Jesus is King because he is Son of God, because he is Creator: “through him all things were made’ (Jn1:3). In the Book of Psalms, God is King because he rules over the whole of creation. At the Annunciation the angel Gabriel said to Mary: “The Lord God will give him the throne of David…
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Prv. 31:10-13, 19-20, 30-31; 1 Thes. 5:1-6; Mt. 25:14-30 Next Sunday will be the last Sunday of Ordinary Time in our Liturgical Year when we celebrate the feast of Christ the King and we call to mind the Second Coming of the Lord at the end of time to judge the living and the dead.…
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Wis. 6:12-16; 1 Thess. 4:13-18; Mt. 25: 1-13. We are now on the 32nd Sunday of Ordinary Time; two Sundays from now we will celebrate the Feast of Christ the King, the Lord as he comes at the end of time. Our second reading today explicitly speaks of the Second Coming of the Lord. St.…
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The Scribes were the people who knew how to read and write Hebrew. They copied the scrolls of the Bible and were the experts in the Mosaic Law. Since most of the people did not know how to read or write, the Scribes explained the Law to them and acted as lawyers. Jesus, therefore, recognized…
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Ex. 22:20-26; 1 Thes 1:5c-10; Mt. 22:34-40. The verb “love” does not appear in the Torah until Dt. 6:5 in the great “Shema”: “Hear, O Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord alone. Therefore, you shall love the Lord your God, with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your…
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Is. 45:1,4-6; 1 Thess. 1:1-5b; Mt. 22:15-21. The first reading from Isaiah 45 is a very revealing prophecy. Isaiah says that Cyrus, a pagan king of Persia was chosen by God, called by name and anointed even though he did not know Yahweh, the God of the Israelites. Yahweh will subdue nations before him and…
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Is 25:6-10a; Phil. 4:12-14, 19-20; Mt. 22:1-14 Similar to the parable of the Owner of the vineyard and the tenants, the parable of today is also allegorical. We can identify the characters and the events referred to. God is the King who prepares a wedding feast for his Son, Jesus. The first to be invited…
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Is 5:1-7; Phil. 4:6-9; Mt. 21:33-43. The first reading and the Gospel of today is not a simple parable, but an allegory. All the characters and the events can be identified. God Yahweh is the owner of the vineyard; the vineyard is the people of Israel. They were the chosen vine because God chose and…
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Ez. 18:25-28; Phil. 2:1-11; Mt. 21:28-32 In the reading from the profit Ezekiel, we are told by God himself that if a man “turns from the wickedness he has committed, and does what is right and just, he shall preserved his life.” Conversion means turning away from sin and turning towards God, a double motion…
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Is. 55:6-9; Phil 1:20-24, 27; Mt. 20:1-16a. This parable speaks of the missionary function of the Church. The earliest to the called into the kingdom of God was Israel. From the supposed era of Abraham in the 1500 B.C. God taught Israel how to work in his vineyard, to serve him as the one true…
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