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As is the case with almost all our Sunday Scripture readings, there is a strong connection between the first reading and the gospel. Let’s start with the reading from the Book of the Prophet Amos and see how it spills into the gospel and from there, see how it spills into our lives. 

First a little background. Amos lived about 700 years before Jesus. At that time the Jews, God’s Chosen People, lived in the northern …

As I try to preach the Word of God in my own ministry, I’m beginning to appreciate, more and more, the wisdom found in the first readings especially from the prophets of old. As social justice issues arise in our own time, I realize social justice issues were front and center for the Biblical prophets as well. The prophet Amos, whom we heard from in that first reading, protested the wealthy class, the business class, who were notorious for cheating the …

The late Fr. Daniel Berrigan was an American Jesuit priest, a peace activist, a poet, and an author. He was a person who put his faith into practice. Daniel stood for a consistent ethic of life, a respect for human life from conception to natural death and an equally strong ethic for the life of the planet. However, with being prophetic comes resistance. He was the first priest on the F.B.I.’s most wanted list. Because of his protests to …

As you may have already figured out, there’s always a connection between the first reading, the Hebrew Scriptures, (or what we used to call the Old Testament) and the gospel. Sometimes all three readings dovetail nicely. The connection between the first and third readings centers around humility, being humble.

It says in that first reading from the Book of Sirach: “perform your tasks with humility.” A little later it says, “The greater you are, the more you must humble …

The first reading, from Isaiah, is about God’s great desire to gather the Jewish people who were conquered and deported to Babylon. But that desire of God is too small, for God wants to gather all the peoples of the world together. What’s happening to the Jewish people is not just for them but for everybody. That reading ends with universalism, that the temple of Yahweh will be the centerpiece of all the world. It’s not to be a …

I have always believed this to be true of my life, and I suspect it’s true of everyone life—that whatever is good, worthwhile, and enduring came to us through hard work and sacrifice, either our own or the sacrifice of someone who came before us. Let’s of course not dismiss, for one moment, God’s grace which is always part of everything we do. Without hard work and sacrifice, we appreciate very little, and life becomes an easy-come-easy-go affair. Again, …

All Scripture stories, on some level, have to do with faith, but these three scripture readings, given to us today, clearly speak to me of faith. Faith isn’t just saying, “I believe this or that.” Faith asks us to be much more risk-takers than that. Faith is never something I feel I have much of until a test comes or a “leap of faith” is required of me. And if I come through the test, and I’m still standing …

I’m sure you have all heard the expression, “We don’t fully appreciate what we have until it’s gone.” Or, as Benjamin Franklin said, “We will not appreciate water until the well runs dry.” The three scripture readings, we have today, are basically saying, “You don’t have to wait for that day; start appreciating things and cherishing people now!” To put it another way, “Don’t lose sight of what’s really important in life.”

The author of that …

Jesus taught his disciples only one prayer, but more importantly he taught them how to pray. How he wanted them to pray, and how he wants us to pray, is with the confidence of a child before a parent. 

When you were really young, and if you had half-decent parents, for all intents and purposes, in your mind your father was God and your mother was the queen of heaven and earth. (Take a look at …

The couple we heard about in that first reading, Abraham and Sarah, welcomed three men to their desert tent not knowing they had welcomed God. And because they had shown such wonderful hospitality to these travelers, God—in the disguise of these strangers—promises them they will have a child. In time they did have a child and were delighted. It’s not quite that way in the gospel story of Mary and Martha that we just heard. Martha seems to be …