Father Leslie Hoppe, OFM

April 17, 2024

April 28: Fifth Sunday of Easter

Several years ago, a CIA agent was discovered to be passing top secret information to the Russians. His actions led to a most serious breach of security that resulted in the deaths of several American agents who were working undercover in Russia.

April 17, 2024

April 21: Fourth Sunday of Easter

Christians have always regarded the figure of the good shepherd as an attractive and endearing image of Jesus. The first Christians especially appreciated it. Many tombs found in Rome’s catacombs have an image of Jesus depicted as a shepherd emblazoned upon them.

April 03, 2024

April 14: Third Sunday of Easter

Jesus lived and died as an observant Jew. Jesus’ disciples were Jews. The first Christians were Jews. Those Jews who accepted the Gospel did not turn their backs on the ancestral faith. Continuity with their religious past and its commitments was very important for Jewish Christians.

March 13, 2024

March 31: Resurrection of the Lord

No one expected it. Not Mary Magdalene, nor any of the other women and men who followed Jesus from Galilee.

March 13, 2024

March 24: Palm Sunday of the Lord’s Passion

Today’s liturgy begins with a commemoration of Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem. In Mark’s account of Jesus’ ministry, this is the only time Jesus visits Jerusalem since beginning his mission to his fellow Jews, calling them to repentance of faith in view of God’s final and decisive move in Israel’s life. Jesus comes to Jerusalem to issue that call to its people, urging them to respond without delay.

March 13, 2024

March 17: Fifth Sunday of Lent

It’s a natural enough scene: People want to meet the young rabbi that everyone has been talking about. Some Greek-speaking Jews from the diaspora have come to Jerusalem on the pilgrimage for the feast of Passover. They approach Philip and Andrew, two members of Jesus’ entourage with Greek names that had no Hebrew equivalent. Perhaps the pilgrims thought that Philip and Andrew would be willing to introduce them to their rabbi.

February 28, 2024

March 10: Fourth Sunday of Lent

The arrangement of the books in the Jewish Bible differs from that in the Christian Old Testament. The latter ends with the book of Malachai, which looks forward to the appearance of Elijah who will come before the Messiah comes. The Gospels interpret the expected Elijah as referring to John the Baptist, who is Jesus’ precursor (Mt 14:10; Lk 1:17).

February 28, 2024

March 3: Third Sunday of Lent

The Ten Commandments, which are the subject of today’s first reading, are among the most familiar passages in the Old Testament. We memorized the commandments when we were school children and many of us still run through them when we examine our conscience as we prepare ourselves for the sacrament of reconciliation.

February 14, 2024

Feb. 25: Second Sunday of Lent

The story involving Abraham and Isaac in today’s first reading is one of those biblical accounts that have evoked a variety of responses. The early church’s preachers and theologians found in the story a type of the death of Christ. Historians of religion and anthropologists consider it a rejection of child sacrifice by ancient Israel. Christian spiritual writers speak of it as illustrating how faith is tested.

February 14, 2024

Feb. 18: First Sunday of Lent

What’s in a name? The Latin word for Lent is “Quadragesima.” It comes from the word for 40 and refers to the length of this liturgical season, i.e., 40 days.
1 2 3 4 5 >

Advertising