Posts by Tom Hoopes

This Sunday’s Gospel (the 28th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A) includes several visions of heaven, and that’s a good thing. It happens every year in our confirmation class: Students tell my

This Sunday’s Gospel (the 26th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A) is directed at those of us who consider ourselves religious. Jesus tells the story of the man who had two sons

In this Sunday’s Gospel (25th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A), Jesus tells the story of laborers who receive surprising wages — every worker receives the day’s wage, whether they started in

What should a Christian do when the world is sinking into chaos? Disturbing violence fills the international headlines: ISIL is beheading journalists, crucifying Christians and exterminating Yazidis. Mexican drug cartels run rampant,

This Sunday, Sept. 14, is the Feast of the Exaltation of the Cross. The emperor Constantine, is said to have seen a vision of a cross in the sky and the words

A story from the life of St. John Paul II comes to mind with this Sunday’s readings (Sept. 7, the 23rd Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A) about admonishing the sinner. The

George Bailey, the character played by Jimmy Stewart in the classic film It’s a Wonderful Life (1946), could relate to this Sunday’s readings — Aug. 31, the 22nd Week in Ordinary Time,

The readings this Sunday – the 20th Sunday in Ordinary Time – show how, beginning in the Old Testament and then even more in the New Testament, God wanted to make clear

At the Holy Land Church of the Multiplication of the Loaves a mosaic depicts four loaves. The fifth is in the tabernacle. God is good. God is so good, in fact, that

Here’s a shortcut to understanding the readings at each Mass, as applied to this Sunday’s readings, the 14th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year A). Old Testament: Crack the code. For the Old