The shepherd amidst his flock
A reflection on the readings for April 21, 2024 — The Fourth Sunday of Easter (also Good Shepherd Sunday and the 61st World Day of Prayer for Vocations) My wife and I recently traveled out of state for a visit...
Author: Deacon Steve O'Neill
The Messiah who shows us the road ahead
A reflection on the readings for March 17, 2024 — The Fifth Sunday of Lent (Year B) Holy Week will be upon us in just seven days. The week begins with the triumphal entry of Jesus into Jerusalem on Sunday...
“Repent, and Believe in the Gospel.”
Welcome to Lent! The Catechism says of this season that “By the solemn forty days of Lent, the Church unites herself each year to the mystery of Jesus in the desert” (CCC 540), and fittingly, every year the Gospel for...
The Book of Jonah is an odd little story
A reflection on the readings of January 21, 2024 — The Third Sunday in Ordinary Time (and the Sunday of the Word of God) The Book of Jonah is an odd little story, four short chapters that barely take up...
Rejoice Always!
A reflection on the readings of December 17, 2023 — The Third Sunday of Advent At Mass last Sunday, as we were listening to the second reading, there was the unmistakable sound of a happy child. It took a moment...
Preparing for the Day of the Lord
A reflection on the readings of Sunday, November 19, 2023 — The thirty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time Speaking as a husband and father, I think St. Paul’s use of the image of labor pains coming upon a pregnant woman is...
“Here comes everybody!”
A reflection on the readings of Sunday, October 15 — the Twenty-eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time In last week’s Gospel, we heard the parable of the wicked tenants of the vineyard. Not only did they withhold from the landowner the share...
Mercy is not a “Get out of Jail Free” Card
A reflection on the readings of September 17, 2023 — the 24th Sunday of Ordinary Time. In a reflection I recently read on today’s Gospel, the author did some math to try to put the two debts we just heard...
Jesus and the Canaanite Woman: Compassion Without Borders
A Reflection on the Readings for August 20, 2023 — The 20th Sunday in Ordinary Time In today’s Gospel reading, we find Jesus as far away from Jerusalem as he’s ever been, at least when you look to his travels...
The hellstrip or the fertile soil
A reflection on the readings for July 16, 2023, the Fifteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time While browsing the paper online this past week, I was introduced to the somewhat arresting term “hellstrip” in an article from gardener and writer Tovah...
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