Today, August 15, is an ancient feast day that remembers the end of the earthly life of Mary, the mother of Jesus. As such, it represents a wonderful opportunity to eulogize this incredible woman, whom God chose to be the human agent of the Incarnation — the mother of the Son of God — and … Continue reading By Blood & By Grace: A Reflection on the Feast of St Mary
For the past three weeks now, our Sunday Gospels have been following Jesus' long discussion about bread in John's Gospel. Two weeks ago, the scene was introduced by Jesus' miraculous feeding of a large, hungry crowd, which we saw was an object lesson for what the Kingdom of God is like. Last week's reading showed … Continue reading What Fills You Up: A Reflection on John 6.35, 41-51
In last week's Gospel reading, Jesus fed a crowd of thousands with just a small amount of food. In my reflection on the passage, I asked why this story was so important to the first Christians that it recurs six times in the four canonical Gospels. I suggested that it was because it manifests the … Continue reading Bread and Circuses? A Reflection on John 6.24-35
I have to admit that I rolled my eyes when I read this week's readings and saw that the Gospel appointed for today was the Feeding of the Five Thousand as told by St. John. It's one of those stories that's a little too familiar; some variation of this story is told a total of … Continue reading A Foretaste of the Kingdom: A Reflection on John 6.1-21
Last week, I happened to be walking along the Corso Italia here in Toronto in the lead up to the final of Euro 2021. Seemingly every store window was draped in either green white and red bunting or the royal blue of Italy's national football team. It was a fun atmosphere and brought back the … Continue reading Jesus and the End of Tribalism: A Reflection on Ephesians 2.11-22
Matthew Root 