A Vincentian reading of the Sunday readings

Teachers and Baptizers of All Nations

Jesus has been given all power in heaven and on earth. So, he wants us to be teachers and baptizers of all nations in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.  As they speak of the three persons in one God, Christian teachers and thinkers use...

Advocate, Teach, Remind and Lead

Jesus sends us the Holy Spirit from the Father. This Spirit of truth is upon us to advocate for us who are weak but seek to fulfill our mission. Jesus knows that his disciples need an Advocate to speak up for them and defend them. After all, they show time and again...

Majesty that Jesus Brings forth

Jesus has gone up to heaven and now sits at the right hand of the Majesty on high as Lord.  He wants us to be as fully human and whole as he is.  On the Lord’s going up to heaven, we read that “to go up” means “to go down.” This matches another text that says Jesus...

Hand over the Body and Shed the Blood

Jesus gives us the greatest proof of love one can give. For he deigns to hand over his body and shed his blood out of love for us.  I can give away all I own to help the poor or even hand over my body to burn. Still, this does not always mean I love; I could do it for...
Ideals, Facts, Utopia, Reality

Fill Our Life with Jesus Christ

Jesus is the bread of life.  Those whose life is full of him have their fill.  To go to him and to believe in him is to hunger and thirst no more. To fill their life with Jesus Christ is one of the things that missionaries are to remember (SV.EN:276). And all those,...

Ideals, Facts, Utopia, Reality

See and Hear the Word Made Flesh

Jesus is the Word made flesh and he is in our midst.  Those who do not fail to see and hear him, and do what he says, turn into relatives of his. It looks like Jesus does not find it hard to see and hear folks tell him, “Your mother and brother are out there and want...

Ideals, Facts, Utopia, Reality

Homes in the Kingdom of Heaven

Jesus is like us in all things but sin.  He is not a stranger to the joys, sorrows, light and glory that our homes know. They say that tough times bring out the best and the worst in us and, of course, in our homes.  In the face of crises and uncertainties, some folks...

Ideals, Facts, Utopia, Reality

Go and See the Child Lying in the Manger

Jesus is little and poor.  We are to go and see and live his being little and poor, so that we may be clean and free of pride and greed that spell ruin.  As the shepherds get the good news about the Savior’s birth, great fear takes hold of them. For a great and...

Ideals, Facts, Utopia, Reality

Favors, Blessings, Graces from God

Jesus, the one anointed with the Holy Spirit and sent by the Father, brings the Good News to the poor.  He proclaims the era of favors from heaven. The angel Gabriel comes to Mary. As he greets her, he does not say the name of the virgin betrothed to Joseph. Rather,...

Ideals, Facts, Utopia, Reality

Recognize Jesus Who Is in Our Midst

Jesus is in in our midst. Do we Christians get to recognize him? Do we give witness to him by the way we are, live and act?  Priests, Levites and Pharisees grill John as if they were in court. And he does not hesitate to recognize simply that he is not the Messiah nor...

Ideals, Facts, Utopia, Reality

Go out of the Old World of Old Men

Jesus sees fit to go out of the bosom of the Father to announce the Good News to the poor and to bring in the new heavens and the new earth.  It seems that John, like Jeremiah, has the Lord’s word in his heart as a fire one cannot put out. It makes the son of...

Ideals, Facts, Utopia, Reality

Tasks for the Servants of Jesus

Jesus has chosen and brought us to his house.  And he has assigned us tasks that we have to carry out as we wait for him to come back. There are not a few of us who do not do not fulfill our assigned tasks.  Is this due to our not being of those who are wise,...