VEYM LEAGUE OF CHAPTERS
Bishop Robert Barron Friends, in today’s Gospel, Jesus commands us to be reconciled with one another. I want to say something about the role of forgiveness in repairing our broken relationships. When you are at worship and realize that you need to forgive someone (or be forgiven by someone), go and do it. Go get … Read moreFriday, March 3, 2023
Bishop Robert Barron Friends, today’s Gospel urges us to persist in prayer. The Lord wants us to ask with persistence, even stubbornness. Now, we must not think of God as becoming exasperated by our prayer of petition, but the clear implication is that we will get what we want through persistence: “Ask and it will … Read moreThursday, March 2, 2023
Bishop Robert Barron Friends, in today’s Gospel, Jesus tells the crowd that the only sign he will give is the sign of Jonah—the victory of his death and Resurrection. If Jesus had died and simply remained in his grave, he would be remembered (if he was remembered at all) as a noble idealist, tragically crushed … Read moreWednesday, March 1, 2023
Bishop Robert Barron Friends, today’s Gospel is Matthew’s version of the Lord’s Prayer. I want to reflect on the first verses. How wonderful that it comes directly from the prayer of Jesus himself. It is as though the prayer that he teaches them sums up the content of his own prayer. We call God “Father” … Read moreTuesday, February 28, 2023
Bishop Robert Barron Friends, today’s Gospel tells of Christ the King administering the final judgment. To those on his right he will say: “Amen, I say to you, whatever you did for one of these least brothers of mine, you did for me.” And to those on his left: “Amen, I say to you, what … Read moreMonday, February 27, 2023
Bishop Robert Barron Friends, today’s Gospel tells of the Lord’s temptation in the desert. After forty days of fasting in the desert (evocative of Israel’s forty years of wandering in the desert), Jesus meets the devil, who proceeds to lure the Messiah onto the path of sin. Jesus’ sacrifice will entail his coming to battle … Read moreSunday, February 26, 2023
Bishop Robert Barron Friends, today’s Gospel tells the story of the Lord calling Levi, also known as Matthew. As Jesus was passing by, he spotted Matthew at his tax collector’s post. To be a tax collector in Jesus’ time—a Jew collaborating with Rome’s oppression of one’s own people—was to be a contemptible figure. Jesus gazed … Read moreSaturday, February 25, 2023
Bishop Robert Barron Friends, in today’s Gospel, people ask Jesus why his disciples do not fast. He says that as wedding guests they will not fast while he, the Bridegroom, is with them. But “the days will come,” he says, “when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast.” Why do … Read moreFriday, February 24, 2023
Bishop Robert Barron Friends, in today’s Gospel, the Lord lays out the conditions for discipleship. He makes this demand: “For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it.” Notice please that this is not simply a question of accepting suffering that happens to … Read moreThursday, February 23, 2023
Bishop Robert Barron Friends, in today’s Gospel, the Lord prescribes prayer, fasting, and almsgiving as our Lenten disciplines. The Church traditionally says there are three things we ought to do during Lent, and I put stress on the word do. In recent years, we’ve emphasized the interior dimensions a little too much—that Lent is primarily … Read moreWednesday, February 22, 2023