José Ricardo Bezerra and Felipe Bezerra Chapter 18 of Matthew closes with a parable that unsettles us. Last Sunday we heard about the duty of fraternal correction and the power of prayer made in common (cf. Mt 18:15-20). Now comes the concrete example, and it grows out of a question from Peter: “Lord, if my brother sins against me, how often must I forgive him? As many as seven times?” (Mt 18:21). Anyone who listens to the whole parable usually reacts with indignation. The servant had just been forgiven an impossible debt and could not forgive a small one. It is the same indignation David felt at the parable told by the prophet Nathan, when the king grew furious at ...

José Ricardo Bezerra and Felipe Bezerra On this 23rd Sunday in Ordinary Time, the Gospel brings us two interlocking parts: fraternal correction and prayer made in common (Mt 18:15-20). Only six verses, and each one of them could fill an entire Sunday of prayer. They are not side by side by accident. Whoever is not reconciled with his brother does not pray in unity with him, and whoever does not pray for his brother will hardly have the courage and the delicacy needed to correct him. It is worth recalling the whole. All of chapter 18 is a catechesis of Jesus on the life of the community. It opens with a child placed in the midst of the disciples, as ...

José Ricardo Bezerra and Felipe Bezerra On this 22nd Sunday in Ordinary Time, the Gospel is the exact continuation of what we meditated on last Sunday. Right after Peter’s profession of faith, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God” (Mt 16:16), Jesus begins to announce that he must go to Jerusalem, suffer greatly, be put to death and rise on the third day (cf. Mt 16:21). The same Peter who had just received a revelation from the Father takes the Lord aside and rebukes him. And he hears from Jesus one of the harshest words in the Gospels: “Get away from me, Satan!” (Mt 16:23). This Sunday’s Gospel runs to verse 27 and includes the conditions of ...

José Ricardo Bezerra and Felipe Bezerra We come to the 20th Sunday in Ordinary Time, and this Sunday’s Gospel takes us beyond the borders of Israel, to the pagan region of Tyre and Sidon, where a Canaanite woman comes to meet Jesus (Mt 15:21-28). In many places the Solemnity of the Assumption of Our Lady is transferred from 15 August to the Sunday. But in the cities and dioceses where the Solemnity is celebrated on 15 August itself, this is the Gospel the Church offers us. Although the Gospel of Mt 15:21-28 does not speak directly of the Assumption, the persevering faith of the Canaanite woman can inspire our confidence in prayer. The Church contemplates this attitude of trust in ...

José Ricardo Bezerra e Felipe Bezerra We have reached the 19th Sunday in Ordinary Time, and this Sunday's Gospel, told by St Matthew (Mt 14:22-33), is the continuation of the multiplication of the loaves that we meditated on last Sunday. After feeding the crowd, Jesus sends the disciples ahead in the boat and goes up the mountain to pray alone. In the early hours he comes to meet them, walking on the storm-tossed sea, and Peter asks to go to him as well. As always, we have chosen five points for your meditation and prayer, which we share on the podcast: https://youtu.be/af_JNw930WY (with subtitles in your language). Take your Bible, open it to Matthew 14:22-33, read the passage calmly, and ...

José Ricardo Bezerra and Felipe Bezerra We arrive at the 18th Sunday in Ordinary Time, and this Sunday’s Gospel brings us the first multiplication of the loaves, narrated by Saint Matthew (Mt 14:13-21). It is a scene that all four Gospels preserved, a sign of how deeply it marked the memory of the Church: five loaves and two fish to satisfy about five thousand men, not counting the women and children (cf. Mt 14:21; Jn 6:1-15). At the center of it all is a word that runs through the whole page: compassion. Jesus sees the crowd and is filled with compassion, and it is from there that the miracle is born. As always, we have chosen five points for your ...

José Ricardo Bezerra and Felipe Bezerra In the Gospel of this 17th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A (Mt 13:44-52), Jesus concludes the discourse of the parables of the Kingdom, in chapter 13 of Saint Matthew. After the parables of the sower, of the weeds and the wheat, of the mustard seed and the leaven, He gives us four more parables to try to say, with images from our daily life, to what the Kingdom of Heaven may be compared: to a hidden treasure, to a buyer of precious pearls, to a net cast into the sea, and to the teacher of the Law who becomes a disciple. They are short parables, almost of two verses, but when we take ...

José Ricardo F. Bezerra and Felipe Bezerra In the Gospel of this 16th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A (Mt 13:24-43), the Church continues to meditate on chapter 13 of Saint Matthew, the great chapter of the parables. After the parable of the sower, Jesus presents to us the parable of the weeds and the wheat (and its explanation to the disciples), accompanied by two others: the mustard seed and the yeast. Once again, the Lord takes images from our daily life to reveal supernatural realities to us: in the field of the world, and also in the field of our heart, the wheat and the weeds grow together until the harvest. It is a parable about God’s patience, about ...