A Vincentian reading of the Sunday readings

Set Free, out of Love, the Oppressed

Christ is risen!  This goes to show that to go from here to there to preach the Good News to the poor, to cure the sick and to set free the oppressed, to love, is to please God. God anoints Jesus with the power of the Holy Spirit. And he, then, goes about to do good...

Deny, Slap, Beat, Crucify Jesus

Jesus, in life and in death, is one with those who are poor, who have no power, whom others cast out. Hence, we cannot but deny him if we turn our backs on them. We read that many give false witness against Jesus before the Sanhedrin but that they do not agree in what...

Bear Much Fruit Means Die with Christ

Jesus loves others to the end, to being lifted up on the cross. His death proves true that the grain of wheat that dies cannot but bear much fruit. Those who die with him bear much fruit also.  Most of us, if not all, want to bear much fruit, to succeed as best as we...

Lift up the Son of Man on the Cross

Those in power lift up Jesus on the wood of the cross.  In letting them do so, he proves true his word that God so loves the world that he gives his only Son, so that those who believe in him may have eternal life.  The Lord tells Moses to lift up on a pole a serpent...
Foolish and Slow to Believe, and Afraid

Fullness par excellence and unequaled

In Jesus dwells all the fullness; those who treat the helpless with mercy are surely partakers of his fullness. “And who is my neighbor?” asks a scholar of the law who wants to justify himself.  He is also one of those experts who like to test Jesus.  They think they...

Foolish and Slow to Believe, and Afraid

Credible witnesses of the Gospel

Jesus has the credible words of eternal life.  We believe in him.  Are we credible? Those who hear Jesus proclaim the Good News are amazed at his credible words of grace.  He teaches with authority. He wants us to be credible also.  The phrase “in pairs” indicates...

Foolish and Slow to Believe, and Afraid

Disciples to the bitter end

Jesus is the good Teacher.  He invites us to be his disciples. Jesus is resolutely determined to journey to Jerusalem with his disciples.  There, he will suffer greatly and die on the cross.  The specter of a violent death does not make him turn back. Much less does...

Foolish and Slow to Believe, and Afraid

Hidden still is Jesus’ messiahship

Jesus is God’s Christ.  His being so remains hidden, however, from those who lack compassion. Jesus backtracks.  He keeps hidden once again his being the Messiah no sooner than he has revealed it through Peter’s confession of faith.  The Teacher directs his disciples...

Foolish and Slow to Believe, and Afraid

Shocking without any doubt

Jesus, the embodiment of God’s shocking forgiveness, provides us with the opportunity to love with abandon. It is shocking to Simon the Pharisee that his guest lets a notorious sinful woman approach him.  He doubts, therefore, that Jesus is a prophet. Simon and the...

Foolish and Slow to Believe, and Afraid

Troubled unto a troubling death

Human misery leaves Jesus troubled, and he seeks that other people’s miseries leave us likewise troubled. The disciples and a large crowd accompany Jesus to Nain.  A large crowd from Nain is with a widow at her only son’s funeral procession.  The stage is set for a...

Foolish and Slow to Believe, and Afraid

Surprises and more surprises

Jesus does not cease to surprise.  He uses surprises to teach us everything, through the Holy Spirit, and to guide us to all truth. What a surprise of surprises surely for the disciples to see their Teacher alive after his crucifixion and burial!  His entry into the...

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