Category Archives: Reflections on Sunday Gospels

• 29th A Sunday

  Posted on October 11, 2020 by David Jackson in Reflections on Sunday Gospels

  Listening to this Gospel we realize that the tension level between Jesus and the religious leaders is rising.  The opening verse of today’s Gospel tells us that the Pharisees are plotting “how they might entrap Jesus in speech.”  They send their disciples to him, with the Herodians.  Notice that the Pharisees do not go themselves.  They send their disciples.  Here […]

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• 26th Sunday of Ordinary time A

  Posted on September 21, 2020 by David Jackson in Reflections on Sunday Gospels

  Introduction: This 26th Sunday we arrive at a point in Matthew’s Gospel where the conflict between Jesus and the authorities is heating up. Just prior to today’s reading, Jesus in chapter 21 had entered Jerusalem in triumph. He had cleansed the temple and worked miracles of healing. The chief priests and elders of the people question […]

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• 25th Sunday of Ordinary Time A

  Posted on September 13, 2020 by David Jackson in Reflections on Sunday Gospels

  The grumbling of those who have worked all day is similar to the grumbling of the elder Brother in the Parable of the Prodigal Son. Like the Prodigal Son we never know what they did in response to the owner’s questions. Act I: hirings. At the outset there is a surprising note. The householder (and […]

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• 20th A

  Posted on August 9, 2020 by David Jackson in Reflections on Sunday Gospels

  Matthew 15: 21-28           The story of the Canaanite woman has been characterized in different ways. Kenneth Bailey in Jesus Through Middle Eastern Eyes states: “This story is often viewed as a troubling embarrassment.   A sincere foreign woman seeks help from Jesus. At first he ignores her.  He then appears to exhibit racism and insensitivity to her suffering as he […]

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• 19th Sunday of Ordinary Time A

  Posted on August 9, 2020 by David Jackson in Reflections on Sunday Gospels

  Like Peter, up and down toward Jesus. INTRODUCTION:  Today we hear two contrasting images of God coming to people.  In the first reading we hear of God coming to Elijah not in the wind, earthquake or fire.  God comes in the tiny whispering sound.  In the Gospel we hear the account of Jesus coming to the Apostles walking on […]

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• 18th Sunday A

  Posted on August 1, 2020 by David Jackson in Reflections on Sunday Gospels

  Jesus feeding of the crowds according to Matthew. INTRODUCTION:   This Sunday we continue with the Gospel of St. Matthew in chapter 14. We listen to Matthew’s account of the multiplication of the loaves. HOMILY:  The miracle of feeding the five thousand is one of the few miracles that is found in all four Gospels. In fact in Mark  and […]

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• 17th Sunday of Ordinary Time

  Posted on August 1, 2020 by David Jackson in Reflections on Sunday Gospels

  17 Sunday of Ordinary time A. Continued: The Kingdom of heaven is like…. Introduction:  This Sunday we hear the last three parables of this parable discourse, chapter l3.  The parables that we will hear are those of the treasure, the pearl and the net.  The Gospel passage concludes with some words about a person learned in the kingdom. […]

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• 16th Sunday A

  Posted on July 18, 2020 by David Jackson in Reflections on Sunday Gospels

  The kingdom of heaven is like…. INTRODUCTION: This Sunday we continue to hear from the Parable Discourse of Matthew’s chapter 13. The structure of this Sunday’s reading is similar to last Sunday’s: 1) parables to the crowds, 2) comment on the reasons for parables, 3) private instruction to the disciples giving an explanation of the […]

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• 15th A Sunday of Ordinary Time

  Posted on July 11, 2020 by David Jackson in Reflections on Sunday Gospels

  15th ASunday of ordinary time: “A” He spoke to them at length in parables. INTRODUCTION:  Today we arrive at the section of Matthew’s Gospel which is known as the Parable Discourse, chapter 13.  Matthew structures his gospel around five discourses: Sermon on the Mount, Discipleship, Parables, Church, End.  For the next three Sundays we will be hearing from […]

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• 14 A

  Posted on July 4, 2020 by David Jackson in Reflections on Sunday Gospels

  14th A Ordinary Time 07-05-2020 Cardinal Bernardin in his book the Gift of Peace, pp. 123-6 gives a powerful meditation on the words of Jesus in today’s Gospel. “On August 31, 1996, the day after I announced that the cancer had spread to my liver and was inoperable, I presided at a communal anointing of the sick […]

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