When he had left, Jesus said, “Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in him. 32 [If God is glorified in him,] God will also glorify him in himself, and he will glorify him at once.  33 My children, I will be with you only a little while longer. You will look for me, and as I told the Jews, ‘Where I go you cannot come,’ so now I say it to you.  34 I give you a new commandment: love one another. As I have loved you, so you also should love one another.  35 This is how all will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” 36 Simon Peter said to him, “Master, where are you going?” Jesus answered [him], “Where I am going, you cannot follow me now, though you will follow later.”  37 Peter said to him, “Master, why can’t I follow you now? I will lay down my life for you.”  38 Jesus answered, “Will you lay down your life for me? Amen, amen, I say to you, the cock will not crow before you deny me three times.” Jesus was deeply troubl...

Gregory the Great explains the nature of true simplicity making use of the example of Job as well as the Gospel saying of Jesus in Matthew 10:16: “Be cunning as serpents and yet as harmless as doves.” For him simplicity must be accompanied by the fire of zeal and the craftiness of wisdom. Some people are so simple that they do not know what uprightness is. Theirs is not the true simplicity of the innocent: they are as far from that as they are far from rising to the virtue of uprightness. PAUL ON SIMPLICITY As long as they do not know how to guard their steps by walking in uprightness, they can never remain innocent merely by walking in simplicity. This is why St Paul warns his disciples I hope that you are also wise in what is good, and innocent of what is bad but also Brothers, you are not to be childish in your outlook, though you can be babies as far as wickedness is concerned . INNOCENCE OF THE DOVE & THE SERPENT’S CRAFTINESS Thus Christ our Truth enjoins his disciples with ...

He passed through towns and villages, teaching as he went and making his way to Jerusalem.  23 Someone asked him, “Lord, will only a few people be saved?” He answered them, 24 “Strive to enter through the narrow door, for many, I tell you, will attempt to enter but will not be strong enough.  25 After the master of the house has arisen and locked the door, then will you stand outside knocking and saying, ‘Lord, open the door for us.’ He will say to you in reply, ‘I do not know where you are from.’  26 And you will say, ‘We ate and drank in your company and you taught in our streets.’  27 Then he will say to you, ‘I do not know where [you] are from. Depart from me, all you evildoers!’  28 And there will be wailing and grinding of teeth when you see Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God and you yourselves cast out.  29 And people will come from the east and the west and from the north and the south and will recline at table in t...

Then he said, “What is the kingdom of God like? To what can I compare it?  19 It is like a mustard seed that a person took and planted in the garden. When it was fully grown, it became a large bush and ‘the birds of the sky dwelt in its branches." 20 Again he said, “To what shall I compare the kingdom of God?  21 It is like yeast that a woman took and mixed [in] with three measures of wheat flour until the whole batch of dough was leavened.” Jesus gave his audience some insights into what the kingdom of God was like.  The key to these two parables was not the smallness of the beginning and the great size at the end.  While that is the result, it is the growth over time that is more important.  The mustard seed grows to be a place where, “ The birds of heaven nest; among the branches they sing ( Ps. 104:12 ) .”  If we view the mustard seed as Jesus’ revelation of the Kingdom of God, many will come, Jews and Gentiles alike, and take refuge in it.  Jesus ...

He was teaching in a synagogue on the sabbath.  11 And a woman was there who for eighteen years had been crippled by a spirit; she was bent over, completely incapable of standing erect.  12 When Jesus saw her, he called to her and said, “Woman, you are set free of your infirmity.”  13 He laid his hands on her, and she at once stood up straight and glorified God.  14 But the leader of the synagogue, indignant that Jesus had cured on the sabbath, said to the crowd in reply, “There are six days when work should be done. Come on those days to be cured, not on the sabbath day.”  15 The Lord said to him in reply, “Hypocrites! Does not each one of you on the sabbath untie his ox or his ass from the manger and lead it out for watering?  16 This daughter of Abraham, whom Satan has bound for eighteen years now, ought she not to have been set free on the sabbath day from this bondage?”  17 When he said this, all his adversaries were humiliated; and the whole crow...

At that time some people who were present there told him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with the blood of their sacrifices.  2 He said to them in reply, “Do you think that because these Galileans suffered in this way they were greater sinners than all other Galileans?  3 By no means! But I tell you, if you do not repent, you will all perish as they did!  4 Or those eighteen people who were killed when the tower at Siloam fell on them —do you think they were more guilty than everyone else who lived in Jerusalem?  5 By no means! But I tell you, if you do not repent, you will all perish as they did!” 6 And he told them this parable: “There once was a person who had a fig tree planted in his orchard, and when he came in search of fruit on it but found none, 7 he said to the gardener, ‘For three years now I have come in search of fruit on this fig tree but have found none. [So] cut it down. Why should it exhaust the soil?’  8 He said to him in re...

As he continued his journey to Jerusalem, he traveled through Samaria and Galilee.  12 As he was entering a village, ten lepers met [him]. They stood at a distance from him 13 and raised their voice, saying, “Jesus, Master! Have pity on us!”  14 And when he saw them, he said, “Go show yourselves to the priests.” As they were going they were cleansed.  15 And one of them, realizing he had been healed, returned, glorifying God in a loud voice; 16 and he fell at the feet of Jesus and thanked him. He was a Samaritan.   17  Jesus said in reply, “Ten were cleansed, were they not? Where are the other nine?  18 Has none but this foreigner returned to give thanks to God?” Then he said to him, 19 “Stand up and go; your faith has saved you. Samaritans were Jews from the Northern Kingdom of Israel who had been adulterated by neighboring Gentile kingdoms.  Jews considered them impure and had nothing to do with them.  Jesus was headed for Jerusalem and enc...

Who among you is wise and understanding? Let him show his works by a good life in the humility that comes from wisdom.  14 But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast and be false to the truth.  15 Wisdom of this kind does not come down from above but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic.  16 For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there is disorder and every foul practice.  17 But the wisdom from above is first of all pure, then peaceable, gentle, compliant, full of mercy and good fruits, without inconstancy or insincerity.  18 And the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace for those who cultivate peace. “ If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God who gives to all generously and ungrudgingly, and he will be given it ( Js. 1:5 ) .”  The author of James was writing to the non-Palestinian Jews, the Jews who had settled throughout the Greco-Roman world ( Jn. 7:35 ).  They would have been familiar with wisdom d...

The Futility of Seeking Human Pleasure and Human Wisdom -  Ecclesiastes Chapter 2 I said in my heart, “Come, now, let me try you with pleasure and the enjoyment of good things.” See, this too was vanity. 2 Of laughter I said: “Mad!” and of mirth: “What good does this do?”   3 Guided by wisdom, I probed with my mind how to beguile my senses with wine and take up folly, until I should understand what is good for human beings to do under the heavens during the limited days of their lives.  4 I undertook great works; I built myself houses and planted vineyards; 5 I made gardens and parks, and in them set out fruit trees of all sorts. 6 And I constructed for myself reservoirs to water a flourishing woodland. 7 I acquired male and female slaves, and had slaves who were born in my house. I also owned vast herds of cattle and flocks of sheep, more than all who had been before me in Jerusalem. 8 I amassed for myself silver and gold, and the treasures of kings and provinces. ...

Gird your loins and light your lamps 36 and be like servants who await their master’s return from a wedding, ready to open immediately when he comes and knocks.  37 Blessed are those servants whom the master finds vigilant on his arrival. Amen, I say to you, he will gird himself, have them recline at table, and proceed to wait on them.  38 And should he come in the second or third watch and find them prepared in this way, blessed are those servants.  39 Be sure of this: if the master of the house had known the hour when the thief was coming, he would not have let his house be broken into.  40 You also must be prepared, for at an hour you do not expect, the Son of Man will come.”  41 Then Peter said, “Lord, is this parable meant for us or for everyone?”  42 And the Lord replied, “Who, then, is the faithful and prudent steward whom the master will put in charge of his servants to distribute [the] food allowance at the proper time?  43 Blessed is that ser...

When Jesus finished all these words, he said to his disciples, 2 “You know that in two days’ time it will be Passover, and the Son of Man will be handed over to be crucified.”  3 Then the chief priests and the elders of the people assembled in the palace of the high priest, who was called Caiaphas, 4 and they consulted together to arrest Jesus by treachery and put him to death.  5 But they said, “Not during the festival, that there may not be a riot among the people.”  6 Now when Jesus was in Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, 7 a woman came up to him with an alabaster jar of costly perfumed oil, and poured it on his head while he was reclining at table.  8 When the disciples saw this, they were indignant and said, “Why this waste?  9 It could have been sold for much, and the money given to the poor.”  10 Since Jesus knew this, he said to them, “Why do you make trouble for the woman? She has done a good thing for me.  11 The poor you will always ...

When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit upon his glorious throne, 32 and all the nations will be assembled before him. And he will separate them one from another, as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.  33 He will place the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.  34 Then the king will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father. Inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.  35 For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, a stranger and you welcomed me, 36 naked and you clothed me, ill and you cared for me, in prison and you visited me.’  37 Then the righteous will answer him and say, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? 38 When did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you?  39 When did we see you ill or in prison, and visit you?’  40 And the king will say to...

Now Jesus and his disciples set out for the villages of Caesarea Philippi. Along the way he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that I am?”  28 They said in reply, “John the Baptist, others Elijah, still others one of the prophets.”  29 And he asked them, “But who do you say that I am?” Peter said to him in reply, “You are the Messiah.”  30 Then he warned them not to tell anyone about him.  31 He began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer greatly and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed, and rise after three days.  32 He spoke this openly. Then Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him.  33 At this he turned around and, looking at his disciples, rebuked Peter and said, “Get behind me, Satan. You are thinking not as God does, but as human beings do.” When Jesus calmed the storm at sea ( Mk. 4:35-40 ), the disciples asked the question, “Who then is this whom even wind and sea obey ( Mk. 4:41 )? ”  J...

While still more people gathered in the crowd, he said to them, “This generation is an evil generation; it seeks a sign, but no sign will be given it, except the sign of Jonah.  30 Just as Jonah became a sign to the Ninevites, so will the Son of Man be to this generation.  31 At the judgment the queen of the south will rise with the men of this generation and she will condemn them, because she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and there is something greater than Solomon here.  32 At the judgment the men of Nineveh will arise with this generation and condemn it, because at the preaching of Jonah they repented, and there is something greater than Jonah here. Jesus addressed the request for a sign from the 'evil generation (v. 35)' that rejected him, and made reference to Jonah who disobeyed God ( Jonah 1:1-3 ) and spent three days in the belly of a great fish which was a type of death and resurrection ( Jonah 2:1 ).  The sign was Jonah’s pr...

When an unclean spirit goes out of someone, it roams through arid regions searching for rest but, finding none, it says, ‘I shall return to my home from which I came.’  25 But upon returning, it finds it swept clean and put in order.  26 Then it goes and brings back seven other spirits more wicked than itself who move in and dwell there, and the last condition of that person is worse than the first.   27 While he was speaking, a woman from the crowd called out and said to him, “Blessed is the womb that carried you and the breasts at which you nursed.”  28 He replied, “Rather, blessed are those who hear the word of God and observe it. Jesus cautioned his disciples that when people are freed from demons, they should not be complacent but be ever vigilant and pray that they may not be subjected something worse that they experienced before.  A woman in the crowd praised Jesus’ mother and Jesus replied that his mother should be blessed not because she bore him b...

He was driving out a demon [that was] mute, and when the demon had gone out, the mute person spoke and the crowds were amazed.  15 Some of them said, “By the power of Beelzebul, the prince of demons, he drives out demons.”  16 Others, to test him, asked him for a sign from heaven.  17 But he knew their thoughts and said to them, “Every kingdom divided against itself will be laid waste and house will fall against house.  18 And if Satan is divided against himself, how will his kingdom stand? For you say that it is by Beelzebul that I drive out demons.  19 If I, then, drive out demons by Beelzebul, by whom do your own people drive them out? Therefore they will be your judges.  20 But if it is by the finger of God that [I] drive out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.  21 When a strong man fully armed guards his palace, his possessions are safe.  22 But when one stronger than he attacks and overcomes him, he takes away the armor on whi...