Gospel Reflections

Kingdom Come: Scott Hahn Reflects on the Second Sunday in Advent “The kingdom of heaven is at hand,” John proclaims. And the Liturgy today paints us a vivid portrait of our new king and the shape of the kingdom He has come to bring. The Lord whom John prepares the…

In a Dark Hour Jesus exaggerates in today’s Gospel when He claims not to know the day or the hour when He will come again. Christ occasionally makes such overstatements to drive home a point we might otherwise miss (see Matthew 5:34; 23:9; Luke 14:26). His point here is that…

Kingdom of the Son: Scott Hahn Reflects on the Solemnity of Christ the King Week by week, the Liturgy has been preparing us for the revelation to be made on this, the last Sunday of the Church year. Jesus, we have been shown, is truly the Chosen One, the Messiah of…

“Today” is the Day: Scott Hahn Reflects on the 33rd Sunday It is the age between our Lord’s first coming and His last. We live in the new world begun by His life, death, Resurrection, and Ascension, by the sending of His Spirit upon the Church. But we await the…

To Rise Again: Scott Hahn Reflects on the 32nd Sunday With their riddle about seven brothers and a childless widow, the Sadducees in today’s Gospel mock the faith for which seven brothers and their mother die in the First Reading. The Maccabean martyrs chose death—tortured limb by limb, burned alive…

Lover of Souls: Scott Hahn Reflects on the 31st Sunday Our Lord is a lover of souls, the Liturgy shows us today. As we sing in today’s Psalm, He is slow to anger and compassionate toward all that He has made. In His mercy, our First Reading tells us, He…

No Favorites: Scott Hahn Reflects on the 13th Sunday Jesus draws a blunt picture in today’s Gospel. The Pharisee’s prayer is almost a parody of the thanksgiving psalms (see for example Psalms 30, 118). Instead of praising God for His mighty works, the Pharisee congratulates himself for his own deeds,…

Hope from on High: Scott Hahn Reflects on the 29th Sunday The Lord is our guardian, beside us at our right hand, interceding for us in all our spiritual battles. In today’s Psalm we’re told to lift our eyes to the mountains, that our help will come from Mount Zion…

Returning Thanks: Scott Hahn on the 28th Sunday A foreign leper is cleansed and in thanksgiving returns to offer homage to the God of Israel. We hear this same story in both the First Reading and Gospel today. There were many lepers in Israel in Elisha’s time, but only Naaman…

Life by Faith: Scott Hahn Reflects on the Twenty-Seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time Because of his faith, the just man shall live. We hear in today’s First Reading the original prophetic line made so central by St. Paul (see Romans 1:17; Galatians 3:11; Hebrews 10:38). We are to live by…