Today’s Readings – Sunday of Week 4 of Ordinary Time (A)

Commentary on Zephaniah 2:3; 3:12-13; 1 Corinthians 1:26-31; Matthew 5:1-12

Today we begin the Sermon on the Mount. In Matthew’s gospel, Jesus is presented as the new Moses. He presents five long discourses by Jesus, which can be seen to match the Pentateuch (the five first books of the Bible), traditionally attributed to Moses as their author and which embody the Jewish Law. Just as the Pentateuch embodies the Jewish way of life, so these discourses embody Jesus’ vision of the life he proposes for us.

The Sermon on Mount is the first of these five discourses. It is not a tape recording or a verbatim record of an actual sermon or address. Rather, it is a collection of sayings and teachings focusing on the personal qualities expected of a disciple of Jesus … Continue

Yesterday’s Readings – Saint Thomas Aquinas, Priest and Doctor

Saint Thomas Aquinas, Priest and Doctor (Memorial)

Thomas Aquinas was born in 1224 at his father Count Landulph’s castle of Roccasecca in the Kingdom of Sicily, in the present-day Regione Lazio. Through his mother, Theodora Countess of Theate, Aquinas was related … Continue