FRESHImage Sunday Gospel Reflections with Tony Crescio

On this 3rd Sunday of Lent, we are reminded of a side of Jesus not often spoken about in the cleansing of the Temple. As Tony Crescio (@anthonycrescio) explains, this episode teaches us that Jesus is not just a nice guy who wants to be our friend. Rather, as the Son of God Incarnate, Jesus desires to cleanse us of all that is not Him in us, so that He might fill us with His Divine Life. And both a...

As we celebrate the Second Sunday of Lent, we are confronted by what appear to be radically different scenes from Scripture. On the one hand, we witness the terrifying Akedah, and on the other the Transfiguration of Our Lord. However, as Tony Crescio ( @anthonycrescio ) explains, the two scenes have everything to do with one another, and ultimately teach us that our transfiguration as human creatu...

As we enter into the Season of Lent, the Church calls us to a participatory imitation of Christ's 40 day experience in the desert. As Tony Crescio (@anthonycrescio) explains, God desires for these 40 days in the desert to be a period of training for us, so that we might arrive at the empty tomb on Easter Sunday filled with new life, and reinvigorated for mission. Music by Bjorn Lynne  Check u...

On this 6th Sunday in Ordinary Time, St. Paul calls us to be imitators of him as he is an imitator of Christ. As Tony Crescio (  @anthonycrescio  ) explains, by doing so, Paul is drawing from the ethics of the ancient world, which placed imitation at the core of moral education. However, for St. Paul, authentic imitation of Christ entails not the simple mechanical replication of action,...

This weekend, as we celebrate the 5th Sunday in Ordinary Time, we confront one of the most difficult realities of human life, suffering. As Tony Crescio (@anthonycrescio) explains, our readings for this weekend teach us six important points concerning human suffering, the most important being that our God rejects the suffering of His creatures and will one day bring all suffering to an end. ...

On this Fourth Sunday of Ordinary Time, the Church teaches us more about what it means to live out our created missional identities. In our first reading from the Book of Deuteronomy, Moses tells the People of Israel that God will raise up a prophet like him in the future. As Tony Crescio ( @anthonycrescio ) explains, these words simultaneously speak of the Prophetic Tradition of Israel, foretell...

Friends, on this Third Sunday in Ordinary Time, we continue to learn more about what it means to live as a human creature. Specifically, as Tony Crescio (@anthonycrescio) explains, in our readings this Sunday, we discover that our identities have been given to us together with an accompanying mission that God has entrusted uniquely to each of us. This is seen in the first instance in the fact that...

On this Second Sunday of Ordinary Time, Tony Crescio ( @anthonycrescio ) discusses two very difficult but essential spiritual lessons that this weekend's readings teach us, both of which are radically countercultural message. The first is, as St. Paul tells us in his First Letter to the Corinthians, we are not our own. The second follows from the first, when we live apart from God, our lives go to...

The celebration of Epiphany is, in many ways, a celebration of the fulfillment of God’s promise to the nation of Israel. “Epiphany” literally means manifestation. In this case, what is referred to is God’s manifestation to the Gentiles (i.e., any non-Jewish people). However, as Tony Crescio (@anthonycrescio) explains, this manifestation is not a simple showing or a declaration of existence. Instea...

Today concludes the celebration of the Octave of Christmas, and properly speaking, marks the midway point of the celebration of the Incarnation that began on Christmas Eve and that will not conclude until with the Feast of the Lord’s Baptism. We might find it strange, then, that the Church places the Solemnity of the Motherhood of Mary at the center point of the Christmas Season. After all, aren’t...

We have arrived at the Fourth and final Sunday of Advent, and this Sunday we see God's plan for the human family fully revealed in the Annunciation. As Tony Crescio (  @anthonycrescio  ) explains, it is in Mary that God's purpose for the Incarnation of the Son comes to light. God desires not simply to be close to the human family, but to dwell within them and thereby make all things new....

On this Gaudete Sunday, the Third Sunday of Advent, the Church calls us to rejoice! As last Sunday, we are presented with the figure of St. John the Baptist in our Gospel. Tony Crescio (@anthonycrescio) suggests that this is entirely appropriate, for St. John the Baptist is not only the forerunner and herald of the long-awaited Messiah, he is also the perfect exemplar of Christian Joy. Music by Bj...

On this Second Sunday of Advent, we hear a shocking message and meet a no less shocking figure. The first is made by St. Mark the Evangelist and the second is St. John the Baptist. As Tony Crescio (@anthonycrescio) explains, when taken together, the two teach us what the Season of Advent is all about, and how we are to live this Season as it is meant to be lived. Music by Bjorn Lynne Check us out...

This Sunday marks the beginning of a new liturgical year in the life of the Church, and the First Sunday of Advent. And today, Jesus has a stark warning for us, "Watch!" But what exactly is Jesus telling us to watch for? As Tony Crescio (  @anthonycrescio  ) explains, Jesus is teaching us to be on the watch for His Advent, His arrival, which can be understood in three discrete ways. The...

Today's celebration of the Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe serves as a focal point on the horizon of the Christian life, reminding us of the end toward which we travel through life. And, as Tony Crescio ( @anthonycrescio ) explains, it also provides us with a message of hope, assuring us that despite the chaos and turmoil we experience this side of eternity, one day Christ...

On this 33rd Sunday in Ordinary Time, Jesus teaches us a key spiritual lesson concerning our love for Christ through the parable of the talents. In effect, this parable poses a question to us, have we worked diligently to provide a good return to God on His investment of love in us? Are we eager to show Him the results? As Tony Crescio (  @anthonycrescio  ) explains, our answer to this q...

On this 32nd Sunday of Ordinary Time Jesus teaches us through the parable of the ten virgins. As Tony Crescio (  @anthonycrescio  ) explains, through this imagery, Jesus is teaching us the importance of keeping our lives lit with His Divine Life as we make our way through this life in the valley of the shadow of death. In this, Jesus is calling us to participatory imitating in His Life,...

On this 31st Sunday of Ordinary Time, we hear Jesus denouncing the scribes and Pharisees and warning His disciples about following their example. As Tony Crescio explains, Jesus' criticism isn't so much about the conduct of the scribes and Pharisees as it is about their motivation. At bottom, Jesus is teaching us that we have been made to be glorified by glorifying God, and that the way to do so i...

On this 30th Sunday of Ordinary Time, we hear Jesus proclaim the greatest commandment, that we are to love God with our whole heart, soul and mind. This is something we hear often, and the fact that we do can tend to undermine its radicality. As Tony Crescio (  @anthonycrescio  ) explains, in the greatest commandment, Jesus is teaching us the greatest lesson on human life, one that gives...

This weekend, Jesus turns a would-be trap by those who oppose Him into a deep spiritual lesson on the nature of human life. Taking a look at a denarius which bore the image of the Roman Emperor, Jesus says, "repay to Caesar what belongs to Caesar, and to God what belongs to God." As Tony Crescio (  @anthonycrescio  ) explains, with this simple line Jesus teaches us what has always been,...

On this Twenty-Eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Jesus continues to teach us about the Kingdom of God through parables, this time through the parable of the wedding feast. As Tony Crescio (  @anthonycrescio  ) explains, through the analogical imagery of food and marriage, Jesus reveals to us that from the very first moment of salvation history, God desired to reunite Himself to the human f...

On this 27th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Jesus teaches us through the parable of the tenants from the 21st chapter of Matthew's Gospel. As Tony Crescio (  @anthonycrescio  ) explains, in doing so, Jesus gets right to the heart of a profound mystery regarding our relationship with God. While we, as creatures, do not have it within our power to choose God for ourselves we do have the ability...

This Sunday, Jesus impresses upon us the importance of living out our faith through the parable of the two sons. As Tony Crescio (  @anthonycrescio  ) discusses in light of the Gospel and our first reading from the Book of Ezekiel, this means that we must be continually converted away from the mentality of the age and toward that of Christ. The question then becomes, how to we live with...

On this 25th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Jesus teaches us the parable of the landowner calling laborers into his vineyard to work. As Tony Crescio (  @anthonycrescio  ) explains in his reflection, with this parable, Jesus reveals something to us both about our God and our cooperation in His salvation of us. We are taught that our God relentlessly pursues the human creature in love, and that...

Tolerance is a word we hear regularly thrown about in the public square, and often elevated as a supreme virtue. But we hardly ever hear about what tolerance is, and ironically, the would-be champions of tolerance are often some of the most exclusionary people of society. In today's Gospel for the Twenty-Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Jesus teaches us what authentic tolerance looks like. And, as...