Fourth Sunday of Lent. St. Paul tells us in his letter to the Ephesians that we are saved through grace: God’s actions of sending his Son to die for us, and raising Jesus from the dead show the love God has for us. It comes entirely from God. We are saved by our faith in Jesus, but even that faith comes from God. So when Paul says that no one can boast about being saved, he means that we can’t add up our good deeds like reward points for heaven. He also means that we can’t brag about our faith because we can recite the creed or answer an altar call. So if being saved is not a matter of saying the right things, or doing good deeds, what is it?

As we are now well into Lent, we can take a look at what it means to turn away from sin and be faithful to the Gospel. A good place to start would be the Ten Commandments. The reading from Exodus presents us with one of the first listings of the Commandments. In this passage, God explains some of the laws to show how serious they are. For the first one, God includes making images to be used for worship. Now you might jump to the conclusion that all the statues and crucifixes in our churches must be destroyed. Not so.

Second Sunday of Lent: I used to wonder how God could lie to Abraham about sacrificing his son Isaac. But the story begins by telling us God put Abraham to the test. Abraham himself seems to know it’s a test—in verses left out or our reading, he tells the servants that he and Isaac will return after the sacrifice; he also tells Isaac that God will provide the offering. Apparently, I’m the only one fooled by God.

First Sunday of Lent: Usually, the first reading has something in common with the gospel. Today’s however, has more in common with the second reading from St. Peter. They both talk about Noah and the ark, where the few good people were saved by going through the water. Peter compares that to the waters of Baptism, in which we are saved by God. He also has an interesting image of Jesus “preaching to the spirits in prison.” It refers to the fallen angels whose disobedience lead the rest of the population to turn away from God

Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time: Last week we heard St. Paul saying that he was all things to all people. This week, we hear that he tried to please everyone. To modern ears, that sounds more like a used car salesman, who has just the right deal for any buyer. But that wasn’t what Paul meant. The key to Paul’s way of life is the last line of the second reading: “Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ.” (1 Cor 11:1)

Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time: Jesus was starting to become very popular, at least with the ordinary people. They had seen how he had cured the sick and cast out demons. The gospel has one unusual sentence about those demons: Jesus did not let them speak “because they knew who he was.” (Mk 1:34) Apparently, the demons would have identified him as the Son of God.

Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time: One of the most difficult duties of a disciple is to follow the command of Jesus to spread the gospel to all nations. (Lk 24:47, Mk 116:15, Mt 28:19) I think one reason may be that we don’t feel we have the authority to tell someone else what to believe. Most of us don’t think we know the gospel well enough to preach it. Or we are so afraid of offending atheists, that we use that fear as an excuse to say nothing. But being a disciple means following Jesus. The gospel this Sunday mentions twice that Jesus taught with more authority than any of religious leaders of Israel. So how can we get such authority?

Third Sunday in Ordinary Time: In the reading from Jonah, God told him to preach repentance to the people of Nineveh. When the whole city repented the very first day, they showed it by wearing sackcloth and fasting from food. Sometimes we might think that way: That repenting means punishing ourselves or feeling sorry. Jesus sees things differently.

Second Sunday in Ordinary Time: Just before our first reading it says that “the word of the Lord was rare; there were not many visions.” (1Sam 3:1) I imagine most people today would think that was true. Haven’t you ever wished you lived in biblical times, to see some of the miracles you read about? Wouldn’t it be cool to hear the Lord speaking in a vision? Do you think God has stopped talking? People apparently felt that way in Samuel’s time. Let’s look at the reading to see what Samuel’s experience can teach us.

The Epiphany of the Lord: Did you know that the only reason we say that there were three wise men is that they brought three gifts?  The Bible never says their number or their names.  The gifts tell us about the givers.  And these special gifts—gold, frankincense, and myrrh—tell us much.

Solemnity of Mary, the Holy Mother of God: This feast has had several names through history. Most recently, it was called the Feast of the Circumcision and then the Feast of the Holy Name of Jesus. The Church finally settled on a more ancient title, Mary, the Holy Mother of God. It also has a secondary title of the Octave of Christmas, the secular title of New Years Day, and an honorary title of World Day of Prayer for Peace. Strangely, the title that is most confusing to non-Catholics is the official one.

The Nativity of the Lord: Christmas can be disappointing. We remember the Christmases from our childhood, all the joy, the excitement, and the fun we had. When we grow up, we have to shop for gifts, write and mail the cards, put up the decorations, and do all the preparations that seem to stress us out. We may be sad that the day did not meet our expectations. Now that most of that is done, (unless you are reading this on a break from cleaning house before the grandkids arrive) we can reflect on how the first Christmas upset all expectations.

Fourth Sunday of Advent: Have you ever been told to “think before you speak”? Nathan seems to have spoken too soon when he told David to do whatever he wanted about building a house for the Lord. He was being respectful to his king, and it sounded like a good idea. But later that night the Lord gave him a message for David: the Lord did not need anyone to build him a house; God would make David’s house (in the sense of family or descendants) last forever.

Third Sunday of Advent: Saint Paul seems to be throwing out a handful of sayings that may sound overly optimistic, but are actually very practical. “Rejoice always? Who can do that?” It sounds absurd, but the next two lines give it context: If we pray constantly and thank God for all that happens to us, we have reason to rejoice. Whatever happens is the will of God for us. Even the bad things, things we don’t like, can be allowed by God, so that God can bring good out of them. God allows sin because it leads to forgiveness, an experience of God’s love for us. And God allows even death, because God can bring us to eternal life.

Second Sunday of Advent: Saint Peter shows us a characteristic of God that we normally do not think about. He tells us that for God, “a day is like a thousand years and a thousand years like one day” (2 Peter 3:8). Somehow, God is not restricted by time as we are. Taken literally, that seems to violate the laws of physics. Of course, God made those laws, so if anyone can ignore them, God certainly could. More likely, because early Christians sometimes complained that Jesus’ second coming had been delayed, Peter is trying to tell us that what seems like a long time to us is nothing to God.

1st Sunday of Advent: In Advent, we celebrate our hope that the Lord might come more fully into our lives. The first reading from Isaiah voices the hope of sinners for a redeemer. Unlike Isaiah, we know that God has come to bring us back, when the Father sent his Son, Jesus, to save us. Our faith in Jesus leads us to a new way of looking at the world. We can see what God is doing as well as remembering what God has done.

Feast of Christ the King: Today’s Gospel could be seen as an example of what St. Paul is explaining in the second reading. Since death came into the world with the sin of Adam, Christ’s death saved us from sin and his resurrection saves us from death. And since Christ had to die before he could rise, the last enemy to be subjected is death; so too do we have to die before we can rise.

33rd Sunday in Ordinary Time: When I hear the Gospel reading for this Sunday, I wonder what that third servant was doing all that time, after he buried the talent he was given. Probably nothing. What strikes me is that the word for money in this reading is “talent,” which in our language is an ability or skill. So maybe this parable can remind us to use our abilities and not let them go to waste.

32nd Sunday in Ordinary Time: At the end of today’s Gospel, when the foolish virgins return from the quick shop with the oil, they are locked out of the wedding. The groom answers their pleas, not with a question, “Why weren’t you ready?” but with the statement, “I don’t know you” (Mt 25:12). Now that sounds kind of odd, if the bridegroom represents the Lord, because God knows everything, and everybody. In Matthew’s Gospel, this phrase seems to imply that “because you made no effort to know me, I don’t know you.” In other words, the oil in the parable stands for knowing the Lord. Or at least making an effort to know him.

Reflection for the 31st Sunday in Ordinary Time. Paul was not bragging when he talked about the toil and drudgery he endured while proclaiming the gospel. He makes a point of his working so as not to burden anyone. He worked to support himself, rather than asking the new Christians to support him—just the opposite of what the scribes and Pharisees were doing, according to the gospel. Jesus accused them of laying heavy burdens on people, without helping them to bear those burdens. So what kind of burdens did the Pharisees impose?