A Vincentian reading of the Sunday readings

Sap of Life, Strength and Fruitfulness

Jesus is the true vine.  He gives the branches that remain in him the sap that gives them life and strength and makes them bear plenty of fruit. Jesus uses the allegory of the vine and the branches. He does so since he wants to make clear how his disciples should...

Ruler and Savior, Lord and Messiah, Good Shepherd

Jesus is Ruler and Savior, Lord and Messiah.  Yet he lords over no one; he serves and is the Good Shepherd who gives his life for the sheep. A ruler among Jesus’ own should not at all be like a ruler among the Gentiles. The latter lords it over others. The former, on...

Catch the Good News of Jesus Christ

The one who has risen is the same Jesus of Nazareth that the disciples have known, loved and followed on the roads of Galilee.  To be his witness means to see to it that other folks catch the Good News.  Those who make up a group can easily catch each other’s fears or...

Read the Signs of Jesus in Our Midst

Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God.  To believe in him means to know how to read, to grasp, his many signs in our midst.  We read, as we come to the end of today’s gospel, “Jesus did many other signs.”  So then, we can take it that his rising from the dead is one of...
Advocate, Teach, Remind and Lead

Brother Especially to the Outcasts

Shepherd and King, Jesus leads us and saves us.  He is a brother to all, especially to those who are poor.  He wants us to be brothers and sisters to all as he is. Our Leader and Savior is not ashamed to call us brothers and sisters.  This, of course, means that he is...

Advocate, Teach, Remind and Lead

Look ahead to the Lord’s Joy and Taste It

Jesus will come back in glory to take to heaven those who are his own.  They love like him as they look ahead to his coming.  They thus get a taste of heaven’s joy.  We have to look ahead to our Savior Jesus Christ’s coming back in glory. The liturgy we hold today...

Advocate, Teach, Remind and Lead

Fire up Our Whole Selves with Love

Jesus makes known by words and deeds that we cannot love God without loving our neighbor.  We Christians seek to fire up ourselves with love. The Church asks us today to keep watch. For we do not know the day or the hour when the Son of Man will come back. And to keep...

Advocate, Teach, Remind and Lead

Slaves in the Same Way as Jesus

Jesus takes the form a slave and becomes like us.  We who seek to follow him are to become lowly slaves in the same way that he is.   For us who try to be and live as Jesus, to be first means to be slaves (Mk 10, 43-45). And today’s gospel teaches the same lesson. ...

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Sweat in Seeking the Other’s Good

Jesus shows us how to love in truth God and our neighbor.  Out of love for them, he has to sweat blood and give himself wholly. To strive and to sweat.  This is what love for God asks of us who are of the Vincentian Family (SV.EN XI:32).  That is to say, it is not...

Advocate, Teach, Remind and Lead

Reflect the Creator and Owner of All

Jesus is the image of the God whom no one has ever seen.  Hence, he cannot but reflect God who is merciful, kind, and faithful. No doubt, we Christians want to reflect Jesus.  And we believe, of course, that to reflect him means to reflect also the very God whose...

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Dare the Wise and Learned to Be Truthful

Jesus is the sign of contradiction.  He brings to light what we harbor in our hearts.  He cannot but dare us to be truthful. Jesus does not fail to dare the wise and the learned to choose the good that they learn and receive.  That is to say, he asks them to act as...

Advocate, Teach, Remind and Lead

Doubt the Quick “Yes” that We Say

Jesus is the firstborn from among those who do what is true and come to the light, so that there is no doubt that their works are just. No doubt, we have to love in deed and truth.  The second son in the parable says “yes,” but he does not do what the father asks.  No...