The Most Radical Message in Human History (7th Sunday - Cycle C)

In today's Gospel passage, Jesus gives us this command: “Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful” (Luke 6:36). His words might strike us as a tall order. How could we possibly even approximate an attribute of God?

The Second Reading for this Sunday points toward the answer. We are to bear the image of Christ in our being. The more we are rooted in Christ, the more we allow the grace of God to fill us, the more God's attributes will shine out from us. To be like God, we must conform ourselves to Christ, who is God incarnate.

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The New Values Christ Gives Us (6th Sunday - Cycle C)

The teaching of Jesus in this week's Gospel passage has historically been known as the Beatitudes, from the Latin word for blessed. The Beatitudes appear twice in the New Testament, once in the Gospel of Matthew, where they are spoken in the context of the Sermon on the Mount and the other time here, in the Gospel of Luke, where they are a part of the Sermon on the Plain.

In both Gospels, Jesus presents the Beatitudes at the beginning of his ministry. In the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus focuses only on the blessings of certain conditions of life, and does so more extensively than in Luke. In the speech recounted in the Gospel of Luke, Jesus also reflects on the woes that come with the opposite of those conditions. The Beatitudes can be seen as the opening statement of the public preaching of Jesus, encapsulating a number of the core values he would teach about in his ministry. But, we might ask, why would Jesus consider poverty, hunger, sorrow, and exclusion blessed states?

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How to Discern Our Calling (5th Sunday - Cycle C)

Each of the Scripture readings for today contains a call narrative. In the Bible, call narratives are what the name suggests, an account of how God calls a person for a specific mission and how that person responds. In the first reading, Isaiah sees a vision of God's holiness. He realizes his own unworthiness and yet God still sends him forth to deliver his message.

As the saying goes, God does not call the equipped. He equips the called. We are not expected to be perfect before we can respond to God's call in our lives. We need to respond wherever we are in our spiritual journey. Then, if we fully submit to God's will, he will give us the graces we need to carry out what he wants us to do.

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The Rich Heritage of February 2 (Presentation of the Lord - Cycle C)

February 2 is a feast with a rich heritage in the Catholic Church, involving a wide variety of local cultural customs, including special foods and celebrations. As the Gospel reading for today indicates, the feast commemorates the day when St. Joseph and the Virgin Mary took the baby Jesus to Jerusalem to be presented at the Temple 40 days after his birth. Today, February 2 is known as the Feast of the Presentation of the Lord. Historically, the day has also been called the Purification of the Virgin Mary, the Feast of the Holy Encounter, and Candlemas - each name emphasizing a different aspect of the same biblical event.

Traditionally, February 2 has also been the end of the Christmas cycle. Families would keep their Christmas decorations up until this feast. A vestige of this tradition continues in the custom of keeping the Nativity scene out until February 2, which is observed especially in Eastern Europe and at the Vatican.

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