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...

Dying to live forever

Palm Sunday (B), March 29, 2015 – Mk 11, 1-10 or Jn 12, 12-16; Is 50, 4-7; Phil 2, 6-11; Mk 14, 1 – 15, 47 He humbled himself, becoming obedient to death (Phil 2, 8) Jesus does not come down from the cross to save himself. He thus opens for us the way of salvation....

Drawing power

Fifth Sunday of Lent (B), March 22, 2015 – Jer 31, 31-34; Heb 5, 7-9; Jn 12, 20-33 He learned obedience from what he suffered (Heb 5, 8) Lifted up from the earth, Jesus seals a new pact. The Lord promises a new covenant. It will not be like that of Sinai, which was...

Falling back and springing forward

Fourth Sunday of Lent (B), March 15, 2015 – 2 Chon 36, 14-16. 19-23; Eph 2, 4-10; Jn 3, 14-21 By grace you have been saved through faith (Eph 2, 8) Jesus crucified bears out that where sin increases, grace overflows all the more. Salvation history is, in summary, the...

He nails it

Third Sunday of Lent (B), March 8, 2015 – Ex 20, 1-17; 1 Cor 1, 22-25; Jn 2, 13-25 Jews demand signs and Greeks look for wisdom (1 Cor 1, 22) Jesus is doing something new that is already perceivable. We must fix our gaze on it, no longer remembering the events of the...

Nothing but the full truth

Second Sunday of Lent (B), March 1, 2015 – Gen 22, 1-2. 9a. 10-13. 15-18; Rom 8, 31b-34; Mk 9, 2-10 He handed him over for us all (Rom 8, 32) Jesus is the fullness of revelation. He transforms into his glorious image the hearers and doers of his word, willing even to...

The lure of the desert

First Sunday of Lent (B), February 22, 2015 – Gen 9, 8-15; 1 Pt 3, 18-22; Mk 1, 12-15 An appeal to God for a clear conscience (1 Pt 3, 21) Driven into the desert by the same Spirit that descended on him at the Jordan, Jesus is revealed as the leader of the new exodus....

Blessed curse

Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time (B), February 15, 2015 – Lev 13, 1-2. 45-46; 1 Cor 10, 31 – 11, 1; Mk 1, 40-45 Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ (1 Cor 11, 1) Jesus bears our infirmities and endures our sufferings. His true followers follow his example. A leper...

All eyes and ears

To set before you an ideal (1 Cor 7, 35) Jesus is the great prophet God raised up from among us at the coming of the time of fulfillment. He teaches with God’s authority. God acknowledges that we are right, those of us who do not want to die listening to his words...

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