Fr. Brendan Curran, OP

Join Fr. Brendan Curran, OP, as he unpacks the powerful readings for the Third Sunday of Lent, offering insights into Exodus, 1 Corinthians, and Luke's Gospel.

The prophet Isaiah assures us that the fast that is acceptable to God is " to loose the bonds of injustice, to undo the thongs of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free." Let us make sure that this is part of our Lenten committment.

Jesus admonished his followers that they had to pick up their cross daily and follow him. We all have good days and bad days, days when we are excited to be followers of Christ and days when we simply can't stand to pick up the cross of helping others in our seemingly hopelessly broken world. Fortunately, we can do this together, as a community.

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