Scripture Reflections for the Twenty-sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time

"I was once talking with a priest during confession, talking about things I had done that were bothering me and had offended God – things I hated that I kept..."

“But to talk of sin is to identify a further depth to wrong and to evil, based on an explicit involvement with God and a turning away from him.”

"We should not underestimate the influence that Christ and the Christian faith has had on the world and on the lives of even those who are not Christians. One of..."

“In cutting out the causes of sin, we shouldn’t start with other people – we should start with ourselves.”

“inasmuch as we try to exclude others unfairly from Christ, we exclude ourselves. Thankfully, this is not the last word because, although we are often exclusionary, God is not.”

"I had the good fortune to study Scripture with Rabbi Asher Finkel. What made his lectures intriguing was that his specialty was the New Testament, specifically the teachings of Jesus...."

"There is a lot of work to do. The kingdom of God needs more spirit-filled men and women. Though it may seem that the kingdom of God is suffering more..."

"In today’s extract from St Mark’s Gospel John, one of the inner circle of Jesus’ disciples, complains about the success of an unauthorized person who has been driving out demons..."

"The Catechism of the Catholic Church says that we are baptized into Christ’s prophethood, but if you cornered any typical Catholic coming out of mass on a Sunday morning, they..."

“When the grace of our baptism is renewed, at Mass, in confession, or by any growth in charity, we drown away the enemy of God in us.”

“The Word which is sown in the minds and hearts of man may be found both in individuals and in the rites and customs of different peoples. It is brought by the Spirit into unity of faith in Baptism.It does not stop there.”

"Friends, let us rejoice whenever the grace of God is on display. The point of the sacraments is so that God’s grace may flood the world, but the Lord can..."

"Our first reading from the Book of Numbers and the Gospel reading from Mark both highlight a very interesting spiritual predicament, one that is presented numerous times throughout the Bible...."

"Jesus certainly manages to get our attention in this week’s Gospel. Don’t literalize his language, but feel its power. Are you willing to eliminate certain things from your life–ways of..."

"The structures of the Catholic religion are deeply rooted in the tradition and flow, ultimately, from the will of God. They are the ordinary channels through which the divine grace..."