Scripture Reflections for the Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time

"Grace shakes us to the foundations, provoking in us a keen awareness of our own sinfulness, and offering us the liberating power of the forgiveness of our sins. Once transformed..."

“Jesus knew where to find the disciples and the crowd knew where to find Jesus. Where does God find us? And when do we seek Jesus? Never discount ordinary time!”

“In those times where you’ve seen God at work, or you’ve received blessings or experienced a change in yourself – be thankful”

“I could choose to feel helpless by what I have witnessed. Yet my experience of mission and my experiences each day in new relationships with people I meet, have taught me the value of “building bridges””

“They are “just fisherman”, but Jesus knows their personalities, their strengths, and their natural abilities – and He knows that they are the perfect ones for His Mission”

"Those experts who are concerned to trace direct relationships between the Gospels – that of Saint John as also all of the synoptics – whilst they might find echoes of..."

“Thank God for the Gospels not being just simple accounts of what Jesus said and did; that they contain such puzzles and even contradictions is to their enrichment. The ‘Good News’ is all the more powerful and compelling — and far from simple!”

“In the Gospel story, Simon Peter wants to be left alone, but he is in a crowd—the crowd of sinners. He, and we, can be rescued from these crowds by getting into the ‘right’ crowd.”

“how different might our spiritual journey be if we got used to the idea of discerning before responding”

"This week’s reading from the Gospel of Luke shows us that our encounter with Christ is an invasion of grace and that we must be ready to welcome that grace..."

"The Bible rather consistently lays out three ways walked by the man or woman of holiness: finding the center, knowing you’re a sinner, and realizing your life is not about..."

“We, too, feel our unworthiness and need of mercy in God’s presence, and also our responsibility to spread the Good News of mercy to all people”

“Jesus’ mission is our mission—with one ENORMOUS difference: our mission is to LIVE OUT the Good News of God’s saving love and truth WHERE WE ARE in our ordinary daily lives”

“Discipleship should be understood as faith in action, and faith as the acceptance of prior forgiveness”

“In Luke, Peter asks Jesus to leave him because he is a sinful man. In Corinthians, Paul declares that he barely deserves to be called an apostle. In the end, both accepted the call to apostleship. We have to hold onto the idea that good will overcome evil; that Christ is victorious over sin.”

“For even if it has the certainty a glorious conclusion, and a joyful path, the road of discipleship is nonetheless tough, and sometimes dangerous. Though it gives more than it asks, it is nonetheless demanding.”

“But the call of the holy God does not conform to what we expect. The sinner is not banished, just purged for action. Unworthiness cannot be used as an excuse to keep to safe old ways.”

“Far from departing from Simon the sinner, the Son of God has come among us sinners to raise us above our creaturely limitations, to overcome our sinfulness and enable us to share in God’s own life and glory”

"There is a wonderful parallel between our first reading and the Gospel this week. The first reading is taken from the sixth chapter of the book of the prophet Isaiah,..."