This weekend’s celebration of the Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe, closes the Season of Ordinary Time. As Tony explains, Jesus’ exchange with Pilate teaches us that the Kingdom of God is not spread by the worldly means of coercion and violence, but by Christian disciples living as Jesus does.
Reading 1: Daniel 7:13-14
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 93:1, 1-2, 5
Reading 2: Revelation 1:5-8
Gospel: John 18:33b-37
On this 32nd Sunday of Ordinary Time Jesus teaches us through the parable of the ten virgins. As Tony Crescio explains, through this imagery, Jesus is teaching us the importance of keeping our lives lit with His Divine Life as we make our way through this life in the valley of the shadow of death. In this, Jesus is calling us to participatory imitating in His Life, Who alone is the True Light which shines in the darkness.
Reading 1: Wisdom 6:12-16
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 63:2, 3-4, 5-6, 7-8
Reading 2: 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18
Gospel: Matthew 25:1-13
On this 30th Sunday of Ordinary Time, we hear Jesus proclaim the greatest commandment, that we are to love God with our whole heart, soul and mind. This is something we hear often, and the fact that we do can tend to undermine its radicality. As Tony Crescio explains, in the greatest commandment, Jesus is teaching us the greatest lesson on human life, one that gives unspeakable and irrevocable dignity to the human creature.
Reading 1:
Responsorial Psalm:
Reading 2:
Gospel:
This weekend, Jesus turns a would-be trap by those who oppose Him into a deep spiritual lesson on the nature of human life. Taking a look at a denarius which bore the image of the Roman Emperor, Jesus says, “repay to Caesar what belongs to Caesar, and to God what belongs to God.” As Tony explains, with this simple line Jesus teaches us what has always been, but is especially so in our own time and place, the most radical teaching of Christianity. Namely, all that we are and have as human creatures is owed to God.
Reading 1: Isaiah 45:1, 4-6
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 96:1, 3, 4-5, 7-8, 9-10
Reading 2: 1 Thessalonians 1:1-5b
Gospel: Matthew 22:15-21