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Showing posts from 2016

The Gospel of Mercy

Similar to my previous post, I am posting a paper I wrote for Synoptic Gospels class.  The paper is on the Gospel of Luke as the "Gospel of Mercy," a fitting theme for this Divine Mercy Sunday.  Hopefully it can give you some material for prayer and reflection during this Year of Mercy. Introduction             “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring glad tidings to the poor.   He has sent me to proclaim liberty to captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, and to proclaim a year acceptable to the Lord” (Lk 4:18-19, NABRE).   When Jesus proclaimed this passage from Isaiah in the Nazorean synagogue, he made it clear that a new “today” has begun, a time in which the Lord’s actions prophesied about in the Old Testament will be fulfilled in him.   By beginning Jesus’ public ministry with this passage, St. Luke established a theme for his Gospel: how did Jesus fulfill this message of glad tidings through hi

Who are You, O Lord, and Who am I?

Last semester, as I began theology classes on my path to ordination, I took a full-semester course on the Triune God.  It was my favorite class of the semester because it reminded me of Who God is and how we are called to know Him.  Our final project was to write a "homily" for Trinity Sunday, and I'd like to share this with you below.  Who knows if I'd ever give this at a Mass (it's probably a bit too "academic"), but, in any case, it's a good summary of what I learned and how I desire to share this with others. Readings: http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/053115.cfm “Who are You, O Lord, and who am I?” St. Francis of Assisi was known for asking this question often, but whenever he said it, he meant it as much more than a simple question. Rather, for him, it was a prayer, a “crying out” to God asking for Him to reveal Who He is. I think we can receive much insight from this tremendous wisdom of St. Francis; if we wish to know Who God is, what