A Vincentian reading of the Sunday readings

Deny Themselves, Bear Their Own Cross, Follow Christ

Jesus is all things to all.  He leads those who live for others and deny themselves.  For they do not seek their own good, but the neighbor’s. Peter is blessed.  For in the first place, the Father, not flesh and blood, lets him know who Jesus is.  In the second place,...

All Things to All so as to Save All

Jesus is the Teacher who shows us by words and by works what it means to become all things to all for the sake of God’s kingdom.

Foreigners No Longer, But Citizens Rather

Jesus, our peace, makes one the Jews and those who are not Jews: the foreigners. He tears down, through the cross, the wall of hate that separates them.

Win With the Victorious Over the World

Jesus has overcome the world. That is why those who put their faith and trust in him cannot but win in the face of trials, woes, doubts.

Bother Those of Strict Observance

Bother Those of Strict Observance

Jesus shows us God who is rich in mercy.  He welcomes sinners and eats with them.  This does bother not a few folks. Maybe the Pharisees and the scribes think Jesus likes to bother them since they are the guardians of the law.  For he stands up to them when they tell...

Bother Those of Strict Observance

Followers of Jesus, Thinking, Wise

Jesus embodies what he teaches on being thoughtful and purposeful.  He asks all his followers to be so, and thus the success of the cross will be theirs. Great crowds go with Jesus on the way to Jerusalem (see Lk 9, 51; 13, 22).  He turns and tells them that to be his...

Bother Those of Strict Observance

Lowliness, Simplicity, Truth and Freedom

Jesus is the poorest of the poor on whom God looks with favor due to the simplicity, lowliness and awe of him that they show. Does it bother Jesus that his fellow guests, leading Pharisees, and maybe the host, too, watch him closely?  If he shows that it does, it may...

Bother Those of Strict Observance

Meal of Salvation, Meal of Judgment

Jesus is the meal to which we are all invited, so that we may not perish but have eternal life.  Do we come to it wearing the proper attire? To enter God’s kingdom, it is not enough to be in a meal with Jesus, once, twice or more.  He says so as he answers one who...

Bother Those of Strict Observance

Burn with Zeal for the Kingdom of God

Jesus cannot but burn with zeal for God’s kingdom.  For he has come to proclaim it, to bring it in, and to bring it about to the full. In many places, trees, houses and other things burn in fires.  We are sorry, of course, for the deaths, losses and harm that fires...

Bother Those of Strict Observance

Alert to the Dangers the World Poses

Jesus is the cry that seek to alert us of the risks that we run.  For we live in a world that fosters individualism and hoarding. Not a few of Jesus’ teachings, the paradoxes in particular, raise eyebrows and puzzle.  Through them, he holds those who hear him...

Bother Those of Strict Observance

Vanity of Vanities, All Is Vanity

Jesus is clear-headedness in person.  He brings to light the vanity, the emptiness, of the life of those who love and serve money. Jesus grants and does not grant what a man who feels disinherited asks him to do.  For, in the first place, the Teacher says  “no.”  He...

Bother Those of Strict Observance

Steadfast in their Prayers, and Trusting

Jesus is the reason why God does not hold back from those who are steadfast in their prayers the blessings they ask for with trust. The teaching today is that we should be steadfast in our prayers.  And it seems that what is good about being steadfast is that we annoy...

Bother Those of Strict Observance

Host to Jesus, the Word Made Flesh

Jesus is God’s most tender call to us humans.  He is at the same time the warmest human host to God that waits at the door to be let in. On the way to Jerusalem, Jesus stops where Martha and Mary live.  The sisters, not like those in Samaria, play host to him. Maybe...

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