post
What do you say to Jesus when He, either directly or through His Church, tells you something you don’t want to hear? If you tell Him that this just can’t be the case, you are like Peter in the gospel. And Peter only a little while before had gotten the answer to Jesus’ question right. Even though Peter was reprimanded for telling Jesus that what He said couldn’t happen and Jesus rebuked him, Peter did not stop following Jesus. “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life; and we have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God.” (John 6:68–69, RSV2CE)
The response that Jesus is looking for from us is to ask Him to open our ears and our hearts to what He has to say. And as James insists, that means that we must do what He tells us.
The Mass readings can be found here: Scripture Readings
The blog post can be found here: Blog Post
"There is no favouritism with God." (Romans 2:11, NJB) James tells us that favoritism and distinctions between believers is to be avoided. If God does show favoritism, it is for the vulnerable. And when He shows that favoritism, it is often done in a manner that confounds conventional wisdom.
We are called to open ourselves to God’s work in our lives. God wants to heal us of those things that make us less whole as human beings—whether that is our deafness, our bondages, our inability or unwillingness to follow Him.
“Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I go to the Father.” (John 14:12, RSV2CE) This is not only a promise; it is also a challenge. Do you believe enough to take on this challenge from Jesus?
The Mass readings can be found here: Scripture Readings
The blog post can be found here: Blog Post
Jesus told us that if we love Him we will keep His word. (cf. Jn 14:23). In the first reading Moses tells the people that they should not add or subtract from what God told him to tell them. Human nature is such that we would prefer to craft God’s word to us to suit our desires. That is not submitting to the word that had been planted in us. And if we do not submit, we will be unable to bear the fruit that we have been created to bear.
The Mass readings can be found here: Scripture Readings
The blog post can be found here: Blog Post
These scriptures tell us it is time to make a decision as to whom we choose to follow—God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirt, or the world, the flesh, and the devil. The world can be the way we were taught to live, the way we lived in the past, or the world in which we live now. We are called to live either by fleshly standards or standards of the Spirit. We are called to stand up to and rejects the temptations of the Evil One.
It is easy to choose the path of least resistance, to choose to follow human logic, to yield to pre-conceived notions and the desire to satisfy our own desire. This is not the life to which we are called as followers of Jesus.
The Mass readings can be found here: Scripture Readings
The blog post can be found here: Blog Post
Mary models for us the life that Jesus calls us to live. She also models the reward that Jesus has in mind for us—eternal life with him. Mary’s assumption gives us hope that Jesus’ promise will be fulfilled for us.
Though Mary’s assumption is not recorded in scripture, it has been held as fact since early Church days. For an article on this, click this link: Assumption: History of Doctrine.
The reading from Revelation, as does the gospel, speaks of Mary as the mother of the Savior. Interestingly, the image in Revelation 12 is also seen many years later in the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe. For more information on this click here: Explanation of Our Lady of Guadalupe.
Rejoice! If we live the life to which we have been called, we shall live with Him forever.
The Mass readings can be found here: Scripture Readings
The blog post can be found here: Blog Post
In our times, it is difficult to avoid the talking heads spouting human wisdom rather than wisdom that comes from God. These talking heads may be promoting secular or religious human wisdom. It is difficult to differentiate between truth, falsehood, half-truths, and opinion. It can be even more difficult to discern wisdom that comes from God; because, to our human minds, it is beyond our experience and therefore unbelievable.
Elijah had slain 450 prophets of Baal on Mt. Carmel, but was afraid of Jezebel. Still, God provided for Him and sent him to Horeb so that He could give Elijah his next assignment.
The people who experienced the miracle of being fed physically could neither understand nor accept Jesus’ telling them that He would feed them spiritually.
Are we, as a people of God, much different from Elijah or the crowd who grumbled against Jesus? We can be with faith that looks beyond what we see with our eyes, hear with our ears, and comprehend with our minds. “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” (Hebrews 11:1, RSV2CE)
The Mass readings can be found here: Scripture Readings
The blog post can be found here: Blog Post
These readings a reminder of human nature since the fall. Whatever God gives us, we always want more. Deliverance from Egypt was not sufficient; the Israelites wanted the benefits of Egypt without the slavery. The people in the gospel reading wanted to eat as sumptuously as they did from the five loaves and the two fish. The reading from Ephesians reminds us that with the salvation that Jesus has brought, we are called to make changes in our lives and our expectations of life.
The Mass readings can be found here: Scripture Readings
The blog post can be found here: Blog Post
Many of our problems arise because we insist upon seeing things from a human perspective rather than from God’s perspective. When we do this, we see that we do not have enough—enough money, enough talent, enough time, enough grace, enough of whatever it is that we think that we need at that time. If we would stop worrying and allow God to be God, we might see that we not only have enough but more than enough.
The Mass readings can be found here: Scripture Readings
The blog post can be found here: Blog Post
These readings tell us that not everyone who appears in the role of shepherd is a good shepherd. Jesus alone is the ultimate Good Shepherd, and He is the one who will bring all the sheep back to His fold and minister to them in the way that they should be treated.
Most of us have some for whom we are shepherds. This is an occasion to examine ourselves honestly, and perhaps with the help of another, to determine where we model the Good Shepherd and where we do not.
Implied also is that each of us has been given one or more human shepherd. Just how well do we live out the directions of these shepherds and the Good Shepherd?
The Mass readings can be found here: Scripture Readings
The blog post can be found here: Blog Post
The reading from Ephesians speaks of six blessings that are ours because of Jesus’ death, resurrection, and the sending of the Holy Spirit. By nature of our baptism, we are all priest, prophet, and king; and we share the command to be Jesus’ witness that was given to the apostles. Sometimes performing that assignment we are successful like the apostles in the gospels. Sometimes we are rejected like Amos in the first reading. Regardless of the response or the outcome, our obeying Jesus’ commands are a necessary part of the life of the disciple.
The Mass readings can be found here: Scripture Readings
The blog post can be found here: Blog Post
Just because God asks us to do something does not mean that it will be successful by human standards. Nor does He expect it to do it by our own efforts. No, He expects obedience from us and complete dependence upon Him to achieve the results He desires.
The Mass readings can be found here: Scripture Readings
The blog post can be found here: Blog Post
When God completed creation on the sixth day, everything was perfect. Adam and Eve had been warned that death was a consequence of eating of the forbidden fruit. Thus, all forms of imperfection entered into creation are the result of their sin. When Jesus walked the earth, He showed that He as God has the power to reverse the consequences of that first sin. God does not change, and His Son still wants to reverse the consequences of sin—that of our first parents and our own.
The Mass readings can be found here: Scripture Readings
The blog post can be found here: Blog Post
Every life has its storms. One may either panic because they cannot be controlled by human efforts, or choose to believe that God is in control and that there is no need for panic, anxiety, or worry. God’s word tells us that He has done this for others in the past. Why should He not be able to do this in the present time? If we are a new creation as a result of our baptisms, we are a new creation who is capable of faith that changes our belief systems about ourselves, our lives, and what God is capable of doing in our lives.
The Mass readings can be found here: Scripture Readings
The blog post can be found here: Blog Post
One potential message from these readings is to achieve your purpose in life no matter how small or how large. God gives us everything we need to achieve that purpose. Do not limit yourself to how you, or perhaps the world sees you. God isn’t done with you yet. To look at yourself today can bring either pride or discouragement. Give yourself unreservedly to God. Let Him worry about the outcome.
The Mass readings can be found here: Scripture Readings
The blog post can be found here: Blog Post
In years past this solemnity was known as Corpus Christi, the Body of Christ. There are only four cities in the world named Corpus Christi, and all of them are in the western hemisphere. Corpus Christi, Texas is so named, because it was discovered on this feast day in 1519.
We have the opportunity to rediscover, or perhaps discover, the truth beauty and power of the body and blood of Christ. Let us all do this this year that we may discover the power and salvation that Jesus has given us through the Eucharist.
The Mass readings can be found here: Scripture Readings
The blog post can be found here: Blog Post
The Trinity is in scripture beginning with the first few verses. We see it again at Jesus’ baptism. Jesus gives it to us when He tells the apostles the formula for baptism.
The concept of one God with three persons is difficult if not impossible for humans to fully grasp. That is why it is called a mystery. It is a matter of faith to believe in the Trinity.
The Mass readings can be found here: Scripture Readings
The blog post can be found here: Blog Post
“[L]ike living stones be yourselves built into a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ” (1 Peter 2:5, RSV2CE) This a description of the unity that the Spirit wishes to make of us. We, individuals that we are, are called to live next to others bonded together by the glue that the Spirit brings. The Spirit also brings life to the lifeless stones that we are.
To be truly filled with the Spirit is to allow him full continual access to every area of our lives. Most of us want to hold something back or don’t want some gift or some neighboring stone that the Spirit gives us.
May this be the Pentecost that the Spirit removes our hearts of stone and gives us hearts of flesh (cf. Ezk 36:26-27). May this be the Pentecost when we allow the Spirit to make us true one, united to each other in Christ.
The Mass readings can be found here: Scripture Readings
The blog post can be found here: Blog Post
The apostles must have been conflicted. They were probably happy that Jesus was going back to His Father, but they were probably sad that they would not see Him again. Also, although Jesus gave last minute instructions before His departure, they would not grasp what He was saying until they experienced Pentecost. These might be words to describe us today when we encounter Jesus. How unchanged is human nature over the centuries?
The Mass readings can be found here: Scripture Readings
The blog post can be found here: Blog Post
“For God so loved the world that he gave his only-begotten Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:16, RSV2CE) This is probable the most quoted verse in the New Testament. And it not just some that God wishes to be saved and have eternal life. “[God] desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.” (1 Timothy 2:4, RSV2CE)
If we believe this, why do we reject God’s love for us by demanding that He love us in the manner that we choose? Why, if we are called to love as He loves, do we refuse to love others as ourselves? Tough questions that we often refuse to consider and answer.
As I was preparing this study, a reflection on St. Faustina’s diary was the meditation for Friday. It speaks to this same issue based on entry 576 in her diary. The mediation is available on DivineMercy.life. Here is the link: Divine Mercy Reflection 120: Pure Love of God.
The Mass readings can be found here: Scripture Readings
The blog post can be found here: Blog Post
All of us are somewhere—somewhere we remain, abide, dwell, or even stuck. These readings call us to remain in Jesus and to allow Him to remain in us. That is the only way we can bear the fruit that we have been created to bear.
The Mass readings can be found here: Scripture Readings
The blog post can be found here: Blog Post
The refrain of a hymn based on the 23rd Psalm says, “Shepherd me, O God, beyond my wants, beyond my fears, from death into life.” This is what the Good Shepherd wants to do for us. Unfortunately, we often are more like some of the sheep Phillip Keller describes in his book A Shepherd Looks at Psalm 23: obstinate, self-willed, rebellious. We do not need to be that way.
The Mass readings can be found here: Scripture Readings
The blog post can be found here: Blog Post
Ignorance is a common malady for human beings. Sometimes the ignorance is deliberate, other times it is accidental due to lack of experience on our parts. More frequently ignorance is a result of clinging to pre-conceived notions and a refusal to let go of them. In these readings we are called to let go of what is inhibiting our belief in God—Father, Son and Holy Spirit—and what He tells us either directly or through His chosen servants. Perhaps the greater challenge is to believe and then act consistently in accordance with our beliefs.
The Mass readings can be found here: Scripture Readings
The blog post can be found here: Blog Post
“Give thanks to the Lord for he is good, his love is everlasting.” (Response) Do we thank God enough for the mercy He has shown us, not only in the big things but in the little as well? Draw hope from the mercy that Jesus showed Thomas when he doubted the testimony of the other apostles regarding Jesus’ appearance to them.
Jesus wants to show us His mercy to us for all our missing the mark that He has established for us. Let us come to Him for mercy. Let us believe that He wants to show us mercy. Let us accept the mercy He shows us. We needn’t deserve His mercy. We could never deserve His mercy. Yet He graciously bestows His mercy upon us because of His infinite love for us.
The Mass readings can be found here: Scripture Readings
The blog post can be found here: Blog Post
Jesus raised people from the dead during His public ministry. When the time came, His Father raised Jesus from the dead. This is good news for us, because the Father will raise us from the dead too on the last day since we are His children as well. For our part we are called to live like children of God.
The Mass readings can be found here:
Scripture Readings for 04/04/2021
The blog post can be found here:
Blog Post for 04/04/2021
It is beneficial to examine the passion story to determine if we can identify ourselves as one of the people who were a part of it. Perhaps we will see ourselves in Peter, or the members of the Sanhedrin, or perhaps John, or one of the women at the cross. When we do, we may either find encouragement or motivation to change our lives.
The Mass readings can be found here:
Scripture Readings for 03/28/2021
The blog post can be found here:
Blog Post for 03/28/2021
We may want to see Jesus; however, do we want to see the Jesus who is; or do we want to see the Jesus we prefer? We may want to follow Jesus; however, we prefer that He only require outward observance without a change of heart. To see Jesus, we must see Jesus crucified. To follow Jesus, we must die to self.
The Mass readings can be found here:
Scripture Readings for 03/21/2021
The blog post can be found here:
Blog Post for 03/21/2021
God does not abide by our rules to accomplish His plans. He uses a pagan like Cyrus, king of Persia, to free the Jews from Babylonian captivity. He chooses the cross to free us from our sin and the sin of Adam. Are we willing to allow God to have His way, or are we going to refuse His gift to us because it is not coming in the manner we desire or through the person we desire?
The Mass readings can be found here:
Scripture Readings for 03/14/2021
The blog post can be found here:
Blog Post for 03/14/2021
In the gospel, Jesus cleanses the temple to return it to it intended holiness. In lent we are called to allow Jesus to cleanse the temple that is us to restore it to His intended holiness for us. He has given us His commandments as instruction concerning the kind of thoughts, words, and actions that will help us to become and remain that holy.
The Mass readings can be found here:
Scripture Readings for 03/07/2021
The blog post can be found here:
Blog Post for 03/07/2021
Jesus showed Himself to Peter, James, and John as He had been for all eternity. He had been showing himself through the Old Testament in passages such as the sacrifice of Isaac. On the Mount of Transfiguration, He showed Himself in a new light. He wants to reveal Himself to us too. Are we willing to go with Him where He leads us so that He can do that?
The Mass readings can be found here:
Scripture Readings for 02/28/2021
The blog post can be found here:
Blog Post for 02/28/2021
Jesus must have had what we would call a spiritual high after His baptism and His Father calling Him, His beloved Son; but immediately, the Spirit drove Jesus into the wilderness for forty days of preparation for His mission of ministry.
Why are we surprised when, after a spiritual high, we have a period in which we feel as though we are in a hot, dry desert or being nearly drowned as Noah must have during the flood. Yet we, too, may need a time of preparation for some next phase or life; and when we are in preparation, we should not be surprised if we come under all types of attack instigated by our enemy the devil.
The Mass readings can be found here:
Scripture Readings for 02/21/2021
The blog post can be found here:
Blog Post for 02/21/2021
Most of us would have difficulty in relating to these readings because our current culture has so little awareness of leprosy, now known as Hansen’s disease. However, in past centuries it was as virulent as Covid is today.
Perhaps the responsorial psalm is the best place to begin to understand the Church’s reason for giving us these readings. Leprosy is a type or a symbol for sin, and sin is as contagious as is leprosy. (cf. Mt 18:15-17) And we go and show ourselves to the priest when we receive the sacrament of reconciliation.
The Mass readings can be found here:
Scripture Readings for 02/14/2021
The blog post can be found here:
Blog Post for 02/14/2021
From the book of Job, it would appear that the question, “Why do bad things happen to good people”, is nearly as old as mankind itself. Job understood that his relationship with God should not change based upon his circumstances in life. He had been drafted into God’s service. Paul tells us something similar. And when Peter’s mother-in-law is once more able, she too enters into service to the Lord.
Ours is not to complain and to question God and His motives; ours is to be obedient to Him. If and when He chooses, He will change our circumstances from what they are today. Are you ready to live your circumstances without complaining?
The Mass readings can be found here:
Scripture Readings for 02/07/2021
The blog post can be found here:
Blog Post for 02/07/2021
Throughout the scriptures, God has rarely spoken to His people directly. Though He did speak to His prophets, one who speaks for God. In the Gospels, we see that God speaks through His Son.
In the first reading, we see Moses relaying God’s message to His people in the wilderness that He will send a prophet; and the prophet of whom He was speaking was Jesus.
In the Gospel reading, we find Jesus fulfilling that prophecy; but the people fail to recognize His call to speak for His Father. Nor as we read in subsequent encounters with religious leaders do we find a recognition of Jesus as the fulfillment of this or any of the other prophecies of the Old Testament.
The Mass readings can be found here:
Scripture Readings for 01/31/2021
The blog post can be found here:
Blog Post for 01/31/2021
We don’t always get a second opportunity to answer God’s call as Jonah did. Too often our response is one of reluctance, if not outright refusal, out of fear—fear of the unknown and an outlook that focuses on potential negative consequences for our desires for ourselves.
Though the gospels give us a variety of accounts of the apostles’ call, what they agree upon is an immediate response of following Jesus. May the apostles be our role model in hearing and responding to Jesus’ call in our own lives.
The Mass readings can be found here:
Scripture Readings for 01/24/2021
The blog post can be found here:
Blog Post for 01/24/2021
Are you in the right place and sufficiently attentive to hear God when he calls to you? Are you willing to believe another when told by someone else that God is right over there or you can find Him in a particular location or way of doing something? Samuel was; Andrew and John were. Their willingness was rewarded with a call that changed their lives and the lives of many others.
God speaks to each of us many times, perhaps not as dramatically as in these readings. However, He does speak to each of us; and He gives us the ability to hear and to follow.
The Mass readings can be found here:
Scripture Readings for 01/17/2021
The blog post can be found here:
Blog Post for 01/17/2021
The feast of the baptism of the Lord is the transition between the Christmas season and ordinary time. The Church provides this transition between Jesus’ hidden life and his public life as reminder that we too go through transitions.
Many of us do not remember our baptism, and most of those that do not remember God the Father saying to us that we were His beloved son or daughter. Yet that is what we are by nature of our baptism, because our baptism made us God’s beloved children.
The Mass readings can be found here:
Scripture Readings for 01/10/2021
The blog post can be found here:
Blog Post for 01/10/2021
God had promised a Savior for all mankind. Jesus is the fulfilment of that promise. When He came, His own people were not observant enough to recognize His coming. However, gentile pagans were—even if they did not realize that He was the Savior.
How often are we so entangled in the minutia of our lives, both secular and religious, that we do not recognize the signs that Jesus is entering our lives to save us from all that has us in bondage. We, like the Jewish leaders, may have heard and read the promise; but we do not take the time or expend the effort to look for Him. If we truly believed the promise and the importance to our lives, perhaps we would be more observant.
The Mass readings can be found here:
Scripture Readings for 01/03/2021
The blog post can be found here:
Blog Post for 01/03/2021
The life of the Holy Family is one to which we should strive. However, we should not become overly discouraged when we find that we cannot quite live up to that standard. Still the readings for this Sunday provide a pattern from God’s word to which we should attempt to conform our lives.
The Mass readings can be found here:
Scripture Readings for 12/27/2020
The blog post can be found here:
Blog Post for 12/27/2020
The readings for the Fourth Sunday of Advent tell us 3 things: (1) God is always faithful no matter how long it takes for Him to be so. (2) God often uses intermediaries to speak for Him. (3) God desires obedience from us even when His desires don’t match our desires or our expectation of how things should be.
Mary and David experienced all three of these. Oftentimes, I suspect that we do as well. Are we as alert and as willing as David and Mary were?
The Mass readings can be found here:
Scripture Readings for 12/20/2020
The blog post can be found here:
Blog Post for 12/20/2020
“Semper gaudete.” (1 Th 5:16, Vulgate) Rejoice always. The Third Sunday of Advent became known as Gaudete Sunday because the Introit, what we now call the Entrance Antiphon, came from Philippians 4:4, “Rejoice in the Lord always.” Gaudete marks the middle of Advent. The rejoicing is not only because the penitential period of Advent is half over, but also because we supposed to be more prepared for the Second Coming of Christ.
The Church also takes this Sunday to remind us the second week in a row about who John the Baptist was, his role in salvation history, and his knowledge of who he was and of his role. He is a role model for all Christians of their basic calling in life—to point to the Lamb of God.
The Mass readings can be found here:
Scripture Readings for 12/013/2020
The blog post can be found here:
Blog Post for 12/13/2020
John the Baptist may seem like a minor character in God’s plan of salvation. However, he is the first to recognize Jesus while He was in the womb. (cf. Lk 1:42) He is the first to point out Jesus as the Messiah to the future apostles. (cf. Jn 1:29) John is the fulfillment of the prophecy that is this week’s first reading. John’s role, his calling, was to point to Jesus that others might recognize Him. Each of us is called to be a John the Baptist for others; we are to point others to Jesus.
When we see ourselves as we are and Jesus as he is, we may despair not only of being a John the Baptist but also of achieving salvation. Do not despair. See these readings as an urging to make those course corrections in our lives so that in the end we may hear, ““Well done, good and trustworthy servant; you have shown you are trustworthy in small things; I will trust you with greater; come and join in your master’s happiness.” (Mt 25:21, NJB) This is God’s ultimate plan for you, and He will make it possible for you to be delivered from the kingdom of darkness and slavery into His wonderful light.
The Mass readings can be found here:
Scripture Readings for 12/06/2020
The blog post can be found here:
Blog Post for 12/06/2020
We are in a new liturgical year; yet the readings sound a lot like the ending of the old liturgical year, except that the gospel is from Mark rather than Matthew. The Church is wanting to prepare us not only for the commemoration of Jesus’ first coming but also for His second coming at the end of time, as well as our for our particular judgement at the end of our lives.
Jesus has left us, the members of the Church, to carry out His work till He returns. Are we diligent and prompt in doing the things that we are charged with doing? Think about the consequences if you are not.
The Mass readings can be found here:
Scripture Readings for 11/29/2020
The blog post can be found here:
Blog Post for 11/29/2020
David was the shepherd king of Israel. Jesus, the Messiah, is the Son of David. He is the promised king whose reign will last forever. As Son of David and fulfillment of the prophecies, He also is a Shepherd King, not just of the children of Abraham but of all those how have been blessed by Abraham’s Son from whom the blessing was to flow for all. “All nations on earth will bless themselves by your descendants, because you have obeyed my command.’” Gen 22:18 (NJB)
Each of us must determine what we can do to be counted among the sheep rather than the goats at the final judgement. This is not difficult. We need to do the will of the Father.
The Mass readings can be found here:
Scripture Readings for 11/22/2020
The blog post can be found here:
Blog Post for 11/22/2020
Are you willing to risk failure at attempting to accomplish something you believe God is asking you to do? Do you believe that He will give you enough time to accomplish it? Do you believe that He not only believes in you but also that He will provide all you need to exceed your expectations and to please Him?
If you say no to any of these, study these readings. You may not know how much time or what abilities you have, but God will not ask more of you than the capabilities that He has placed within you, and He will always give you sufficient time to accomplish His desires of you.
The Mass readings can be found here:
Scripture Readings for 11/15/2020
The blog post can be found here:
Blog Post for 11/15/2020
There is a great difference between being a wise-guy and being wise. The wise-guy does not take life seriously, whereas the wise person does. Being serious does not mean being dower; rather it means being focused on what is important and searching for truth—both temporal and eternal.
These readings call us to be wise in our search for eternal life. Eternal life is the destiny for which God created us. God gives us all the other things in our lives to assist us in achieving His end for us. Let us learn to use these things as God intends them to be used. Let us not be discouraged when we don’t see the progress toward wisdom and eternal life that we think should be. God’s timing is not our own. God never delays. God is always on time.
The Mass readings can be found here:
Scripture Readings for 11/08/2020
The blog post can be found here:
Blog Post for 11/08/2020
We may desire eternal life; we may even ask Jesus, as the rich young man did, what we need to do to possess eternal life; and we may press Jesus for something more that just following the formula. However, we may not like the answer that must leave all behind that inhibits our following Jesus without reservation—in short that we must become like Jesus. And this is extremely difficult unless we acknowledge that we are powerless to do this on our own and request that Jesus empower us with His Spirit to be able to live that kind of life.
The Mass readings can be found here:
Scripture Readings for 11/01/2020
The blog post can be found here:
Blog Post for 11/01/2020
Moses gave us the ten commandments that he received from God. The first three speak of having a right relationship with God, the other seven of having a right relationship with others. Jesus summarizes these two with the two great commandments of loving God and loving others; and He took verses from the Torah to do this summary.
Let us remember those two verses to live out the Spirit of the Law rather than being slaves to the letter of the Law as the Pharisees were. What Jesus calls us to is not the following of a set of instructions as we would to assemble a boxed shelf that we bought at a store. He calls us to a way of life
The Mass readings can be found here:
Scripture Readings for 10/25/2020
The blog post can be found here:
Blog Post for 10/25/2020
Perhaps we are amazed at God’s choices to achieve His plan. Sometimes He chooses a Cyrus, who unlike Pharaoh, was not only willing to allow God’s chosen people to return the land God had given them but also assisted them in the process of rebuilding. Other times He chooses someone like Caesar, who though he was a harsh taskmaster, created an empire in which Jesus’ disciples could preach the gospel to most of the known world. Why, He even chooses us despite our sinfulness and powerlessness.
This requires what Paul speaks of in the second reading—faith, hope, and love: faith that God is who He says He is and knows what He is doing; hope, positive expectation that God will prevail in our best long-term interests; and love of God, ourselves, and others—even those others God may choose as His instruments that we may not see the wisdom of God’s choice.
The Mass readings can be found here:
Scripture Readings for 10/18/2020
The blog post can be found here:
Blog Post for 10/18/2020
One can listen to God, hear His invitation, and maybe even feel honored to be asked; but we find the invitation an unwanted interruption of our chosen regular lives. We fail to recognize that we are chosen for a reason. We are part of God’s Plan A but force Him to go with Plan B. How sad for us that we miss the blessing He has in mind for us in order to satisfy some lesser selfish desire.
“[M]ake Yahweh your only joy and he will give you what your heart desires.” (Ps 37:4, JB) If we find our joy and completion in God, He will change our hearts to desire what he desires.
The Mass readings can be found here:
Scripture Readings for 10/11/2020
The blog post can be found here:
Blog Post for 10/11/2020
How do you feel about being a sharecropper for God? That is what God is offering in the gospel reading. If we accept His offer, we need to abide by His terms and conditions. Our rebellious natures may desire to renegotiate or to repudiate the terms. That will have a disastrous end for us.
Consider carefully what God is offering. He has prepared everything to enable us to succeed, and He is offering us a share of the reward. All He asks in return that we do our best in making for success and giving Him His share of the results and rewards.
The Mass readings can be found here:
Scripture Readings for 10/04/2020
The blog post can be found here:
Blog Post for 10/04/2020
Being busy for the LORD appears so holy—to ourselves and to others. However, we are not called to be busy; we are called to be obedient. This can be extremely difficult when we think that what the LORD asks of us is unfair, beneath us, unnecessary, or inconvenient.
God has a purpose for everything, even the most ridiculous sounding thing He asks us to do. Our true measure of holiness is our willingness to carry out what He asks us to do.
The Mass readings can be found here:
Scripture Readings for 09/27/2020
The blog post can be found here:
Blog Post for 09/27/2020
How ready are you to have the Kingdom of Heaven, the Kingdom of God, enter your life? Are you waiting attentively to be invited into the kingdom? When you are invited in, are you willing to work and be rewarded on the King’s terms?
How is your prayer life? Are you able to hear God’s voice? Are you brave enough to respond without hesitation? In return for your response, what do you expect, perhaps even demand, of God?
The Mass readings can be found here:
Scripture Readings for 09/20/2020
The blog post can be found here:
Blog Post for 09/20/2020
Jesus calls us to generosity in offering forgiveness. He offered forgiveness even from the cross. He tells us there are undesirable eternal consequences for not being generous in forgiving.
We may desire the rewards of a life of following Jesus, but following Jesus has a cost. To follow Him, we must lay down our lives, our desires, our pride, our anger, and anything else that gets in the way of following Him unconditionally; and this specifically includes unforgiveness. Carrying our cross is the only way to follow Jesus and hear the Father say at the end of our lives, “Well done, good and faithful servant”.
The Mass readings can be found here:
Scripture Readings for 09/13/2020
The blog post can be found here:
Blog Post for 09/13/2020
The distractions and noises of daily life attempt to drown out the gentle breeze of God’s voice (cf. 1 Kg 19:9-18, but if we put forth the effort we can. Then there are the excuses that come for ignoring what God has said. Obedience in not easy, especially when being obedient could bring discomfort or even danger. Thankfully, we have heroes and heroines in the scriptures who are encouraging examples.
In last week’s first reading we heard Jeremiah complain about being obedient to God in addressing the nation of Judah. Today’s first reading is God telling Ezekiel to go one-on-one with others.
The Mass readings can be found here:
Scripture Readings for 09/06/2020
The blog post can be found here:
Blog Post for 09/06/2020
My child, if you aspire to serve the Lord, prepare yourself for an ordeal {temptation, trial}. (Sir 2:1, NJB) Not very comforting, as Jeremiah and the other prophets learned. And Peter didn’t want this life for Jesus or himself. This happens to us too. We get excited about being called and assigned by Jesus; but when we learn what comes with our call and assignment, we are not so sure that this is the life for us.
The Mass readings can be found here:
Scripture Readings for 08/30/2020
The blog post can be found here:
Blog Post for 08/30/2020
If Jesus asked you, “Who do you say that I am?”, what answer would you give? Peter for once listened to the Holy Spirit and answered correctly. As a result, Jesus appointed him to be head of His Church. Could Jesus have as big a surprise for you?
And If Jesus appointed Peter and Peter’s successors to head His Church and promised them infallibility, who am I to question the teachings of the Church?
The Mass readings can be found here:
Scripture Readings for 08/23/2020
The blog post can be found here:
Blog Post for 08/23/2020
God desires to give us all we need in abundance. He does not hold back on us; however, He may seem to in order to test our faith in Him and His acceptance of us as worthy of His attention.
The Mass readings can be found here:
Scripture Readings for 08/16/2020
The blog post can be found here:
Blog Post for 08/16/2020
We all experience storms in our lives. Storms can cause a feeling of isolation and abandonment. Jesus, however, is with us always—even in the midst of the most ferocious storm. When the next storm enters your life, look for Him there.
The Mass readings can be found here:
Scripture Readings for 08/09/2020
The blog post can be found here:
Blog Post for 08/09/2020
All three readings speak of God’s unfathomable love for us and His provision for us even when we are in situations that appear bleak. All God asks is that we be obedient to His instruction. This sounds too simple and too unbelievable for our minds that prefer a complicated human solution to any problem we have.
The Mass readings can be found here:
Scripture Readings for 08/02/2020
The blog post can be found here:
Blog Post for 08/02/2020
Do we recognize the things of true value that we find in our lives? Do we pursue them beyond all else? This can be a difficult choice when so many other things vie for our time and attention. Making the right choices and giving our all to obtaining them is the way to true victory and reward.
The Mass readings can be found here:
Scripture Readings for 07/26/2020`
The blog post can be found here:
Blog Post for 07/26/2020
Often we say that we hope in the Lord; but when He chooses a way that is not ours or when He chooses to delay beyond our expectations, we lose hope and are perplexed. During these times, we must ask ourselves if we believe and hope in the God who is or in the god of our imagination.
The Mass readings can be found here:
Scripture Readings for 07/19/2020
The blog post can be found here:
Blog Post for 07/19/2020
Jesus has told us that He chose us and commissioned us to go out and to bear fruit. For that to happen the soil of our hearts must be prepared to receive and nourish the seed (the Word of God) that He plants there. For most of us, the soil of our hearts is a mixture of the four soils that Jesus speaks about in the parable of the sower. Is any of us prepared to do what is necessary and to allow Jesus to do what is necessary to prepare the soil?
The Mass readings can be found here:
Scripture Readings for 07/12/2020
The blog post can be found here:
Blog Post for 07/12/2020
Jesus tells us in the gospel reading, “Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart; and you will find rest for yourselves. For my yoke is easy, and my burden light.” The burden is attempting to achieve our salvation by ourselves (in the flesh) through being obedient to the Law. Paul tells “You are not in the flesh; on the contrary, you are in the spirit.” Isn’t time we found rest by yielding to the Spirit dwelling within our spirit?
The Mass readings can be found here:
Scripture Readings for 07/05/2020
The blog post can be found here:
Blog Post for 07/05/2020
Jesus tells us two things in the gospel: first, the cost of discipleship and the need to abandon all that gets in the way of our following Him; and second, the need to do what we do for Him for the right reasons. Paul puts it this way, “Whatever your task, work heartily, as serving the Lord and not men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward; you are serving the Lord Christ.” (Col 3:23–24, RSV2CE)
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The Mass readings can be found here:
Scripture Readings for 06/28/2020
The blog post can be found here:
Blog Post for 06/28/2020
Hearing and answering a call from God can be not only exciting but also fear-inducing. On the one hand, the prophet Isaiah was a willing prophet, on the other hand, Jeremiah and Jonah were not.
Jesus tells us that we can expect misunderstanding and persecution when we answer His call. Are you open to answering willingly and obediently?
The Mass readings can be found here:
Scripture Readings for 06/21/2020
The blog post can be found here:
Blog Post for 06/21/2020
Recent polls of those who describe themselves as Catholic reveal that only between 1/4 and 1/3 believe in the real presence of Jesus in the Eucharist. Like those who heard Jesus’ Eucharistic dissertation in John 6, they find it a hard saying. Where do you stand on this? Do you belive Jesus and what His Church teaches? Read these scriptures carefully to confirm or refute what you believe.
The Mass readings can be found here:
Scripture Readings for 06/14/2020
The blog post can be found here:
Blog Post for 06/14/2020
God is a Trinity—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The most learned theologans have puzzled over this truth since the beginnings of Christianity. Jesus speaks of His Father and the Holy Spirit in the gospels. The Acts of the Apostles and the New Testament letters frequently refer to the members of the Trinity, and the Old Testament points to the concept of the Trinity.
Even if we cannot fully understand, we can believe. When we are before the face of God, He will reveal the truth of the Trinity to us. In the meantime, we are called to exercise faith.
The Mass readings can be found here:
Scripture Readings for 06/07/2020
The blog post can be found here:
Blog Post for 06/07/2020
Are you ready for the Holy Spirit to enter into your life as fully as He did in the upper room that first Pentecost Sunday? Be sure you do when you say yes; because when He does come fully, your life might change as much as it did for those in the upper room. When choosing, look at the results in the lives of those who said yes. Their lives were better for the experience. Yours can be too.
The Mass readings can be found here:
Scripture Readings for 05/31/2020
The blog post can be found here:
Blog Post for 05/31/2020
If we want true power we need to turn to God for His power. That may mean that we feel as though God has abandoned us. He does this so that we have only Him to turn to. And His power comes to us through the Holy Spirit. Let us allow Jesus to abandon us as He abandoned the disciples so that He may send us His Holy Spirit to comfort, strengthen, and empower us.
The Mass readings can be found here:
Scripture Readings for 05/24/2020
The blog post can be found here:
Blog Post for 05/24/2020
Jesus has told us that if we loved Him, we would keep His commandments. How willing are we to listen to His commandments and keep them? He also told us that He wouldhttps://catholicbiblestudymadesimple.wordpress.com/2020/05/07/sixth-sunday-of-easter-may-17-2020/ send His Spirit to fill us. As Peter reminds us, both as a body and therefore as individuals, we are temples of the Holy Spirit. Do our lives, as lives of obedience to Jesus reflect this? If they did, we would find that our lives would be filled with all sorts of miracles—not always the big ones like Philip performed, but miracles none the less.
The Mass readings can be found here:
Scripture Readings for 05/17/2020
The blog post can be found here:
Blog Post for 05/17/20
How well do we know Jesus? We may know about Jesus, but how well do we know Him? He tells us that we know His Father as well as we know Him, because they are one. Our oneness with Jesus is lived out in His Church. We are there with others, and we need to learn how to get along with the others in the Church, because we are as close together as stones in a wall.
The Mass readings can be found here: Lectionary 52
The blog post can be found here: Blog Post for 05/10/20
We are very familiar with the parable of the good shepherd who searches for the lost sheep out in the pasture. In this gospel Jesus tells us that He is the Good Shepherd who leads His sheep out to the good pasture lands. For Him to do this the sheep must: (1) Recognize His voice; (2) Pay attention to hear His voice; and (3) Be obedient to His voice.
This may be a good time for us to take stock of ourselves as the Good Shepherd’s sheep. How well are we doing the three things that a good sheep will do?
The Mass readings can be found here: Mass Readings for 05/03/20
If Jesus doesn't meet our expectations, do we walk away from Him as the disciples on the road to Emmaus did? And if He joined us on our journey away from Him, would we listen to Him and ask Him to remain with us? More importantly, would we recognize Him when He revealed Himself to us?
Probably we are not much different from these two disciples or the others who had traveled with Jesus. They give us hope that Jesus is not done with us yet regardless of anything that we do.