Br. Joseph Trout, OP

Br. Joe Trout breaks open the readings for the Fifteenth Sunday of Ordinary Time, tying the disparate readings together—Amos is not a professional prophet, just trying to do God's will; Jesus calls the apostles to trust him and follow his work; and Paul reminds us that it is God who lavishes grace upon us. Thus, we must ask ourselves: is this God working through me, or are these my own ideas that are getting in the way of God working through me?

Readings: Amos 7:12–15, Ephesians 1:3–14, Mark 6:7–13

God instructed Hosea to marry an unfaithful wife as sign of both Israel's unfaithfulness and God's enduring love. When we gaze on a crucifix we can see both our sin in crucifying our saviour and God's love in enduring that for our salvation. Let us embrace that duality.

God instructed Hosea to marry an unfaithful wife as sign of both Israel's unfaithfulness and God's enduring love. When we gaze on a crucifix we can see both our sin in crucifying our saviour and God's love in enduring that for our salvation. Let us embrace that duality.

On this memorial of The Immaculate Heart of Mary, we remember Mary as having the perfect human heart, untouched by sin. In iconography, Mary's Immaculate Heart is pictured in flames, recalling the burning bush that Moses encountered on Mount Horeb from which God spoke of his desire to save humanity. Mary's heart was grafted on to God's heart when she said agreed to become the Mother of God. Even though we see in the Gospel that Mary did not always understand the plan of God, her burning love never wavered.

For the Solemnity of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, we are invited to see Jesus as the absolute love of God taken flesh so that we might be able to enter heaven—a proof of the love of God for us.

Br. Joe Trout, OP breaks open the readings for the Feast of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ (often still called "Corpus Christi"), revealing the many-layered themes that reveal God's complete plan of salvation for the world—creating us in the image of God to be God's presence in the world and then giving us the Eucharist so that we can live up to this call.

Readings: Exodus 24:3–8, Hebrews 9:11–15, Mark 14:12–16, 22–26