Fr. Brendan Curran, OP

Jesus healed a blind man, but it was difficult and took two tries. When Jesus is healing us, we need to have patience. Healing takes time.

Despite seeing Jesus multiplying the loaves and the fishes, the disciples worry that they have brought enough bread for the journey. Jesus wonders aloud if they understand at all who he is. We need to trust that God provides enough.

Fr. Brendan Curran, OP breaks open the readings for the Sixth Sunday of Ordinary Time, exploring how we can discern true prophets from false prophets. The Prophet Jeremiah reminds us to expect our faith to flourish like a tree planted by a river that fears no doubt. St. Paul reminds us to root our faith in the resurrection of Christ. And our Gospel is Luke's version of the Beatitudes, which matches each "Blessed are you" with a corresponding "woe are you" to that while he gives comfort to the poor, he also warns of the dangers that riches bring, and while he praises trues prophets, who always invite trouble on themselves, he warms against being false prophets, who get praised by all because they tell them what they want to hear instead of speaking God's truth, which is usually challenging.

Readings: Jeremiah 17:5–8; 1 Corinthians 15:12, 16–20; Luke 6:17, 20–26

Today we have the Parable of the Sower, where the Word of God is planted like seed on different kinds of soil. Some of each kind of soil is inside each of us. So let each of us dig deep and find the good soil in our own hearts and work to cultivate the good soil in other people's hearts.

In today's Gospel, Jesus tells us that whoever does the will of God is his mother, brother and sister. As related by Fr. Scott, Fr. Brendan tells us of an interreligious group founded my muslims in the Chicago area that does amazing work bringing God's compassion to war-torn areas of our world. Certainly, these people are Jesus' mother, brother, and sister.

On this Feast of the Baptism of the Lord, we recall that Jesus was baptised to carry out the the commission of the Prophet Isaiah, "Give Comfort to my People." May all of us who are baptised fulfil this mission.