Jesus teaches by word and deed that we cannot serve God and money. Hence, to obsess about making money is to reject...
A Vincentian reading of the Sunday readings
Delight Others, and Not Ourselves
The wisdom of God made flesh dwells with us. He is delighted to be with us. But he wants, first of all, to delight...
Constitutive, Indispensable, Crucial
Jesus is constitutive of the Christian community. Do we say and live this as St. Vincent? Moises makes clear what...
Prayer, mission, evangelization
A man of prayer, Jesus is capable of everything, of living the hard truth even that there is no glorification without crucifixion. Jesus is devoted to prayer. He is, according to St. Vincent de Paul, “a man of the greatest prayer” (SV.FR IX:415). Or, as Father Robert...
Near to us is the saving Word of God
Jesus is near us so that he may save us who cry out to him and call on his name. No one is more near to us than Jesus, the Word made flesh and dwelling among us. He is “God-with-us.” He is near us in many ways. He is within our reach in the least of his brothers and...
Master and Teacher thrice holy
Jesus is our Teacher and Master, which also means we must learn to do everything that he commands and teaches by words and works, and to proclaim his Gospel. Setting aside his experience and knowledge as a fisherman, Simon believes in the words of the carpenter from...
Prophet also means rejected
Jesus states he is a prophet with the same destiny as the other prophets rejected by their own people. He explains that he is God’s good and amazing Word to the poor. And right away he is revealed as a prophet. That is because, notwithstanding their initial expression...
Evangelize the poor with certainty
Jesus has been sent to evangelize the poor. God anointed him with the Spirit for this mission. But to evangelize is not something “spiritual” in the sense of “unreal” or “useless” even. To evangelize is not just to announce the Gospel by word and in an abstract...
New undoubtedly and completely
Changing water into wine, Jesus is manifested as the Author and Perfecter of the new thing prophesied in Is 43, 19: “See, I am doing something new.” Jesus makes use of “six stone water jars … for Jewish ceremonial washings.” Could this be another way of saying that he...
Solidarity with Jesus and our neighbor
By being in solidarity with us, Jesus equips us for solidarity that will lead us to accept those we find difficult to accept. All the people come to John to be baptized. In solidarity with them, Jesus, without knowing any sin, submits humbly and prayerfully to the...
Seek earnestly the light of the nations
God reveals himself to the Gentiles who seek him with all their heart. He offers them the opportunity to be “coheirs, members of the same body, and copartners in the promise in Christ Jesus through the Gospel.” The Magi, wise for knowing how to recognize humbly that...
Gaze that brings life and makes holy
God’s gaze is on the lowly. He wants to turn slaves into adopted children. But how do those favored with God’s glance prove themselves? Possessing a penetrating gaze, God bypasses someone with an impressive appearance. He takes from the pasture the youngest, the last,...
