Abbot's Homilies

11th Sunday of Ordinary Time-Cycle B-2018 FIRST READING            Ezekiel 17:22-24 Thus says the Lord GOD:  I, too, will take from the crest of the cedar, from its topmost branches tear off a tender shoot, and plant it on a high and lofty mountain; on the mountain...

10th Sunday of Ordinary Time-Cycle B-2018 FIRST READING            Genesis 3:9-15 After the man, Adam, had eaten of the tree, the Lord God called to the man and asked him, “Where are you?”  He answered, “I heard you in the garden; but I was afraid, because I was...

9th Sunday of Ordinary Time-Cycle B-2009 FIRST READING            Deuteronomy 5:12-15 Thus says the Lord:  “Take care to keep holy the sabbath day as the Lord, your God, commanded you.  Six days you may labor and do all your work; but the seventh day is the sabbath of...

Corpus Christi-Cycle B-2018 FIRST READING            Exodus 24:3-8 When Moses came to the people and related all the words and ordinances of the LORD, they all answered with one voice, "We will do everything that the LORD has told us."  Moses then wrote down all the...

Trinity Sunday-Cycle B-2018 FIRST READING            Deuteronomy 4:32-34, 39-40 Moses said to the people:  "Ask now of the days of old, before your time, ever since God created man upon the earth; ask from one end of the sky to the other:  Did anything so great ever...

Easter-Pentecost-Cycle B-2018 FIRST READING            Acts of the Apostles 2:1-11 When the time for Pentecost was fulfilled, they were all in one place together.  And suddenly there came from the sky a noise like a strong driving wind, and it filled the entire house...

7th Sunday of Easter-Cycle B-2018 FIRST READING            Acts of the Apostles 1:15-17, 20a, 20c-26 Peter stood up in the midst of the brothers—there was a group of about one hundred and twenty persons in the one place--He said, “My brothers, the Scripture had to be...

Ascension of our Lord—Cycle B—2018 FIRST READING                    Acts of the Apostles   1:1-11 In the first book, Theophilus, I dealt with all that Jesus did and taught until the day he was taken up, after giving instructions through the Holy Spirit to the apostles...

6th Sunday of Easter-Cycle B-2018 FIRST READING            Acts of the Apostles 10:25-26, 34-35, 44-48 When Peter entered, Cornelius met him and, falling at his feet, paid him homage.  Peter, however, raised him up, saying, “Get up. I myself am also a human being.” ...

5th Sunday of Easter-Cycle B-2018 FIRST READING            Acts of the Apostles 9:26-31 When Saul arrived in Jerusalem he tried to join the disciples, but they were all afraid of him, not believing that he was a disciple.  Then Barnabas took charge of him and brought...

4th Sunday of Easter-Cycle B-2018 FIRST READING                    Acts of the Apostles 4:8-12 Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said:  “Leaders of the people and elders:  If we are being examined today about a good deed done to a cripple, namely, by what means he...

3rd Sunday of Easter-Cycle B-2018 FIRST READING            Acts of the Apostles 3:13-15, 17-19 Peter said to the people:  “The God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, the God of our fathers, has glorified his servant Jesus, whom you handed over and...

2nd Sunday of Easter-Cycle B-2018 FIRST READING            Acts of the Apostles 4:32-35 The community of believers was of one heart and mind, and no one claimed that any of his possessions was his own, but they had everything in common.  With great power the apostles...

Easter Day Mass-Cycle B-2018 FIRST READING            Acts 10:34a, 37-43 Peter proceeded to speak and said:  “You know what has happened all over Judea, beginning in Galilee after the baptism that John preached, how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit...

EASTER VIGIL MASS—CYCLE B—2018 FIRST READING              Genesis 1:1—2:2 In the beginning, when God created the heavens and the earth, the earth was a formless wasteland, and darkness covered the abyss, while a mighty wind swept over the waters.  Then God said, “Let...

GOOD FRIDAY-2018 FIRST READING            Isaiah 52:13-53:12 See, my servant shall prosper, he shall be raised high and greatly exalted.  Even as many were amazed at him—so marred was his look beyond human semblance and his appearance beyond that of the sons of man—so...

HOLY THURSDAY-2018 FIRST READING            Exodus 12:1-8, 11-14 The Lord said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, “This month shall stand at the head of your calendar; you shall reckon it the first month of the year.  Tell the whole community of Israel:  On the...

Palm Sunday of the Passion of the Lord-Lent-Cycle B-2018 FIRST READING          Isaiah 50:4-7 The Lord God has given me a well-trained tongue, that I might know how to speak to the weary a word that will rouse them.  Morning after morning he opens my ear that I may...

5th Sunday of Lent - Cycle B – 2018 FIRST READING        Jeremiah 31:31-34 The days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah.  It will not be like the covenant I made with their fathers the day I took...

4th Sunday of Lent (Laetare) - Cycle B - 2018 FIRST READING        2 Chronicles 36:14-16, 19-23 In those days, all the princes of Judah, the priests, and the people added infidelity to infidelity, practicing all the abominations of the nations and polluting the Lord’s...