October 2011

Today’s Gospel tells us that authorities – including religious authorities – must be respected but also challenged when their practice is out of line with their teaching. Jesus particularly warns religious leaders that being conscientious and meticulous about trivial things may prevent them from allowing God’s love to flow out of their lives in gracious […]

Throughout St. Matthew’s Gospel, one of the subplots is the relationship between Jesus and the Pharisees, who were influential teachers of the tradition of Moses; but as we know, the Pharisees’ behavior did not match their rhetoric and they saw Jesus as a serious threat to their authority. Once again today we are told how

The Pharisees understood life and faith as literal adherence to the Law; by this criterion they judged others, judged themselves, and judge Jesus. If they could show that He was breaking or ignoring the Law, they could declare Him a blasphemer, unrighteous, someone who was a danger to the people of Israel. Buth they struggled

Today’s Gospel has a message for all of us, and the message is that we need to invest more of our time in our family life. The Gospel story shows us Jesus at the age of 12. That was the age that every Jewish boy was expected to make his bar mitzvah and so become

The vineyard is a favorite image of God’s people in both the Old and New Testaments. It brings out the closeness of the Lord to His people, the way He is prepared to work with them to produce fruit, his long-term investment in their success. But things can go wrong. If the vineyard is not