A Vincentian reading of the Sunday readings

Fill Up All Those Who Are Hungry

Jesus, like his Father, is attentive to our needs.  He does not fail to fill up those of us who hunger for what we lack. Those who were dying of hunger in the desert did not have to return to Egypt to fill up themselves.  For the one who had brought them out of...

Attend to Others according to Their Needs

Jesus is David’s just shoot and his name is “The-Lord-our-justice.”  As King and Messiah, then, he cannot but attend to all the people with justice and mercy.  Through him, we can go near the Father in one Spirit. To attend to his sent ones who now come back from...

Sent Ones, Men and Women, of Jesus

As the Father sends him, so Jesus sends his disciples.  These sent ones carry out what their Teacher tells them to do.  By the sheer grace and will of God through Christ, the apostles preach, cast out many demons, and heal the sick. For they do not do so on their own;...

Break the Mold with the Prophet Jesus

Jesus, since he is weak, is strong. Those who follow him break the mold, too, as they affirm, “When we are weak, then we are strong.” The folks of Jesus’ hometown do not doubt that he is a wise teacher who does mighty works. Yet there is one thing about him that...
Joyful to See the Lord in Their Midst

Joyful to See the Lord in Their Midst

The risen Christ stands in the midst of his disciples and wishes them peace.  He shows them his hands and his side.  And they turn joyful. The disciples are not at all joyful after the death of Jesus.  They are even broken and hopeless. For not only do they miss their...

Joyful to See the Lord in Their Midst

Attest that Jesus Is among the Living

Jesus has risen and has appeared to his disciples.  He chooses them as witnesses who will attest that he is alive. The disciples have not seen Jesus rise from the dead. At first, Mary Magdalen can only attest that she has seen the stone removed from the tomb. And for...

Joyful to See the Lord in Their Midst

Enlighten and Glorify Men and Women

Jesus has come to enlighten the Gentiles and to give glory to Israel (Lk 2, 32).  Hence, he cannot but draw all to himself. Scholars say that the accounts of Matthew, Mark and Luke show Jesus as the Suffering Servant. In John, on the other hand, Jesus is kingly and...

Joyful to See the Lord in Their Midst

Hallow, Honor the Temple of the Lord

Jesus is the final temple that we must hallow.  For through him, God is in the midst of the people in the best way that no one can surpass. Zeal for God’s house gets the better of Jesus.  That is why he is mad at the merchants and money changers in the temple area. ...

Joyful to See the Lord in Their Midst

Walk before the Lord with Faith

Jesus gives us a model to follow so that we may do what he does.  We only need to walk with him to learn to walk before the Lord. One can guess that Abraham cannot help to walk sometimes with nearby peoples.  It would be odd, then, if he does not know that they make...

Joyful to See the Lord in Their Midst

Moments of Trial and Fall, Triumph and Grace

Jesus is the Good News for all the moments of joy, light, sorrow and glory.  Are we his followers such Good News? Matthew’s account of the temptation of Jesus has eleven verses; Luke’s, thirteen.  But there are just two in Mark's.  The two show that Jesus spends...

Joyful to See the Lord in Their Midst

Hands Outstretched to the Quarantined

Jesus stretches out his hand to the quarantined, marginalized, excluded, unclean.  His followers are to stretch out their hands to them, too. The law asks quarantine for those with leprosy, though this may be no more than a skin eruption.  And others should not touch...

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