Matthew 22:34-40 ‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and the first commandment.’ This week’s Gospel almost comes as a bit of a relief after some very difficult parables and scenes of Jesus being put on the spot. …
Monthly Archives: October 2023
Twenty Ninth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Matthew 22:15-21 Any talk of tax and taxation can very easily set up a polarity. Attitudes differ within our own political parties in the UK and across the world. As I walk into this scene in the Gospels I find myself trying to imagine what it would be like to live under an occupying power. …
Twenty Eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Isaiah 25:6-10Matthew 22:1-14 When I sat down to read today’s Gospel I had a few ideas about how I understood the passage and I turned to my usual commentaries. No pennies dropped and I was getting close to giving up and writing something on the First Reading from Isaiah 25 instead. Something made me persevere …
Twenty Seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time
Isaiah 5:1-7Matthew 21:33-43 When we open the Scriptures, we open a world of story, poetry and metaphor. Origen, a Third Century theologian, likens the Bible to a mansion. The various books of the Bible are doors which we need to unlock. Outside each door is a key which will unlock one door. Our task is …
Twenty Six Sunday in Ordinary Time
Matthew 21:28-32 St Benedict expected unhesitating obedience from his monks: ‘The first step of humility is unhesitating obedience, which comes naturally to those who cherish Christ above all.’ (Rule of St Benedict, Ch 5, On Obedience) For St Benedict cherishing Christ is key to everything that happens in the monastery. Reading this challenging line from …