A Vincentian reading of the Sunday readings

Jesus endured the cross and now sits at the right of the throne of God.  We will reign with him if we persevere with him in suffering and service. Even the disciples obsess about becoming great; they argue about who is the greatest.  And to preempt all discussion and...

Jesus teaches by word and deed that we cannot serve God and money.  Hence, to obsess about making money is to reject his teaching. The man who draws to Jesus seems to obsess about being saved.  For he runs up to him and quickly kneels down.  Of course, he also...

The wisdom of God made flesh dwells with us.  He is delighted to be with us.  But he wants, first of all, to delight us. The scribes and the Pharisees time and again test Jesus.  At best, they seek to connect with him.  At worse, they set a snare for his steps.  But...

Jesus is constitutive of the Christian community.  Do we say and live this as St. Vincent? Moises makes clear what truly matters.  Jesus does so too.  For the two of them, it is not about us.  Or the group that we make up, chosen and gifted so as to serve others. ...

Jesus burns with zeal for the house, for the kingdom, of God.  Needless to say, the disciples are to be as zealous as their Teacher. John and Joshua show that they are zealous.  John’s zeal is for those to whom Jesus has given the power to drive out demons.  And...

Jesus alone is Lord, the Most High, for there is no better and more lowly servant of all than he.  Hence, to mistake his greatness with that of the world is to be foolish before him. As it turns out, Jesus is right to ask his disciples to tell no one that he is the...

Jesus is the Christ, the Messiah, the Anointed.  To know and confess him so is to go beyond rumors; it is to live and die like him. There are rumors that Jesus is John the Baptist who is back to life.  Or is Elijah who is expected to come before the Day of the Lord...

Jesus opens our ears and makes loose the strings of our tongues.  He enables us to make gestures that heal and speak words that proclaim God’s kingdom. Amazing magic for the sake of a deaf and mute in a place where pagans live?  If this is what Jesus’ gestures make us...

Jesus shows us the new that one has yet to see or hear or think of.  To be his disciples, we have to make a fresh start. The Pharisees and scribes ask Jesus why his disciples do not follow the tradition of the elders.  It is because the disciples eat with hands that...