To Know the Love of Christ: Weekday Reflections for the Liturgical Year 2016-2017

In the course of the liturgical year, the gospel readings present us with a significant selection of the words and deeds of Jesus from all four gospels. In and through these gospel readings we encounter the living word of the risen Lord to his church. There is rich fare here to nourish our faith life and to help us to grow in our knowledge and love of the Lord. These short reflections attempt to listen to the gospel text on its own terms while showing how it can continue to speak to our church and our world today. Many people feel drawn to basing their prayer on the Scriptures, in particular the gospels. It is hoped that these reflections will serve as a help to prayer. They may also be of service to priests who seek to offer a short reflection on the gospel reading of the day in the context of the Eucharist. On most week days, the same gospel reading is proclaimed in the church throughout the world. To read and reflect upon the gospels for the weekdays of the liturgical year is to go on a spiritual journey with the universal church. The goal of this journey, in the words of Paul’s letter to the Ephesians, is ‘to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, so that you may be filled with the fullness of God’.