Dad Talk guide to the Sunday Mass readings

Our first reading from Ecclesiastes begins, "Vanity of vanities, says Qoheleth, . . . All things are vanity!" Who is Qoheleth? What is he talking about? And what does this reading have to do with the parable of the rich fool in today's Gospel? We'll answer those questions—and discuss the importance of detachment—in today's Dad Talk. Please share with a friend, and God bless! Dad

In today's Gospel, Jesus teaches us how to pray the Our Father, making this one of the most important Dad Talks of the summer. In it, we'll explore many of the prayer's nooks and crannies and what those details mean for our prayer life. Please share with a friend, and God bless! Dad

In today’s second reading, Paul says that he is “filling up what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ.”  Is he saying that Christ’s atoning sacrifice was somehow incomplete?  Absolutely not!  Learn what Paul  was  saying, as well as the difference between Abraham and Martha's hospitality, in today’s Dad Talk. Please share with a friend, and God bless! Dad

In today’s reading from Deuteronomy, Moses says “Just Do It.”®  Do what?  Jesus explains with the parable of the Good Samaritan; but to a 1st Century Jew, the parable is even more meaningful than it might appear to our modern eyes.  Learn all about it—and about Paul’s beautiful passage in his letter to the Colossians—in today’s Dad Talk. Please share with a friend, and God bless! Dad

Have you ever wondered why Jesus sent out "72" disciples to preach the Good News in today's Gospel reading? Or why he instructed them not to take sandals or greet anyone along the way? We'll answer those questions - and talk about how God calls us to be missionaries - in today's Dad Talk. Please share with a friend, and God bless! Dad

Today is a special day because the Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul - always celebrated on June 29 - displaces the 13th Sunday in Ordinary Time. The readings teach us much about these two Saints and also about the Church. We'll cover a lot of ground in today's Dad Talk.

Who is king “Melchizedek”? Any why do he and Jesus’ feeding of the 5,000 show up on a day dedicated to celebrating the body, blood, soul, and divinity of Christ in the Eucharist? Learn the answers to these questions -and more - in this week's Dad Talk.

Today's amazing readings help us better understand the Most Holy Trinity - one God who is a communion of three persons - and how we benefit when we have faith in God. We'll explore this incredible mystery in today's Dad Talk. Please share with a friend, and God bless! Dad

Today’s Dad Talk explores the nooks and crannies of Pentecost Sunday's readings regarding the Holy Spirit’s power and gifts. These passages remind us that we should pray for the Holy Spirit to guide us in all that we do. Please share with a friend, and God bless! Dad

Today’s beautiful readings for the Ascension instruct us how to carry on the work of the Apostles. We’ll discuss that great commission in today’s Dad Talk.

Today's beautiful readings teach us about (a) the importance of the Church's teaching authority, (b) what our heavenly home (the New Jerusalem) will be like, and (c) the gift of the Holy Spirit indwelling in each one of us, giving us guidance and peace. We'll explore each of these themes in today's Dad Talk.

If we love like Jesus and suffer for his sake, our hope is that—after a stop in purgatory—we'll make it to heaven. But today's second reading from the Book of Revelation tells us that there's something  after  heaven. What is that? We'll explore that answer in today's Dad Talk.

There are a number of contextual details that inform all three readings this Fourth Sunday of Easter; understanding those details helps us appreciate more fully what Jesus is telling us in today’s Gospel.  Hear all about it in this week’s Dad Talk.

We have three beautiful readings today, one about the apostles' zeal for spreading the Gospel, one describing the praise to God that is happening eternally in heaven, and one that explains how Jesus gives mercy and calls Peter to repentance for denying Jesus three times during the Passion. We'll take a deep dive into all of them in today's Dad Talk.

There is much mysterious symbolism in today’s second reading from the Book of Revelation, from gold lampstands, to a man in an ankle-length robe with a gold sash, “one like a son of man.” Learn how a first-century Jew would have understood these symbols—and much more—in today’s Dad Talk.

In Mass celebrated on Easter Sunday afternoon or evening, the Gospel reading from Luke tells the story of Jesus and the two disciples on the road to Emmaus, in which Jesus interprets to them what referred to Him “in all the Scripture.” In today’s Dad Talk, we’ll cover (in less than 12 minutes!) how Jesus was identified or prefigured in  every one  of the seven Old Testament readings from last nigh...

We often talk about viewing the Gospels through the eyes of a first-century Jewish man or woman, and today’s readings are a great example of that. From the “colt” “on which no one has ever sat” to the Psalm response, “My God, my God, why have you abandoned me,” and from the words that instituted the Eucharist to Jesus’s death at precisely 3 pm, there is much to unpack in today’s Dad Talk.

Today's wonderful Gospel reading about Lazarus invites many questions: Why did Jesus wait “two days” after learning Lazarus was sick? Why did Jesus weep, and why was he “perturbed” when he arrived in Bethany? And what does all this have to do with Ezekiel’s prophecy in the first reading, or Paul’s promise in the second reading? Answers to all these questions—and more—in today’s Dad Talk.

Today is the "Second Scrutiny" for our Catechumens and Candidates, and we hear another amazing passage from the Gospel of John about Jesus healing a blind man. A legal inquiry takes place, but who is actually on trial here? We'll discuss that - and the theme of baptism that runs through this Sunday's readings - in today's Dad Talk.

Today is the First Scrutiny for our Catechumens and Candidates, and that means the story from the Gospel of John involving the Samaritan woman at the well. Every year, this is one of my favorite Dad Talks because it allows us to explore the significance of the woman having “five husbands” and what Jesus is thirsting for when he asks her to give him a drink.

SO many questions from today's readings. What's significant about the type and age of animals God asks Abraham to sacrifice? Why does Abraham cut the animals in half—but not the birds—so the torch can pass through them? How do Peter, James, and John recognize Moses and Elijah at the Transfiguration? Why does Peter want to make tents for them? Why does Luke then remark that Peter didn't...

Today's Gospel reading tells us about Jesus's temptation in the desert, revealing that Jesus is  reversing  the Original Sin committed in the Garden of Eden. It also provides a template for the Lenten practices that will lead us to holiness: prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. We'll discuss all this—and how Satan punks himself by trying to quote scripture to Jesus—in today's Dad Talk.

Today's readings share a common theme: fruits. But what must we do to bear good fruits, and how will we know when we're succeeding? We'll discuss those answers in today's Dad Talk, as we prepare for Lent to begin. God bless! Dad

David steals a spear from Saul only to give it back again. Jesus explains how we’ll all be “measured.” And Paul’s letter says we shall bear the image of Jesus, the “last Adam.”  What could these diverse readings possibly have to do with each other?  We’ll put all the pieces together – and share a bonus story about Grandpa Bob – in today’s Dad Talk.

Today’s Psalm, first reading, and Gospel all share a common theme: in whom do you trust? And the second reading reveals the consequences of that choice. We’ll discuss all that in today’s Dad Talk, and as a bonus, we’ll explore the difference between the Sermon on the Mount and the Sermon on the Plain (besides the view).God bless! Dad