Bob's Beanfield

Last week we learned a little bit about God's infinite Mercy. Today, we hear about how we need to respond to that Mercy, in our actions. It isn't enough to believe, we have to act on that belief. Jesus today takes the Pharisees to task for not repenting.

Let's listen closely to see how God is calling us to repent in today's Scripture readings for the 26th Sunday in Ordinary Time and the commentary on those readings by Dr. Peter Kreeft from his book, "Food for the Soul", Reflections on the Mass Readings for Cycle A. Scripture readings are from the Lectionary for Mass for Use in the Dioceses of the United States of America, second typical edition, Copyright Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Inc., used with permission. Commentary copyright Peter Kreeft, published by Word on Fire, used with permission.

In a previous podcast, I mentioned that I sometimes wondered whether they was or was not other intelligent life in the Universe. I observed that either way, it was to me evidence of God's infinite love. If there IS some other race out there, God loves so much that He created it too., If not, then the ENTIRE UNIVERSE was made for the express purpose of His love of US. Imagine that! That would be INFINITE love.

Today, we hear about God's Mercy, contrasted with our concept of justice. We learn that God's Mercy is, like our Universe, infinite. Incomprehensible. Which makes it, like the night sky, awe-inspiring.

We'll hear more about these ideas in today's Scripture readings for the 25th Sunday in Ordinary Time and the commentary on those readings by Dr. Peter Kreeft from his book, "Food for the Soul", Reflections on the Mass Readings for Cycle A. Scripture readings are from the Lectionary for Mass for Use in the Dioceses of the United States of America, second typical edition, Copyright Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Inc., used with permission. Commentary copyright Peter Kreeft, published by Word on Fire, used with permission.

We all know the "Golden Rule"…do unto others as you would have done to you. What we don't always remember is that this rule applies to every aspect of our relationships. Including forgiveness! How do we think we deserve to be forgiven of all we've done wrong if we hold grudges against others? And in the context of the fact that we all will die, how do we reconcile our own actions? Remember your death…Memento Mori, as the saying goes. We'll talk about those topics and others in today's Scripture readings for the 24th Sunday in Ordinary Time and the commentary on those readings by Dr. Peter Kreeft from his book, "Food for the Soul", Reflections on the Mass Readings for Cycle A. Scripture readings are from the Lectionary for Mass for Use in the Dioceses of the United States of America, second typical edition, Copyright Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Inc., used with permission. Commentary copyright Peter Kreeft, published by Word on Fire, used with permission.

We hear a lot about forgiveness in Scripture, but what about correction? How do we handle people who we believe to be not following God's way? How do we handle it, and what is our responsibility? Can we just turn our heads, and say that it isn't our business? Are we really our brother's keeper? We'll talk about these questions and more in today's Scripture readings for the 23st Sunday in Ordinary Time and the commentary on those readings by Dr. Peter Kreeft from his book, "Food for the Soul", Reflections on the Mass Readings for Cycle A. Scripture readings are from the Lectionary for Mass for Use in the Dioceses of the United States of America, second typical edition, Copyright Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Inc., used with permission. Commentary copyright Peter Kreeft, published by Word on Fire, used with permission.

Have you ever met someone who said something like, "God told me such and such"? How did you respond to that? Does God speak to us in words? How do you know when it's Him and not your own inner voice? How ELSE can and does He speak to us?

Sometimes it seems that Scripture is full of contrasts and conflicting statements. Jesus loves us and wants to save us, but in order to do that He has to die. God asks us to do the same thing…to die to self. Yet He always does what is best for us, and makes even bad things work together for our best good. It has been said that what God wants for us is so much better than what we want for ourselves. How can this be? How should we think about these apparent contradictions? We'll hear about these and more in today's Scripture readings for the 22st Sunday in Ordinary Time and the commentary on those readings by Dr. Peter Kreeft from his book, "Food for the Soul", Reflections on the Mass Readings for Cycle A. Scripture readings are from the Lectionary for Mass for Use in the Dioceses of the United States of America, second typical edition, Copyright Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Inc., used with permission. Commentary copyright Peter Kreeft, published by Word on Fire, used with permission.

Who is Jesus Christ? Who do YOU say He is? We've probably all heard the readings for today, where Peter proclaims that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of the Living God. But what does that mean? And why did some say he was a prophet, like Elijah? Did the Jews believe in reincarnation? We'll answer these questions and more in today's Scripture readings for the 21st Sunday in Ordinary Time and the commentary on those readings by Dr. Peter Kreeft from his book, "Food for the Soul", Reflections on the Mass Readings for Cycle A. Scripture readings are from the Lectionary for Mass for Use in the Dioceses of the United States of America, second typical edition, Copyright Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Inc., used with permission. Commentary copyright Peter Kreeft, published by Word on Fire, used with permission.

There is a lot of talk these days about diversity. What did Jesus say about the diversity of His creation? He chose the Jews to be His people, yet they rejected Him over and over again. Don't we do that too? How does God respond to that? We'll hear about these and more in today's Scriptures for the 20th Sunday in Ordinary Time and the commentary on those readings by Dr. Peter Kreeft from his book, "Food for the Soul", Reflections on the Mass Readings for Cycle A. Scripture readings are from the Lectionary for Mass for Use in the Dioceses of the United States of America, second typical edition, Copyright Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Inc., used with permission. Commentary copyright Peter Kreeft, published by Word on Fire, used with permission.

Our world is a busy, noisy place. So many of us feel the stress of work, families, friends, and all the obligations of life that we forget to spend time in the still, quiet solitude of God's love. How do we get there? All we have to do is ask Him. He will still the storm, and reach out and grab us if we are drowning, literally or figuratively. We will hear about that in today's Scriptures for the 19th Sunday in Ordinary Time and the commentary on those readings by Dr. Peter Kreeft from his book, "Food for the Soul", Reflections on the Mass Readings for Cycle A. Scripture readings are from the Lectionary for Mass for Use in the Dioceses of the United States of America, second typical edition, Copyright Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Inc., used with permission. Commentary copyright Peter Kreeft, published by Word on Fire, used with permission.

If you've been following and listening to this podcast, you will probably have noticed that today, the episode is titled by the date, not by the Sunday. The reason for that is that August 6 is the Feast of the Transfiguration. That happens every year, regardless of what day it falls on. This year, it falls on a Sunday, so the readings you will hear at Mass are for that feast. However, Cycle A of the Scripture readings does not distinguish readings for that feast, and today would normally be the 18th Sunday in Ordinary Time. Dr. Kreeft did not provide commentary on readings for the Feast of the Transfiguration. So, today, you won't hear the Scriptures for Mass and commentary on them as usual; however, you will get a bonus!

I'll read the readings and commentary for the 18th Sunday in Ordinary Time, in the sequence, AND, I will go back to the 2nd Sunday in Lent, where the gospel is about the Transfiguration. While the first and second readings and Psalm response will be different, I think you'll enjoy the commentary for that Sunday in its place.

Scripture readings are from the Lectionary for Mass for Use in the Dioceses of the United States of America, second typical edition, Copyright Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Inc., used with permission. Commentary on readings is taken from Dr. Peter Kreeft's book, "Food for the Soul", Reflections on the Mass Readings for Cycle A, copyright Peter Kreeft, published by Word on Fire, used with permission.

Link to the podcast website here!