“Repay to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God what belongs to God” (Mt. 22: 21). As we heard in last week’s Gospel, when some of the religious leaders try to trap Jesus with a question about whether or not to pay the Roman taxes, Jesus reminds his listeners that everything belongs to God; after all, he is the creator of the universe and gives us all that we have. We read in the Bible that, after God had created the heavens and the earth, he planted a garden […]
Welcome to my annotated commentary on Sunday’s readings. The purpose of my commentary is to give you the background for each reading, a little better understanding of its message and the message that all of the Sunday readings together provide us. I hope you find it helpful!
Exodus 22:20 – 26
This Sunday, we will hear from the Book of Exodus. Although it is just a small part of a long expansion of the Decalogue (cf. 20:1-17 and 21:1 – 23:33 and finally the mention of Moses writing down these laws in […]
“Go, make disciples of all nations…teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you” (Mt 28:19). After Jesus overcame death by his Resurrection, he did not just return to heaven to sit at the right of the Father. Before ascending to the Father, he commissioned those who had come to believe in him to make disciples, that is, others who would come to believe in the one, true God and his son, Jesus, who came to save us. That is the ongoing mission of the Church; we are the […]
OPENING PRAYER: Isaiah 24
Isaiah 45:1, 4 – 6
This Sunday, we will again hear from the Book of the Prophet Isaiah. Since it is from chapter 45, we know that it is from Deutero-Isaiah. We recall that Deutero-Isaiah prophesied 587 – 539BC, during the Babylonian exile. During this time, the political scene in the Ancient Near East changed dramatically as a result of the rise of Cyrus II (the Great). Until he came into power in 559BC, the great powers controlling the Ancient Near East were usually Semites, originally of the […]
Welcome to my annotated commentary on Sunday’s readings. The purpose of my commentary is to give you the background for each reading, a little better understanding of its message and the message that all of the Sunday readings together provide us. I hope you find it helpful!
Isaiah 25:6-10a
This Sunday, we will again hear from the Book of the Prophet Isaiah. Since it is from chapter 25, it would be understandable if you were to conclude that it is from Isaiah himself. There is lively debate among scripture scholars, however, as […]
Welcome to my annotated commentary on Sunday’s readings. The purpose of my commentary is to give you the background for each reading, a little better understanding of its message and the message that all of the Sunday readings together provide us. I hope you find it helpful!
Isaiah 5:1 – 7
This Sunday, we will hear from the Book of the Prophet Isaiah. Since it is from chapter 5, we know that it is from Isaiah himself. The prophet Isaiah prophesied from around 742 until 686BC, from the reign of King Azariah, […]
Ezekiel 18:25-28
This Sunday, we will hear from the Book of the Prophet Ezekiel. Let’s remember the “who, what, when, where and why” of this book. You will notice that the reading picks up from last Sunday’s Gospel issue of fairness. It will also provide us with a perfect introduction to this Sunday’s Gospel. The chapter begins, however, with a very interesting recanting of what we see attributed to God in the Decalogue. Let’s look at 18:1-4 and compare that with Ex 20:5 and Dt 5:9. To make his point, the […]
Isaiah 55:6 – 9
This Sunday, we will hear from the Book of the Prophet Isaiah. Seeing that it is taken from chapter 55, we know that it is part of Deutero-Isaiah, dealing with Israel during its Babylonian exile. It is at the very end of the Babylonian captivity and we should read the opening verses of the chapter since they speak in anticipation of how the Persians would allow the exiles to return. The Book of Ezra opens with the decree of Cyrus that called the exiles to return to […]
“I received from the Lord what I also handed on to you” (1 Cor. 11:23)
Our school has opened and our children have returned! I’m so happy to see them back and I know they’re happy to be back as well; I suspect many of their parents are happy to have them out of the house at last. Many other parish activities are resuming, as well, although in new and different ways in the face of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. We are working very hard to make sure that everyone remains […]
