Daily Gospel Reflection on Veritas Catholic Network

Today is the feast of the Queenship of Mary and the Gospel reading is Matthew 22:1-14. Mary who has been assumed into heaven, who shares first in the glory of her Son’s Resurrection, has been crowned the Queen of Heaven. This reminds us that God has set her as an intercessor and as a guide. In the Gospel, the king throws a wedding banquet and the invitation is negated over and over. A trend that b...

Today’s Gospel reading is Matthew 20:1-16, it is the feast of Pope St. Pius X. It is the parable of the landowner who goes out, hires laborers for his vineyard throughout the day, and pays them all the daily wage, even those who have only worked for an hour. So it is with our Heavenly Father, God the Father gives us His gifts and blessings equally and the same. Pope St. Pius X understood that this...

Today’s Gospel Reading Mathew 19:23-30. For the rich it is very hard to enter the Kingdom of Heaven. The disciples reply that they’ve given up everything, but Jesus reminds them it’s not about the stuff they have, but rather the disposition of heart. So many saints have given up everything to follow Jesus in order to dedicate their whole being to following the Lord. One of those great saints is St...

Today’s Gospel Reading is Matthew 19:16-22. A rich young man approaches Jesus to ask what he must do to inherit the Kingdom of God. Jesus tells him to keep the commandments, which the young man meets with enthusiasm because he’s already doing that. But Jesus tells him there’s one thing he lacks. To sell all he has, give it to the poor, and follow Him. The young man goes away sad, for he has many p...

Today’s Gospel Reading is John 6:51-58, continuing the Bread of Life Discourse. We are reminded that Jesus, the Bread of Life, is God’s food for the world. God desires us to be fed. He doesn’t want us to be alone and starving he truly desires us to be taken care of. Part of God’s providence is to provide us with what we really need. In the Eucharist we find the spiritual food that is necessary. As...

Today’s Gospel reading is Matthew 19:13-15. Jesus says “let the children come to me”. Fr. Sam shares his experience of the amazing faith of the young people with whom he has worked. We should do nothing to stand in the way of young people coming to Jesus. As such, we need to encourage & support them, reminding them that their youth is not a liability but a gift. Let us pray that young people w...

Today’s Gospel Reading is Matthew 19:3-12. Jesus is presenting his teaching on divorce and the indissolubility of marriage. It is so important to recognize, especially in our culture, that Jesus is teaching that marriage is holy, between a man and a woman, and is permanent. Regardless of this truth, the Church still desires to be close to those who have marriages that are broken down, those that s...

Today is the Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary into Heaven. We read Luke 1:39-56. There in the hill country, the child in Elizabeth’s womb leaps for joy and Mary is called Blessed by her cousin. This is the day that Mary, the Woman who carried Christ into the world, was brought into heaven both body and soul. She tastes already what we hope to experience because she is the Ark...

Today’s the feast of St. Maximillian Kolbe, we read Matthew 18:15-20. Jesus teaches us how we are to correct a brother that sins against us and how often we are to forgive. St. Maximillian Kobe, beautifully devoted to the Blessed Virgin Mary, helped give hope to the people in Auschwitz.  Maximillian offered himself in the place of a man that was going to be killed because the man cried out that he...

Today’s Gospel is from Matthew 18. The disciples are asking Jesus who the greatest are in the Kingdom of Heaven. Jesus teaches them about being like a little child and about the lost sheep that returns to the fold. This is a good reminder that when we fall, God desires us to return to the fold. We are constantly invited back. If you’ve wandered far, remember the words, “there is more rejoicing in...

Today we read from Matthew 17:22-27, it’s the feast of St. Jane Frances De Chantal. St. Jane is a fascinating figure. She was married to a nobleman and they had six children together. Unfortunately, her husband was killed 7 years into their marriage, which lead St. Jane into a deep depression. It was after her husbands death that she encountered St. Francis De Sales. He encouraged to her to contin...

Today we celebrate the feast of St. Lawerence. We read from John 12:24-26. Unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies it remains just a single grain. But if it falls to the ground and dies it will bear fruit. This the beauty of what happens with the blood of the martyrs. St. Lawerence was instructed by the procurator of his government to gather the treasure of the Church and bring it to...

  Today’s gospel reading is Matthew 16:24-28, it is the feast of St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross. Jesus instructs us to pick up our crosses and follow him. St. Teresa Benedicta does this an accomplished manner. Prior to becoming a Carmelite sister she lived as a Jewish woman, named Edith Stein. Further, she was a profound philosopher developing aspects of the philosophy titled phenomonology. Thi...

Today we celebrate the feast of St. Dominic, we read Matthew 6:13-23. Jesus asks the apostles who people say he is and Peter gives his great confession. Jesus then names Peter the Rock, and yet Peter still struggles. It is said that St. Dominic had the Gospel of Matthew memorized. He would have known that Peter struggled. Further still, he would have known to be wary of how personal traits could p...

We continue, today, reading John 6. In the Gospel Jesus teaches that His Flesh is true food and His Blood is true drink. What happens when we come before Jesus in the Eucharist? We are given new spiritual life. Receiving Jesus in the Eucharist and remaining before Him in Adoration is a profound blessing. Let us pray for the gift of deeper devotion to Jesus in the Holy Eucharist. 

Today’s Gospel reading is Matthew 15:21-28. The Canaanite woman comes to Jesus to beg for healing for her daughter. She asks for a gift and Jesus engages in some wordplay. Jesus is using the stereotypes from His own era to call forth her faith. While Canaanites were looked on as “dogs”, as “less than”, Jesus uses this stereotype to show that everyone, even those who are considered to be “less than...

Today’s Gospel reading is Mark 9;2-10, it is the Feast of the Transfiguration! Jesus is Transfigured before Peter, James and John. He is glorified by His Heavenly Father and speaks to Moses and Elijah. The disciples have this profound moment of closeness with Jesus, and these three disciples want to stay there, but Jesus brings them down the mountain. Often times in the summer you have the chance...

Today’s Gospel reading is Matthew 14:13-21. It is the feast of the dedication of the Basilica of Saint Mary Major in Rome. This basilica was built after the Council of Ephesus in the year 431, when Mary was affirmed as the Theotokos, the Mother of God. Why build and celebrate the dedication of this Basilica? It helps remind us that Mary accompanies us by her intercession & prayer. In the Gospe...

Today we continue in the Bread of Life discourse, reading John 6:24-35. The people are seeking out Jesus because He has fed them. They are looking for more food. But as he does so He helps them recognize that the physical hunger they feel corresponds to the spiritual hunger they have. We seek not that which only satisfies the body, but that which satisfies the soul. The Eucharist is more than just...

Today we read from Matthew 14:1-12. Here, we hear the story of the death of St. John the Baptist. John the Baptist is beheaded because Herod is a lost soul, and more importantly, because John told the truth. We live in an age where Christians are mocked and even persecuted for telling the truth. We should still tell the truth. Through the intercession of St. John the Baptist may we have the courag...

Today’s Gospel reading is Matthew 13:54-58. As Jesus teaches in the synagogue in his hometown the people question His Person and His authority. As such, Jesus was “unable to do many might deeds there”. This shows that Jesus’s miracles are cooperative. What happens if we don’t ask, if we don’t believe, if we refuse His grace? Jesus will not force His goodness and miracles upon us. He doesn’t force...

Today is the feast of St. Alphonsus Liguori. The Gospel reading is Matthew 13:47-53. The Kingdom of heaven collects fish of every kind. At the end of time the good and righteous are separated from the bad. What this means is that the Kingdom of Heaven is open to all people; good, bad and ugly. The bad aren’t outrightly rejected, they are simply called to change. The Catholic Church means “here com...

Today is the feast of St. Ignatius of Loyola. The Gospel Reading is Matthew 13:44-46. Jesus likens the Kingdom of Heaven to someone who sells everything they have for a field with a hidden treasure or one pearl of great price. Jesus is telling us that eternal life in Heaven is worth everything that we have. St. Ignatius of Loyola is a great example of one who sells what they have for the Lord. Upo...

Today’s Gospel Reading is Matthew 13:36-43. The Apostles ask Jesus to explain to them the Parable of the sower and seed. Jesus explains that whatever evil we may have to endure, God has the final victory. God in His goodness offers us victory over sin and death. He separates that which is evil, and so we pray, that the Lord would cast into the fire that which is evil in us, so we might be perfecte...

Today is the feast of Saints Martha, Mary, and Lazarus. We read from the Gospel of John 11:19-27. Jesus in his friendship of Martha, Mary and Lazarus wants to be with them in this moment of sadness. It is the last of His miracles of His public ministry. In the juxtaposition between Martha and Mary we see the dispositions of the human heart. Martha, who once condemned Mary for sitting at Jesus’s fe...