“You are looking for me not because you saw signs, but because you ate the loaves and were filled.”           We’ve mentioned the past couple of weeks that we are beginning the beautiful “Bread of Life Discourse” from St. John’s Gospel – the most complete and direct teaching on the Eucharist that our Lord gives […]

          Amidst the powerful yet familiar story of the multiplication of the loaves and fishes are two easily overlooked but very important details that St. John includes. The first is when the miracle takes place: “The Jewish feast of Passover was near.” John’s Gospel particularly takes account of time. It is John, for example, who […]

“His heart was moved with pity for them, for they were like sheep without a shepherd; and he began to teach them many things.”           The people coming in search of our Lord today were probably not primarily interested in learning. Most likely, they are sick and hungry. They have heard about the miracles worked […]

          The Lord sends out twelve men today, men each with his own complicated history, his own trials and ways the Lord still needs him to grow. One particularly comes to mind, the ex-tax collector Matthew. When the tax collectors went out to John the Baptist and asked what they needed to do to truly […]

“Three times I begged the Lord about this, that it might leave me, but he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness.”             There is a very popular quote that you likely have seen on Catholic t-shirts or alluded to in names of Catholic apostolates or […]

St. Paul makes a spectacular claim in this Sunday’s second reading: There is something lacking in Christ’s sufferings. How could this be? How could Christ’s suffering on the Cross be lacking anything? Where could we possibly find a better example of a complete gift of self, a total outpouring of love? What more perfect suffering […]