Bread Left Over: Reflections on the 17th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Feeding 5000

Today’s liturgy brings together several strands of Old Testament expectation to reveal Jesus as Israel’s promised Messiah and king, the Lord who comes to feed His people.

Notice the parallels between today’s Gospel and First Reading. Both Elisha and Jesus face a crowd of hungry people with only a few “barley” loaves. We hear similar words about how impossible it will be to feed the crowd with so little.…  [Continue Reading]

New USCCB Document Highlights Biblical Quotations in the Mass

Bible Open Glasses

The Catholic Mass draws heavily from Scripture—in every prayer you hear quotations and allusions to biblical texts. In fact, last year I did a series of presentations now available through Saint Joseph Communications here (shameless plug!) exploring the biblical backdrop for the prayers of the Mass. 

Now the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops has put out a footnoted version of the prayers…  [Continue Reading]


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