On this first Sunday after Pentecost, we clarify and amplify the readings from Matthew and Hebrews by looking to the story of Solomonia and her seven brave sons (2 Maccabees 7).

This woman, known in the early Church as a prophetess, spoke clearly of God’s creating and resurrecting power, and so inspires us, in our challenges today, to follow Christ to glory.

On this first Sunday after Pentecost, we clarify and amplify the readings from Matthew and Hebrews by looking to the story of Solomonia and her seven brave sons (2 Maccabees 7).

This woman, known in the early Church as a prophetess, spoke clearly of God’s creating and resurrecting power, and so inspires us, in our challenges today, to follow Christ to glory.

This week we consider the reading from Acts 16 for the sixth Sunday of Easter, reading it in the light of Psalm 1. These readings discloses different mindsets, some to caution us, some to be our models, as we follow Christ on the Way.

This week we consider the reading from Acts 16 for the sixth Sunday of Easter, reading it in the light of Psalm 1. These readings discloses different mindsets, some to caution us, some to be our models, as we follow Christ on the Way.

We consider, by means of the Book of Wisdom 17, how paralysis takes different shapes in John 5, Acts 9 and Luke 24: some conditions in which humans have closed themselves off from God, but many others that the Lord heals by His power.

This weekend we consider the radiance of Bright week, the glory of the Theotokos, and the promise of our incorporation into the New Jerusalem, even as we reap many of its benefits now. We look to the prophets Isaiah and Ezekiel, as well as to the final book of the Bible, the book of Revelation, to fill in the wonder of the Paschal hymn and its call for us to rejoice and shine with the glory of God.

This weekend we consider the radiance of Bright week, the glory of the Theotokos, and the promise of our incorporation into the New Jerusalem, even as we reap many of its benefits now. We look to the prophets Isaiah and Ezekiel, as well as to the final book of the Bible, the book of Revelation, to fill in the wonder of the Paschal hymn and its call for us to rejoice and shine with the glory of God.

This week we look to the Old Testament readings of Exodus 3 and Jeremiah 32-33 to understand the feast of the Annunciation, the words of Gabriel to holy Mary, and the meeting of the Theotokos with Elizabeth in the hill country of Judah. God’s glory is seen in humble places.

This week we read the epistle through the lenses of St. John Chrysostom, St. John Climacus, the book of Genesis and Isaiah’s portrait of the Suffering Servant. Here we are given the hope to continue following our great forerunner Jesus. The gospel reading adds to this the importance of faith, prayer and fasting, as we set our faces towards the cross.

This week, we consider the strange figure of Melchizedek in Hebrews 4:14-5:10, and read it in the light of Mark 8:27-9:1, Genesis 14, Isaiah 53 and Psalm 44/45. Why is this figure compared with our Lord, and how must we go beyond this comparison to embrace the cross?