Category Archives: A Lamp for Today

Ephesians 4:7-13; Psalm 67/68:18; Matthew 4:12-17; John 21:1-14 You have shown yourself forth to the world, O Lord, And the light of Your countenance has been marked on us. Knowing You, we sing Your praises. You have come and revealed Yourself, O unapproachable Light I wonder if you have the same experience that I doContinue reading “Marked by the Light: The Leave-taking of Theophany”

(2 Timothy 4:5 – 8; Mark 1:1 – 8; Malachi 3:1-5, 4:2-6) More than a century and a half ago, (Lord) Alfred Tennyson wrote words in memory of a friend’s passing, words that would be used among English speakers for decades as they mark the passage from one (Western) year to another: Ring out, wildContinue reading ““Ringing Out” and “Ringing In”: Leave-Taking of Nativity and Sunday before Theophany”

Luke 24:36-53; Luke 14:16-24; Daniel 3; Colossians 3:4-11 Nativity, which is fast upon us, is a time of both confirmation and disruption. It answers to the longings of the prophets, and the hopes of all the years; but the answer it gives is surprising. Awe strikes us as we see its combination of the expectedContinue reading “The Expected and the Unexpected: Twenty-eighth after Pentecost and Sunday of the Forefathers”

Ephesians 5:8-19; Luke 18:35-43; Zephaniah 1:14-17; 3:9-20 Illumine our hearts, O Master Who lovest mankind, with the pure light of Thy divine knowledge. Open the eyes of our mind to the understanding of Thy gospel teachings. Implant also in us the fear of Thy blessed commandments, that trampling down all carnal desires, we may enterContinue reading “Light in our Darkness: Fourteenth Sunday of Luke, Commemoration of the Prophet Zephaniah”

Luke 8:29-56, Galatians 2:16-20; Genesis 15; Genesis 18 The two readings for this seventh Sunday of Luke provide food for thought concerning the relationship between our faith and Christ’s power. The topic is an important one, as many of our Protestant friends around us are celebrating the 500th anniversary of the Reformation, with an emphasisContinue reading “Sole Fide? Seventh Sunday of Luke, 21st Sunday after Pentecost”

We are in the season of reading Luke’s gospel, and will remember that great evangelist this coming Wednesday, on October 18. So much could be said about this remarkable evangelist and the witness that he has left to “all that Jesus began to do and teach” (Acts 1:1), those things “delivered to us by eyewitnessesContinue reading “St. Luke the Evangelist and What “Is Written””

Readings: 2 Corinthians 6:16-18, 7:1; Luke 6:31-36; Exodus 29:36-46; Isaiah 52:9-11; Ezekiel 36:25-28; 37:26-28 Our readings for this second Sunday of Luke (the seventeenth after Pentecost) bring us face-to-face with an uncomfortable part of our faith: we are to be different. The passage from 2 Corinthians is part of a slightly longer section in whichContinue reading “Daring to be Different: Seventeenth Sunday after Pentecost, Second of Luke, and feast day of the Apostle Ananias.”

1 Samuel (Kingdoms) 21; Psalm 33/34; Gal. 2: 16-20; Mark 8:34-9:1 King David was not a stranger to shame. His times were wild and wooly—and most particularly, the times before he actually became king of Israel. Everyone remembers how Saul turned against David, and sought his life, even though David had been loyal to him.Continue reading “Ashamed of God? Sunday after the Elevation of the Holy Cross”

1 Cor. 16:13-24; Matthew 21:33-42; Isaiah 5:1-7; 27:1-13; 2 Peter 1: 3-12 And so we come again to the beginning of the ecclesiastical (and school!) year. In some parishes, schoolbags, children and teachers have been blessed; and on September 1, we remembered the entry of the Hebrews into the Promised Land, and the inaugural sermonContinue reading “O LORD, Look Down Upon this Vineyard! Thirteenth Sunday after Pentecost, Thirteenth of Matthew”

1 Corinthians 9:1-12, Matthew 18:23-25; 1 Samuel/Kingdoms 12:3-25; 1 Samuel/1 Kingdoms 28; Psalm 99:6-9; Sirach 46:13-20 Our readings for the eleventh Sunday of Matthew happily correspond this year with our remembrance of the Holy Prophet and last of the Judges of Israel, Samuel. The themes of both the epistle and the gospel reading lead usContinue reading “Samuel the Prophet: Messenger of Justice and Forgiveness”