We have been reading as the Gospel at Mass over the past few Sundays from the sixth chapter of John’s Gospel, the Bread of Life Discourse.

This month at Holy Mass on Sundays, we will be reading from the Gospel of John. Normally in the readings offered to us for our reflection in this current liturgical cycle (Year B), we have the opportunity to read from the Gospel of Mark.

These days, it is all too easy to complain. We don’t have to look far to see the many things in our lives and our world that need improvement. Still, this Sunday’s scriptures are brimming with optimism and hope.

The longer I am a priest, the more I feel the weight of my responsibility for souls. God’s trust humbles me, and at the same time drives me back to Him for the help I desperately need.

In June of 2008, there were two of us ordained for the Diocese of Brooklyn. It was the singular most important day of my life, a day for which my appreciation has only grown in the 16 years since.

We know that the entire Bible is centered on the person of Jesus. Every word points to the Word made flesh, and sometimes you can even find passages written long before His birth that very clearly describe Him.

How’s your Aramaic? My knowledge of biblical Aramaic is still quite good, even though when I first dove into that language as a graduate student, the textbook we used was no more than a cheap, low-quality photocopy of an out-of-print Aramaic grammar written in Latin by Ludovicus (no doubt his family called him Luis) Palacios.

Translation matters. If you doubt that, consider this! In the King James Version of the Bible (dating to 1611), here’s how the Letter of James invites us to consider the human protagonist of Sunday’s first reading: “Behold, we count them happy which endure. Ye have heard of the patience of Job, and
have seen the end of the Lord; that the Lord is very pitiful, and of tender mercy” (Jas 5:11).

When they invite me to contribute Sunday Scriptures columns, the editors of The Tablet politely remind me to keep them to about 550 words.