This is a difficult message on several levels. Paul here is not talking about marriage between Jews and Christians, but rather about marriage between those who are involved in other religions. We have to remember the context: Corinth, which was full of alternative religions, especially those known as "mystery religions." There is some relationship between Christianity and the mystery religions, but beware, says St. Paul: don't be confused by them. That's the basis of his statement about not being "unequally yoked" with unbelievers. We unpack this idea in this homily.

Sometimes you hear passages from the Gospels and they roll past you. Usually we just hear that Christ called fishermen to his disciple band and don't think more about it. But what about fishing on Lake Gennesaret; what can we learn from this? Let's look at fishing in order to discover what it might mean for them...and for us.

It is always important to check the precise words St Paul uses in his addresses. In 2 Cor. 6:1-11, he appeals to his experience and that of the other Apostles and accompanists, and then he appeals to his and their behavior as a way to encourage the Corinthians to live out the Gospel. This is a message for us as well.

The Shema is central to Judaism to this day; in this passage Jesus puts the love worship of the one God together with the love of humanity and, for that matter, all of creation. This is the yoke that he lays upon us; this is the heritage we bear from our Judaic background.

It's very important to recognize the background to the Letter to the Galatians. St Paul wants them to understand that legalism is not the answer to how one becomes Christian, a reminder from his previous teaching. Listen in.

St. Paul to the Corinthians a second time: All the promises of God find their "Yes" in Christ. Fr Gabriel explores this opening salvo from St. Paul, what it means given his background, and explores with particular interest the notes about being sealed in the Spirit as a proclaimer of the Gospel.

The so-called parable of the Wicked Vinedressers comes up each year in our lectionary and frequently we register its meaning, along allegorical lines. We're all familiar with that interpretation: the Owner is God, the Vineyard is Israel, and so forth. But what if we turn back to the notion that all of Christ's parables have to do with the Kingdom (or Ruling) of God. Let's take a look at this parable from that angle this week and see what news it has for us today.

Etymology is not theology, of course, but in some cases it really helps to sharpen our understanding of what is required of us, particularly with regard to behavior. In these two short verses from St. Paul, we receive a good deal of counsel on how to live out our Christian faith in the culture we inhabit.

This passage has a twist in it which we may not often recognize: the question the young man asks is the wrong question. As a responsible and faithful member of the covenant people he would or should have known that eternal life is the promise of God for his people. So Jesus turns the question over and responds to make the young man focus on this life.

This is St Paul's great chapter on the resurrection, but what we need to notice at the outset is that he is not claiming to make any of this up, but that it rests on the firm foundation of a tradition which he has passed on without addition, without subtraction, and without comment on the initial proclamation. The tradition is embedded in verses 3-6 which are definitely pre-Pauline and which Paul learned as the core of his Gospel (verses 1 and 2). This is of great importance to us!