Dear Friend of Carmel Mission,
Today in the Gospel Jesus has what seems at first glance to be some less than good news on who will be admitted to the Kingdom of Heaven. The rich young man goes away sad and disappointed. Despite his earnest desire to follow Jesus, he is not ready yet to do what is required. Jesus ...
Dear Friend of Carmel Mission,
Jesus has yet another teaching moment for His disciples in the Gospel today. One might hope that they would have learned better by now, but today we find them at it again, trying to prevent people, in this case children, from approaching Jesus. In His response to them Jesus also reve ...
Dear Friend of Carmel Mission,
Jesus makes a simple but very profound statement in today’s Gospel when he tells the disciples, “Whoever is not against us, is for us.” (Mark 9:40) The disciples are engaged in the very human practice of taking and assigning sides. It is often our inclination to approach people ...
Dear Friend of Carmel Mission,
In the Gospel today Jesus impresses on His disciples how different their lives of discipleship must be than anything that they have experienced heretofore. They are arguing amongst themselves about who is the greatest, who is most likely to succeed. Jesus has to remind them that, ...
Dear Friend of Carmel Mission,
In today’s Gospel Jesus asks His disciples a deeply personal question, “Who do you say that I am?” This is a question Jesus poses in each of the synoptic Gospels, Mark 8:29, Luke 9:18 and Matthew 16:15. In each instance it is Peter that answers for the group, professing their b ...
Dear Friend of Carmel Mission,
Today in the Gospel Jesus heals a deaf man, restoring his hearing and his speech. Consider for a moment the plight of this person. Living in a largely aural-oral society, he would have been at a severe disadvantage, isolated at best, and potentially ridiculed and shunned. Fortunately ...
Dear Friend of Carmel Mission,
For the next five Sundays we will be reading from the Letter of St. James. St. James addresses his letter to the entire early church rather than to an individual person or a specific community. This “universal letter” has been compared by some scholars to the Old Testament’s wi ...
Dear Friend of Carmel Mission,
In today’s Gospel it is decision time for those who have been traveling with Jesus, witnessing his miracles and listening to His teaching. Jesus has told them that he is the Bread of Life, and everything that goes along with this truth. Their reaction is one of the major understa ...
Dear Friend of Carmel Mission,
Today in the Gospel we hear the Magnificat, Mary’s powerful prayer of joy and praise to God. “My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord my spirit rejoices in God my Savior.” (Luke 1:46) Mary’s courage in saying yes to God is nothing less than incredible, but what strikes m ...
Dear Friend of Carmel Mission,
I think we can all relate to the prophet Elijah in the first reading today. He undertakes his journey with the best intentions. He keeps walking, but at the end of the day, he realizes he is simply human, “no better than my fathers.”(1 Kings 19:4) He is ready to give up on his ...
Dear Friend of Carmel Mission,
Today in the Gospel Jesus says, “whoever comes to me will never hunger, and whoever believes in me will never thirst.” (John 6:35). Take a moment to reflect on the enormity of that statement. Jesus welcomes everyone. All that is required is to come to Him, to believe in Him, and ...
Dear Friend of Carmel Mission,
Today’s Gospel recounts one of Jesus’ most famous miracles, the multiplication of the loaves and fishes. It is the beginning of what is called the “Bread of Life discourse”, in which Jesus reveals that He is the bread of life, that will be broken for all so that no one will eve ...
Dear Friend of Carmel Mission,
Today in our Scripture readings we have a familiar image, God as the shepherd of His flock. In the reading from the prophet Jeremiah God warns those who would harm the flock, and promises to gather the scattered sheep and appoint shepherds to care for them. In the Gospel, Jesus recogni ...
Dear Friend of Carmel Mission,
In the Gospel today Jesus sends the disciples off on their first missionary endeavor with the instruction, “take nothing for the journey.” (Mark 6:8) Imagine setting off on a trip with no suitcase, no money, no iPhone! The game plan is to walk from place to place and rely on th ...
Dear Friend of Carmel Mission,
There is a saying, “you can never be a prophet in your own land.” Jesus says much the same in the Gospel today after his very disappointing homecoming. We can well imagine that He likely looked forward to returning home, to being with those who knew Him best, and had watched Hi ...
