The Nazareth Page-A gospel meditation for your home

November 9, 2025 – Dedication of Lateran Basilica-John 2:13-2

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Rarely does a feast day connected with a church building, however important to the Catholic Church, outclass and replace the regular passage of ordinary Sunday celebrations. But we are talking about the Roman Catholic Church, and this particular church, the Lateran, is one of the four great churches of Rome. In fact, it was the major church of Roman Catholicism for hundreds of years and is still the cathedral for the Diocese of Rome. The only church structure that exceeds its importance is St. Peter’s in Vatican City. Many church councils were held at the Lateran Church.

What I find important today however is the selection of the gospel for today’s liturgy. The scene is familiar to many. Jesus enters the temple area in Jerusalem and is clearly angry. What he witnessed was its evolution from a truly holy space where God is worshipped to a major money-maker for Jewish leadership. Its purpose had changed.

The Nazareth Page - A gospel meditation for your home

November 2, 2025 – All Souls Day-Luke 7:11-17

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This is a feast that once encouraged prayers for the departed. It can still be that, but I think of it also as an opportunity to be reminded that we are connected with all humanity, both those who are departed to the next life and those with whom we share life on Earth right now. This is timely given that it is reported that these days so many live alone, work alone and as a result feel lonely, isolated or forgotten.

I recall a brilliant film made more than fifty years back entitled “The Heart is a Lonely Hunter” staring Allen Arkin. Based on a novel of the same title it described the life of an overlooked and largely invisible deaf mute person who passed his days mostly ignored by others and eventually suffers a terrible death by suicide. Implied is that he might have been okay if only people interacted with him. Just a little.

If feelings of loneliness and isolation were a problem a half century back, what is it like today with so many people living alone and distanced from family, friends or anyone?

The Nazareth Page -A gospel meditation for your home

October 26, 2025 – Thirtieth Sunday in Ordinary Time: Luke 18:9-14

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We often gain understanding of complex matters by contrasting opposites. Some foods are sweet while others we label as sour. Some people are tall while others are short. Some are healthy and others are sick. Some vote red and some vote blue. In today’s gospel we are introduced to two persons at prayer. Might they too be opposites? Perhaps not because they were both described as praying. But Jesus invites us to go deeper. Deeper into the kind of praying that each offered to God.

The Nazareth Page -A gospel meditation for your home

October 19, 2025 – Twenty-ninth Sunday in Ordinary Time: Luke 18:1-8

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Today’s gospel is about making requests of others.  It includes a parable about dishonest public judges who did not respond fairly to some who were brought before them. In the  case mentioned in today’s gospel a woman complains that a judge usually ignored her. Nothing unusual about that case.  It still happens.

But on a deeper level the gospel is about God. The implication is that we will also appear before God with requests. Sometimes this kind of prayer is called a prayer of petition. Years ago, I played a lot of basketball. Sometimes I noticed that some players (not me) made the sign of the cross before shooting free throws. Over my career I made most of my free throws. I saw many of those who crossed themselves missing theirs. This made me wonder about the efficacy of prayer.

The most important words of the gospel today are Jesus’s advice that we should “pray always.” Here’s what I believe that means. But first, a thought about prayer in general.

The Nazareth Page -A gospel meditation for your home

October 12, 2025 – Twenty-eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time: Luke 17:11-19

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Most know that the Middle East, especially peoples living in the vicinity of Jerusalem, is a land not only of diverse cultures and religions, but also places filled with political and religious strife.  The same was true in the time of Jesus.

Today’s gospel describes a time when Jesus travelled through a part of Palestine called Samaria. This area was populated by people who were considered by most Jews as outsiders because they had their own understanding of Jewish history. Jesus would be thought of as a foreigner to them. He was among the Jews who believed that the Temple in Jerusalem was at the center of their religious allegiance. The Samaritans did not. Given deep differences between Jews and Samaritans, it was dangerous for Jesus and his followers to travel through Samaria.

The Nazareth Page  - A gospel meditation for your home

October 5, 2025 – Twenty-seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time: Luke 17:5-10

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Jesus seemed to have a particular interest in mustard seeds partly because it was a very small seed that, if everything went well, became a large bush that produced quite a few seeds. When Jesus mentioned such seeds, he didn’t only see the tiny seed, but its potential. What was small and easily overlooked became a wonderful bush whose seeds after processing became a spicy ingredient for various foods. Today I ask, what’s a hot dog without mustard?

Back to today’s gospel. I read it as a gospel calling for great effort and achievement, of encouraging us to try harder to do what’s best. But there is also a focus in the gospel that might be missed. Jesus talks about servants (very common in his day) and what they are called to do. As I reflect on this, Jesus basically acknowledges that there are “callings” that each of us receive. And it is within those settings that we are to live and “produce good fruit.”

The Nazareth Page- A gospel meditation for your home

September 28, 2025 – Twenty-sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time; Luke 16: 19-31

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We know very little about life after death.

But Jesus did give us some ideas to guide our lives that connect us with the hereafter. Like in the story found in today’s gospel. All I need to do is mention is that there was once a rich man and a poor man named Lazarus who was ignored by him, although starving at the doorstep of the rich man. Most of us know the rest of that story.

And what’s at the heart of this tragic tale? I think it’s this. There’s a direct connection between what we do here on Earth and what we experience after we die. I recall something I learned in a New Testament class as a young student. My professor said that this parable was included in Luke’s gospel, “To comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable.”

Although when you think about it, Jesus was not so much teaching us about the next life, but our lives here and now. It is an awakening story to help us understand the life we are now living and its responsibilities. The underlying truth is that it is not God’s job to feed the hungry or give drink to the thirsty. Rather it’s ours! 

The Nazareth Page - A gospel meditation for your home

September 21, 2025 – Twentieth-fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time; Luke 16:1-13

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Currently I am part of one of the largest groups in the United States, perhaps even in the whole world. I am retired. Unemployed.

Some think of this chapter as being no longer active. After all, I work for no company. My days are no longer bounded by nine to five. Yet I continue to do a small amount of teaching and writing. But I belong to no formal business of organization. I have no boss although at times my wife plays that role.

Today’s gospel talks about the role of stewardship. In today’s world this usually involves working for a business or any organization or operation where one works for others. Some build things. Some deliver what’s built. Some sell it in stores. Or one is self-employed and might work mostly online. In my own life stewardship had meant teaching at universities. Or writing books for publishers. Of course, there are a million other ways one might be employed. And like many retirees, I guess I can be called a part-time worker.

One question we might ask about today’s gospel is what does stewardship (in other words, our work) have to do with the message of Jesus? Isn’t Jesus mostly focused on matters directed associated with religion, like prayer and worship? How does religion connect with work?

The Nazareth Page- A gospel meditation for your home

September 14, 2025 – The Exaltation of the Holy Cross - John 3:13-17

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We are living at a time when we earthlings know more about the incredible universe in which we live than ever before. Through in the incredible “eyes” of the James Webb Space Telescope, we now have identified literally billions of galaxies and stars who, most likely,  have planets encircling them.

The next question for scientific research concerns extraterrestrial life, even intelligent life like our own. If that is discovered, it will be one of the greatest scientific discoveries ever! Still, so many scientific questions about creation remain, the most trying ones directly relate to us. Especially, we are asking, “Are we alone?”

The Nazareth Page  - A gospel meditation for your home

September 7, 2025 – Twentieth-third Sunday in Ordinary Time, Luke 14:25-33

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Today’s gospel contains one of the most surprising words of Jesus in all the gospels. They are worth quoting. “If anyone comes to me without hating his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple.” I have spent fifty years promoting marriage and family life as important aspects of the Christian life. Was I wrong? Did I skip this passage in the gospels?

The answer I came to after much thought is that I was right in my priorities. We all should affirm the sacred value of human relationships with family and others, but they are not the whole picture. What’s first for anyone who decides to be a disciple of Jesus is placing the values of God first.