

Daily Gospel Exegesis
Logical Bible Study
This is a short daily podcast, where we go through an exegesis of the gospel reading from the current day's Mass.
The Catholic Church teaches that in order to understand the Scriptures, we must start with the literal sense - in other words, how the original hearers of the text would have understood it.
That is our aim in this podcast - to help understand what the gospel writers (and more importantly, Jesus) were intending to communicate in today's reading, as well as providing links to the Catechism. Each episode is short and designed to be listened to before or after attending daily Mass.
The Catholic Church teaches that in order to understand the Scriptures, we must start with the literal sense - in other words, how the original hearers of the text would have understood it.
That is our aim in this podcast - to help understand what the gospel writers (and more importantly, Jesus) were intending to communicate in today's reading, as well as providing links to the Catechism. Each episode is short and designed to be listened to before or after attending daily Mass.
Episodes
Mentioned books

7 snips
Nov 16, 2024 • 45min
33rd Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year B) - Mark 13: 24-32
Delve into the profound prophecies of the Olivet Discourse, highlighting the historical significance of the temple's destruction. Explore Jesus' teachings on the end times, emphasizing the importance of vigilance and conversion. Discover the fascinating interplay between Christ's divine and human knowledge, as he openly admits to not knowing specific timelines. This thought-provoking discussion encourages followers to remain prayerful and watchful for his glorious return.

Nov 9, 2024 • 16min
32nd Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year B) - Mark 12: 38-44
To support the ministry and access exclusive content, go to: http://patreon.com/logicalbiblestudy
For complete verse-by-verse audio commentaries from Logical Bible Study, go to: https://mysoundwise.com/publishers/1677296682850p
Mark 12: 38-44 - 'The poor widow has put in more than all.'
Catechism of the Catholic Church Paragraphs:
- 678 (in 'To Judge the Living and the Dead') - Following in the steps of the prophets and John the Baptist, Jesus announced the judgement of the Last Day in his preaching. Then will the conduct of each one and the secrets of hearts be brought to light. Then will the culpable unbelief that counted the offer of God's grace as nothing be condemned. Our attitude to our neighbour will disclose acceptance or refusal of grace and divine love. On the Last Day Jesus will say: "Truly I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brethren, you did it to me."
- 2444 (in 'Love for the Poor') - "The Church's love for the poor . . . is a part of her constant tradition." This love is inspired by the Gospel of the Beatitudes, of the poverty of Jesus, and of his concern for the poor. Love for the poor is even one of the motives for the duty of working so as to "be able to give to those in need" (abbreviated).
Got a Bible question? Send an email to logicalbiblestudy@gmail.com, and it will be answered in an upcoming episode!

Nov 2, 2024 • 16min
31st Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year B) - Mark 12: 28-34
To support the ministry and access exclusive content, go to: http://patreon.com/logicalbiblestudy
For complete verse-by-verse audio commentaries from Logical Bible Study, go to: https://mysoundwise.com/publishers/1677296682850p
Mark 12: 28-34 - 'You are not far from the kingdom of God.'
Catechism of the Catholic Church Paragraphs:
- 575 (in 'Jesus and Israel') - To be sure, Christ's relations with the Pharisees were not exclusively polemical. Some Pharisees warn him of the danger he was courting; Jesus praises some of them, like the scribe of Mark 12:34, and dines several times at their homes (abbreviated).
- 202 (in 'I Believe in One God') - Jesus himself affirms that God is "the one Lord" whom you must love "with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength".
- 2196 (in 'You shall love your neighbour as yourself') - In response to the question about the first of the commandments, Jesus says: "The first is, 'Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is one; and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.' the second is this, 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no other commandment greater than these." The apostle St. Paul reminds us of this: "He who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law. the commandments, 'You shall not commit adultery, You shall not kill, You shall not steal, You shall not covet,' and any other commandment, are summed up in this sentence, 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law."
- 129 (in 'The Unity of the Old and New Testaments') - Christians therefore read the Old Testament in the light of Christ crucified and risen. Such typological reading discloses the inexhaustible content of the Old Testament; but it must not make us forget that the Old Testament retains its own intrinsic value as Revelation reaffirmed by our Lord himself. Besides, the New Testament has to be read in the light of the Old. Early Christian catechesis made constant use of the Old Testament. As an old saying put it, the New Testament lies hidden in the Old and the Old Testament is unveiled in the New.
Got a Bible question? Send an email to logicalbiblestudy@gmail.com, and it will be answered in an upcoming episode!

Nov 1, 2024 • 44min
The Commemoration of All Souls (Year B) - Mark 15:33-39, 16:1-6
To support the ministry and access exclusive content, go to: http://patreon.com/logicalbiblestudy
For complete verse-by-verse audio commentaries from Logical Bible Study, go to: https://mysoundwise.com/publishers/1677296682850p
Mark 15:33-39, 16:1-6 - 'Jesus gave a loud cry and breathed his last.'
Catechism of the Catholic Church Paragraphs:
- 603 (in 'For our sake God made him to be sin') - Jesus did not experience reprobation as if he himself had sinned. But in the redeeming love that always united him to the Father, he assumed us in the state of our waywardness of sin, to the point that he could say in our name from the cross: "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" Having thus established him in solidarity with us sinners, God "did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all", so that we might be "reconciled to God by the death of his Son" (abbreviated).
- 2605 (in 'Jesus prays') - When the hour had come for him to fulfill the Father's plan of love, Jesus allows a glimpse of the boundless depth of his filial prayer, not only before he freely delivered himself up (“Abba . . . not my will, but yours."), but even in his last words on the Cross, where prayer and the gift of self are but one: "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do", "Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise", "Woman, behold your son" - "Behold your mother", "I thirst."; "My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?" "It is finished"; "Father, into your hands I commit my spirit!" until the "loud cry" as he expires, giving up his spirit.
- 444 (in 'The Only Son of God') - In the centurion's exclamation before the crucified Christ, "Truly this man was the Son of God", that Christian confession is already heard. Only in the Paschal mystery can the believer give the title "Son of God" its full meaning (abbreviated).
- 641 (in 'The Appearances of the Risen One') - Mary Magdalene and the holy women who came to finish anointing the body of Jesus, which had been buried in haste because the Sabbath began on the evening of Good Friday, were the first to encounter the Risen One. Thus the women were the first messengers of Christ's Resurrection for the apostles themselves (abbreviated).
- 2174 (in 'The Day of the Resurrection: the new creation') - Jesus rose from the dead "on the first day of the week." Because it is the "first day," the day of Christ's Resurrection recalls the first creation. Because it is the "eighth day" following the sabbath, it symbolizes the new creation ushered in by Christ's Resurrection. For Christians it has become the first of all days, the first of all feasts, the Lord's Day (he kuriake hemera, dies dominica) Sunday: "We all gather on the day of the sun, for it is the first day [after the Jewish sabbath, but also the first day] when God, separating matter from darkness, made the world; and on this same day Jesus Christ our Savior rose from the dead."
- 333 (in 'Christ with all his angels') - Again, it is the angels who "evangelize" by proclaiming the Good News of Christ's Incarnation and Resurrection (abbreviated).
Got a Bible question? Send an email to logicalbiblestudy@gmail.com, and it will be answered in an upcoming episode!

Nov 1, 2024 • 14min
Saturday of Week 30 in Ordinary Time - Luke 14: 1, 7-11
To support the ministry and access exclusive content, go to: http://patreon.com/logicalbiblestudy
For complete verse-by-verse audio commentaries from Logical Bible Study, go to: https://mysoundwise.com/publishers/1677296682850p
Luke 14: 1, 7-11 - 'Everyone who exalts himself shall be humbled.'
Catechism of the Catholic Church Paragraphs:
- 575 (in 'Jesus and Israel') - To be sure, Christ's relations with the Pharisees were not exclusively polemical. Some Pharisees warn him of the danger he was courting; Jesus praises some of them, like the scribe of Mark 12:34, and dines several times at their homes (abbreviated).
Got a Bible question? Send an email to logicalbiblestudy@gmail.com, and it will be answered in an upcoming episode!

Oct 28, 2024 • 16min
Tuesday of Week 30 in Ordinary Time - Luke 13: 18-21
To support the ministry and access exclusive content, go to: http://patreon.com/logicalbiblestudy
For complete verse-by-verse audio commentaries from Logical Bible Study, go to: https://mysoundwise.com/publishers/1677296682850p
Luke 13: 18-21 - 'The Kingdom of God is like the yeast that leavened three measure of flour.'
Catechism of the Catholic Church Paragraphs:
- 2660 (in 'Today') - Prayer in the events of each day and each moment is one of the secrets of the kingdom revealed to "little children," to the servants of Christ, to the poor of the Beatitudes. It is right and good to pray so that the coming of the kingdom of justice and peace may influence the march of history, but it is just as important to bring the help of prayer into humble, everyday situations; all forms of prayer can be the leaven to which the Lord compares the kingdom.
Got a Bible question? Send an email to logicalbiblestudy@gmail.com, and it will be answered in an upcoming episode!

Oct 26, 2024 • 15min
30th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year B) - Mark 10: 46-52
To support the ministry and access exclusive content, go to: http://patreon.com/logicalbiblestudy
For complete verse-by-verse audio commentaries from Logical Bible Study, go to: https://mysoundwise.com/publishers/1677296682850p
Mark 10: 46-52 - 'Go; your faith has saved you.'
Catechism of the Catholic Church Paragraphs:
- 2616 (in 'Jesus Hears our Prayer') - Prayer to Jesus is answered by him already during his ministry, through signs that anticipate the power of his death and Resurrection: Jesus hears the prayer of faith, expressed in words (the leper, Jairus, the Canaanite woman, the good thief) or in silence (the bearers of the paralytic, the woman with a hemorrhage who touches his clothes, the tears and ointment of the sinful woman). The urgent request of the blind men, "Have mercy on us, Son of David" or "Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!" has-been renewed in the traditional prayer to Jesus known as the Jesus Prayer: "Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner!" Healing infirmities or forgiving sins, Jesus always responds to a prayer offered in faith: "Your faith has made you well; go in peace."
- 548 (in 'The Signs of the Kingdom of God') - The signs worked by Jesus attest that the Father has sent him. They invite belief in him. To those who turn to him in faith, he grants what they ask. So miracles strengthen faith in the One who does his Father's works; they bear witness that he is the Son of God (abbreviated).
Got a Bible question? Send an email to logicalbiblestudy@gmail.com, and it will be answered in an upcoming episode!

Oct 19, 2024 • 22min
29th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year B) - Mark 10: 35-45
To support the ministry and access exclusive content, go to: http://patreon.com/logicalbiblestudy
For complete verse-by-verse audio commentaries from Logical Bible Study, go to: https://mysoundwise.com/publishers/1677296682850p
Mark 10: 35-45 - 'The Son of Man came to give his life as a ransom for many.'
Catechism of the Catholic Church Paragraphs:
- 536 (in 'The Baptism of Jesus') - The baptism of Jesus is on his part the acceptance and inauguration of his mission as God's suffering Servant. He allows himself to be numbered among sinners; he is already "the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world". Already he is anticipating the "baptism" of his bloody death. Already he is coming to "fulfil all righteousness", that is, he is submitting himself entirely to his Father's will: out of love he consents to this baptism of death for the remission of our sins (abbreviated).
- 1225 (in 'Christ's Baptism') - In his Passover Christ opened to all men the fountain of Baptism. He had already spoken of his Passion, which he was about to suffer in Jerusalem, as a "Baptism" with which he had to be baptized. The blood and water that flowed from the pierced side of the crucified Jesus are types of Baptism and the Eucharist, the sacraments of new life. From then on, it is possible "to be born of water and the Spirit" in order to enter the Kingdom of God.
'See where you are baptized, see where Baptism comes from, if not from the cross of Christ, from his death. There is the whole mystery: he died for you. In him you are redeemed, in him you are saved.'
- 618 (in 'Our Participation in Christ's sacrifice') - He calls his disciples to "take up [their] cross and follow (him)",for "Christ also suffered for (us), leaving (us) an example so that (we) should follow in his steps" (abbreviated).
- 1551 (in 'In the person of Christ the Head') - This priesthood is ministerial. "That office . . . which the Lord committed to the pastors of his people, is in the strict sense of the term a service." It is entirely related to Christ and to men. It depends entirely on Christ and on his unique priesthood; it has been instituted for the good of men and the communion of the Church. the sacrament of Holy Orders communicates a "sacred power" which is none other than that of Christ. the exercise of this authority must therefore be measured against the model of Christ, who by love made himself the least and the servant of all (abbreviated).
- 608 (in 'The Lamb who takes away of the sin of the world') - After agreeing to baptize him along with the sinners, John the Baptist looked at Jesus and pointed him out as the "Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world". By doing so, he reveals that Jesus is at the same time the suffering Servant who silently allows himself to be led to the slaughter and who bears the sin of the multitudes, and also the Paschal Lamb, the symbol of Israel's redemption at the first Passover. Christ's whole life expresses his mission: "to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many."
- 1570 (in 'The Ordination of deacons - 'in order to serve') - Deacons share in Christ's mission and grace in a special way. The sacrament of Holy Orders marks them with an imprint (“character") which cannot be removed and which configures them to Christ, who made himself the "deacon" or servant of all (abbreviated).
Got a Bible question? Send an email to logicalbiblestudy@gmail.com, and it will be answered in an upcoming episode!

Oct 12, 2024 • 43min
28th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year B) - Mark 10: 17-30
To support the ministry and access exclusive content, go to: http://patreon.com/logicalbiblestudy
For complete verse-by-verse audio commentaries from Logical Bible Study, go to: https://mysoundwise.com/publishers/1677296682850p
Mark 10: 17-30 - 'Give everything you own to the poor, and follow me.'
Catechism of the Catholic Church Paragraphs:
- 1858 (in 'The Gravity of Sin: Mortal and Venial Sin') - Grave matter is specified by the Ten Commandments, corresponding to the answer of Jesus to the rich young man: "Do not kill, Do not commit adultery, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Do not defraud, Honor your father and your mother." The gravity of sins is more or less great: murder is graver than theft. One must also take into account who is wronged: violence against parents is in itself graver than violence against a stranger.
- 2728 (in 'Objections to Prayer') - Finally, our battle has to confront what we experience as failure in prayer: discouragement during periods of dryness; sadness that, because we have "great possessions," we have not given all to the Lord; disappointment over not being heard according to our own will; wounded pride, stiffened by the indignity that is ours as sinners; our resistance to the idea that prayer is a free and unmerited gift; and so forth. the conclusion is always the same: what good does it do to pray? To overcome these obstacles, we must battle to gain humility, trust, and perseverance.
- 1618 (in 'Virginity for the Sake of the Kingdom') - Christ is the center of all Christian life. the bond with him takes precedence over all other bonds, familial or social. From the very beginning of the Church there have been men and women who have renounced the great good of marriage to follow the Lamb wherever he goes, to be intent on the things of the Lord, to seek to please him, and to go out to meet the Bridegroom who is coming (abbreviated).
Got a Bible question? Send an email to logicalbiblestudy@gmail.com, and it will be answered in an upcoming episode!

Oct 5, 2024 • 45min
27th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year B) - Mark 10: 2-16
To support the ministry and access exclusive content, go to: http://patreon.com/logicalbiblestudy
For complete verse-by-verse audio commentaries from Logical Bible Study, go to: https://mysoundwise.com/publishers/1677296682850p
Mark 10: 2-16 - 'What God has united, man must not divide.'
Catechism of the Catholic Church Paragraphs:
- 1639 (in 'The Marriage Bond') - The consent by which the spouses mutually give and receive one another is sealed by God himself. From their covenant arises "an institution, confirmed by the divine law, . . . even in the eyes of society." The covenant between the spouses is integrated into God's covenant with man: "Authentic married love is caught up into divine love."
- 2364 (in 'Conjugal Fidelity') - The married couple forms "the intimate partnership of life and love established by the Creator and governed by his laws; it is rooted in the conjugal covenant, that is, in their irrevocable personal consent. Both give themselves definitively and totally to one another. They are no longer two; from now on they form one flesh. the covenant they freely contracted imposes on the spouses the obligation to preserve it as unique and indissoluble." What therefore God has joined together, let not man put asunder."
- 2382 (in 'Divorce') - The Lord Jesus insisted on the original intention of the Creator who willed that marriage be indissoluble. He abrogates the accommodations that had slipped into the old Law.
- 1650 (in 'The Unity and Indissolubility of Marriage') - Today there are numerous Catholics in many countries who have recourse to civil divorce and contract new civil unions. In fidelity to the words of Jesus Christ - "Whoever divorces his wife and marries another, commits adultery against her; and if she divorces her husband and marries another, she commits adultery" The Church maintains that a new union cannot be recognized as valid, if the first marriage was. If the divorced are remarried civilly, they find themselves in a situation that objectively contravenes God's law. Consequently, they cannot receive Eucharistic communion as long as this situation persists. For the same reason, they cannot exercise certain ecclesial responsibilities. Reconciliation through the sacrament of Penance can be granted only to those who have repented for having violated the sign of the covenant and of fidelity to Christ, and who are committed to living in complete continence.
- 2380 (in 'Adultery') - Adultery refers to marital infidelity. When two partners, of whom at least one is married to another party, have sexual relations - even transient ones - they commit adultery. Christ condemns even adultery of mere desire. The sixth commandment and the New Testament forbid adultery absolutely. The prophets denounce the gravity of adultery; they see it as an image of the sin of idolatry.
- 1261 (in 'The Necessity of Baptism') - As regards children who have died without Baptism, the Church can only entrust them to the mercy of God, as she does in her funeral rites for them. Indeed, the great mercy of God who desires that all men should be saved, and Jesus' tenderness toward children which caused him to say: "Let the children come to me, do not hinder them," allow us to hope that there is a way of salvation for children who have died without Baptism. All the more urgent is the Church's call not to prevent little children coming to Christ through the gift of holy Baptism.
Got a Bible question? Send an email to logicalbiblestudy@gmail.com, and it will be answered in an upcoming episode!


