My soul glorifies the Lord! (Luke 1:46)

Today in the readings, we have Saint Paul encouraging the Corinthians to imitate his example. In the Church in Corinth there were several problems and divisions. But Saint Paul says his aim was always clear. He compares his life to that of an athlete taking part in a race — of course every athlete trains and then runs only in order to win the prize! For Saint Paul, the prize was saving others by proclaiming the Gospel to them free of charge. He says, “Woe to me if I do not proclaim the Gospel.” Dear brothers and sisters, how wonderful if we too could live our lives with this clear aim! To save others by proclaiming the Gospel to them, but, as Saint Francis of Assisi said, with our lives first, and then, when necessary, to use words. In the Gospel, Jesus warns us of a possible danger: we can become hypocrites if we preach, but do not practise it first ourselves. In today’s Eucharist, let us all pray for the grace to be preachers of the Gospel, but to first start by practising it ours...

Dear brothers and sisters, A very Happy Feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary! Today the Church celebrates with joy the birth of Mary. It is believed, according to an ancient tradition, that Mary was born of her parents, Joachim and Anne, in their advanced age. The homilies of both Saint Andrew of Crete and Saint John of Damascus, from the seventh and eighth centuries, mention this, and it has been a tradition in the Church. The Church believes that Mary was conceived without original sin and, most importantly, born and lived without sin — a work of grace . God predestined this and made it happen, as Saint Paul says in the Letter to the Romans, as we heard today: those whom He foreknew, He called; those that He called, He justified; and those He justified, He has brought into glory. What this means for us is that God has a wonderful plan for each one of us too. God does not give His special grace to Mary just for Mary. No! It is for each one of us. All the graces that God g...

Today in the Gospel we have Jesus healing a man with a withered hand. Jesus healed on the Sabbath. God heals wounds. In the Book of Exodus God says that “I am the Lord, your healer” — in Hebrew Yehovah Rapha . The name Raphael, the name of one of the three Archangels, means God heals . In the Psalms we read that God binds up the broken hearted (Psalm 147:3) . In the New Testament, Jesus heals all kinds of diseases and sicknesses. In other words, God reverses the effects of sin. We know that death and sickness came into the world as a result of sin. Jesus shows by his healing that He reverses the effects of sin. At the same time today we also have the Pharisees and scribes who are unable to see what God is doing and instead focus on whether Jesus is breaking the Sabbath by healing on the Sabbath. Due to spiritual blindness they are unable to see the good. We too will encounter people who are unable to see the good and instead focus on the negative always. However Jesus engages in pa...

I n today’s Gospel we find two themes. The first is that Jesus’ disciples seem to be doing well, seem to be enjoying life: they eat and drink, while the disciples of John and the Pharisees appear to be fasting. For the Pharisees and the scribes this is a contradiction. In reality it is a trick question. The Pharisees and the scribes cannot understand Jesus and his ministry. They cannot see what is happening, because their hearts are hardened and blinded. The lives of the people around them are changing for the better — the Kingdom of God, the reign of peace, joy and righteousness, is entering into people’s hearts — but none of this matters to those who seek to judge Jesus and his work. Saint Paul, in the first reading, says that it means nothing to him if anyone presumes to judge his ministry: he says that only God will judge rightly, according to the truth. Jesus answers the Pharisees with the same image that John the Baptist had used in speaking of him: the image of the Bridegroom. ...

Today, in the Gospel, we meet an extraordinary man, Simon Peter. Let us notice a few things about him. First, Jesus got into Peter’s boat. The Catholic Church is called “the barque of Peter,” because this is the boat Jesus chose in order to teach the world. Peter is a fisherman, but he is a different kind of man. For when Jesus said to him, “Put out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch,” Peter did what the Lord told him, in the obedience of faith: “but at your word I will let down the nets.” Today let us take home this word of Peter: “Master, we have toiled all night long and caught nothing; but at your word I will let down the nets.” In our own lives, like Peter, we must be driven by faith. There is another beautiful word of Peter, when he sees the miraculous catch: “Lord, depart from me, for I am a sinful man.” Normally, men amazed at such a catch look closely at the fish, because more fish means more money. Peter, instead, lets himself be touched in the depths of his h...

Today's reading and the Gospel highlight the difference between the Spirit of God and the spirit of the world, and between the man moved by the Spirit and the man left to his own strength. Only the Spirit of God — and the man moved by the Spirit — knows the depths of God, the secrets of God, the many gifts of God. Saint Paul is a man moved by the Spirit. With what courage he proclaims: “We have the mind of Christ!” In the Gospel, the people were astonished at Jesus’ teaching, because his word had authority. This authority comes from the breath of the Spirit of God, who created the whole world and man for himself. We then see a man possessed by an unclean spirit that tormented him. The devil always disturbs the work of God. But let us not be afraid: Jesus shows that his power is stronger than the power of the demon. In this Eucharist let us pray to the Holy Spirit to give us the wisdom to know the mind of God, so that our hearts and minds may be filled with love and peace, and to gi...