Gospel Reflection

Today’s Gospel is one of those passages where Jesus speaks with unusual sharpness. His words are directed toward the Pharisees and the lawyers, but they are not preserved in Scripture simply so that we can criticize people who lived two thousand years ago. They are meant to examine us. Jesus is not condemning religious discipline … Read more

Today’s Gospel takes place around a table. A Pharisee invites Jesus to dine with him, and Jesus accepts. Yet almost immediately, tension enters the meal. The Pharisee is surprised that Jesus does not perform the customary washing before eating. What follows is much more than a discussion about ritual cleanliness. Jesus turns the moment into … Read more

Today’s Gospel confronts a temptation that is still very much alive in the human heart: the desire to keep asking God for one more sign before we finally believe, change, or surrender ourselves to Him. The crowds around Jesus were growing, but Jesus knew that numbers did not necessarily mean faith. Some people were following … Read more

Today’s Gospel presents us with one of Jesus’ most striking images of the Kingdom of Heaven: a wedding feast prepared by a king for his son. Everything is ready. The table has been set. The invitation has gone out. Nothing remains except for the invited guests to come. And yet, astonishingly, many refuse. Some are … Read more

Today’s Gospel is only a few verses long, yet Jesus gives us a teaching that reaches to the very heart of Christian discipleship. As Jesus is speaking, a woman in the crowd is so moved by Him that she cries out, “Blessed is the womb that bore you, and the breasts that you sucked!” It … Read more