Gospel Reflections

Watch for Him: Scott Hahn on the 1st Sunday of Advent The new Church year begins with a plea for God’s visitation. “Oh that you would rend the heavens and come down,” the prophet Isaiah cries in today’s First Reading. In today’s Psalm, too, we hear the anguished voice of…

When the End Comes: Scott Hahn Reflects on the Solemnity of Christ the King The Church year ends today with a vision of the end of time. The scene in the Gospel is stark and resounds with Old Testament echoes. The Son of Man is enthroned over all nations and…

Settling Accounts: Scott Hahn Reflects on the 33rd Sunday The day of the Lord is coming, Paul warns in today’s Epistle. What matters isn’t the time or the season but what the Lord finds us doing with the new life, the graces He has given to us. This is at…

Members of the Wedding: Scott Hahn Reflects on the 32nd Sunday According to marriage customs of Jesus’ day, a bride was first “betrothed” to her husband but continued for a time to live with her family. Then, at the appointed hour some months later, the groom would come to claim…

Calling the Fathers: Scott Hahn Reflects on the 31st Sunday Though they were Moses’ successors, the Pharisees and scribes exalted themselves, making their mastery of the law a badge of social privilege. Worse, they had lorded the law over the people (see Matthew 20:25). Like the priests Malachi condemns in…

Love Commanded: Scott Hahn Reflects on the 30th Sunday Jesus came not to abolish the Old Testament law but to fulfill it (see Matthew 5:17). And in today’s Gospel, He reveals that love—of God and of neighbor—is the fulfillment of the whole of the law (see Romans 13:8–10). Devout Israelites were…

Caesar and the King: Scott Hahn Reflects on the 29th Sunday The Lord is king over all the earth, as we sing in today’s Psalm. Governments rise and fall by His permission, with no authority but that given from above (see John 19:11; Romans 13:1). In effect, God says to…

Dressing for the Feast: Scott Hahn Reflects on the 28th Sunday Our Lord’s parable in today’s Gospel is again a fairly straightforward outline of salvation history. God is the king (see Matthew 5:35), Jesus the bridegroom (see Matthew 9:15), the feast is the salvation and eternal life that Isaiah prophesies…

Living on the Vine: Scott Hahn on the 27th Sunday In today’s Gospel Jesus returns to the Old Testament symbol of the vineyard to teach about Israel, the Church, and the kingdom of God. And the symbolism of today’s First Reading and Psalm is readily understood. God is the owner…

The Humble Path: Scott Hahn Reflects on the 26th Sunday Echoing the complaint heard in last week’s readings, today’s First Reading again presents protests that God isn’t fair. Why does He punish with death one who begins in virtue but falls into iniquity, while granting life to the wicked one…