Listen on Apple Podcasts Listen on SoundOn Readings Here Thursday of the Thirteenth Week in Ordinary Time Amos 7:10–17 The Book of Amos has nine chapters. But in today’s reading, his mission reaches its dangerous turning point. Amos has spoken too clearly. He has named the injustice of Israel. He has exposed the emptiness of worship when the poor are trampled. He has announced that the kingdom itself is standing under judgment. ...
Listen on Apple Podcasts Listen on SoundOn Readings Here Wednesday of the Thirteenth Week in Ordinary Time Amos 5:14–15, 21–24 This is one of the most powerful statements in the Bible: worship without justice is abhorrent to the Lord. Not incomplete. Not weak. Not merely imperfect. Abhorrent. The Lord says through Amos: “I hate, I despise your feasts.” “I take no pleasure in your solemn assemblies.” “Take away from me the noise of your songs.” ...
Listen on Apple Podcasts Listen on SoundOn Readings Here Tuesday of the Thirteenth Week in Ordinary Time Amos 3:1–8; 4:11–12 “The Lord does nothing without revealing His purpose to His servants the prophets.” This is one of the great lines from the prophet Amos. Before God acts, God reveals. Before judgment comes, a word is spoken. ...
Listen on Apple Podcasts Listen on SoundOn Readings Here Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul, Apostles Acts 12:1–11; 2 Timothy 4:6–8, 17–18; Matthew 16:13–19 Today the Church remembers two great apostles. Peter and Paul. So different. So human. So wounded. So chosen. Peter walked with Jesus on the roads of Galilee. Paul met the Risen Lord on the road to Damascus. ...
Listen on Apple Podcasts Listen on SoundOn Readings Here Thirteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time 2 Kings 4:8–11, 14–16a; Romans 6:3–4, 8–11; Matthew 10:37–42 For many years I have traveled through different corners of Asia. The Philippines. Indonesia. East Timor. Vietnam. Myanmar. China. And again and again, I found a door open. A meal was placed before me. A bed was prepared. A quiet corner was given. A “small roof chamber,” where a tired traveler could lay down and rest. ...
Listen on Apple Podcasts Listen on SoundOn Readings Here Saturday of the Twelfth Week in Ordinary Time Lamentations 2:2, 10–14, 18–19 Some biblical texts are difficult to preach. Not because they are unclear, but because they are too clear. Today’s reading from Lamentations does not explain suffering from a distance. It sits among the ruins. The elders are silent. The young women bow their heads to the ground. The children faint in the streets. The walls of Jerusalem are told to cry out day and night. ...
Listen on Apple Podcasts Listen on SoundOn Readings Here Friday of the Twelfth Week in Ordinary Time 2 Kings 25:1–12 In 2 Samuel 7, the Lord made an everlasting covenant with David. He promised that David’s house and David’s kingdom would stand forever (see 2 Sam 7:4–16). For centuries, the Davidic monarchy shaped the life of Israel. ...
Listen on Apple Podcasts Listen on SoundOn Readings Here Thursday of the Twelfth Week in Ordinary Time 2 Kings 24:8–17 Today the biblical author brings us to the year 597 B.C., the year of the first Babylonian deportation. Jerusalem could already have been destroyed then. But Jehoiachin surrendered to the power of Babylon, and the city was spared. ...
Listen on Apple Podcasts Listen on SoundOn Readings Here The Nativity of Saint John the Baptist Isaiah 49:1–6; Psalm 139; Acts 13:22–26; Luke 1:57–66, 80 The Gospel gives us only two stories of miraculous conceptions and births: the birth of John, and the birth of Jesus. And in the Church’s liturgy, we celebrate them six months apart. ...
Listen on Apple Podcasts Listen on SoundOn Readings Here Tuesday of the Twelfth Week in Ordinary Time 2 Kings 19:9b–11, 14–21, 31–35a, 36 In 722 B.C., the Assyrian army conquered Samaria and brought the Northern Kingdom of Israel to an end. Nearly twenty years later, in 703 B.C., the same empire came against Judah and surrounded Jerusalem. ...