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...
Homage to the King of the Jews and of All Nations

Table to Which Jesus Invites us

Jesus gives us his flesh to eat and his blood to drink.  To sit down at his table means to be one with him and with others. Jesus tells the Jews, that is to say, the Jewish religious authorities, that the bread he will give is his flesh.  This gives rise to a quarrel...

Homage to the King of the Jews and of All Nations

Savor the Love that God Has for Us

Jesus shows the depth of God’s love to the end.  To savor such love is to know the One who creates us and is with us and makes us breathe. Those who cherish the law, the Torah, savor it, for they find it to be sweeter than honey.  So, Jesus who fulfills the law and...

Homage to the King of the Jews and of All Nations

Breath that Creates, Gives Life and Renews

Jesus, the Good Shepherd, has come so that his followers, his sheep, may have life and have it to the full.  He passes on to them his breath. In the Acts of the Apostles, fifty days separate Pentecost from Easter.  But that is not so in John’s Gospel that we hear or...

Homage to the King of the Jews and of All Nations

Emmanuel, That Is to Say, God-with-Us

Jesus, the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end, is Emmanuel, God-with-us.  He is with us always, until the end. The first chapter of the Gospel of Matthew proclaims that Jesus is Emmanuel, God-with-us.  And the last chapter narrates...

Homage to the King of the Jews and of All Nations

Defend Those Who Are Poor and Helpless

Jesus lives.  That is why they see him and live those who believe in him, and love him.  The Spirit of truth does not fail to defend them. Jesus takes leave of his disciples.  For comes the hour for him to give his body up and to shed his blood.  Hence, they are sad...

Homage to the King of the Jews and of All Nations

Splendor of Christ on the Cross

Hanging on the cross, Jesus is clothed with the splendor of self-emptying love.  He thus is the source of blessings. Jesus was deeply troubled as he told his disciples that one of them would betray him.  This and the thought that he would soon suffer and die must have...

Homage to the King of the Jews and of All Nations

Grasp What Jesus Is, What He Says and Does

Jesus who is close to the Father’s heart makes him known to us.  It is crucial that we grasp what Jesus is, what he says and does. Those to whom Jesus speaks do not grasp what he teaches by way of a figure of speech.  And they are not the disciples but the Pharisees. ...

Homage to the King of the Jews and of All Nations

Revive the Faith of The Faltering

Jesus feeds us with his word and his body and blood.  He makes us live and seeks to revive the faith of those who falter.  For sure, Jesus did revive the hopes of those who longed to see their homeland free from the rule of Rome.  If he did not do so, the crowds would...

Homage to the King of the Jews and of All Nations

Send Jesus, Send the Disciples

Jesus is God’s Sent One to announce the Good News to the poor.  And the Sent One, in turn, does not hesitate to send his disciples. Jesus tells his disciples that for him to send them is to give them a share in his own mission.  For he says to them, “As the Father has...

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