

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

Aug 10, 2024 • 22min
19th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year B) - John 6: 41-51
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 4: 41-51 - 'Anyone who eats this bread will live forever.'
Catechism of the Catholic Church Paragraphs:
- 259 (in 'The Divine Works and the Trinitarian Missions') - Being a work at once common and personal, the whole divine economy makes known both what is proper to the divine persons, and their one divine nature. Hence the whole Christian life is a communion with each of the divine persons, without in any way separating them. Everyone who glorifies the Father does so through the Son in the Holy Spirit; everyone who follows Christ does so because the Father draws him and the Spirit moves him.
- 1001 (in 'How do the dead rise?') - When? Definitively "at the last day," "at the end of the world." Indeed, the resurrection of the dead is closely associated with Christ's Parousia: For the Lord himself will descend from heaven, with a cry of command, with the archangel's call, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. and the dead in Christ will rise first.
- 151 (in 'To Believe in Jesus Christ, the Son of God') - For a Christian, believing in God cannot be separated from believing in the One he sent, his "beloved Son", in whom the Father is "well pleased"; God tells us to listen to him. The Lord himself said to his disciples: "Believe in God, believe also in me." We can believe in Jesus Christ because he is himself God, the Word made flesh: "No one has ever seen God; the only Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, he has made him known." Because he "has seen the Father", Jesus Christ is the only one who knows him and can reveal him.
- 728 (in 'Christ Jesus') - Jesus does not reveal the Holy Spirit fully, until he himself has been glorified through his Death and Resurrection. Nevertheless, little by little he alludes to him even in his teaching of the multitudes, as when he reveals that his own flesh will be food for the life of the world (abbreviated).
- 1355 (in 'The Movement of the Eucharistic Celebration') - In the communion, preceded by the Lord's prayer and the breaking of the bread, the faithful receive "the bread of heaven" and "the cup of salvation," the body and blood of Christ who offered himself "for the life of the world." Because this bread and wine have been made Eucharist ("eucharisted," according to an ancient expression), "we call this food Eucharist, and no one may take part in it unless he believes that what we teach is true, has received baptism for the forgiveness of sins and new birth, and lives in keeping with what Christ taught."
Got a Bible question? Send an email to logicalbiblestudy@gmail.com, and it will be answered in an upcoming episode!

Aug 9, 2024 • 16min
Feast of Saint Lawrence, Deacon and Martyr - John 12: 24-26
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
John 12: 24-26 - 'If a grain of wheat falls on the ground and dies, it yields a rich harvest.'
Catechism of the Catholic Church Paragraphs:
- 2731 (in 'Facing Difficulties in Prayer') - Another difficulty, especially for those who sincerely want to pray, is dryness. Dryness belongs to contemplative prayer when the heart is separated from God, with no taste for thoughts, memories, and feelings, even spiritual ones. This is the moment of sheer faith clinging faithfully to Jesus in his agony and in his tomb. "Unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if dies, it bears much fruit." If dryness is due to the lack of roots, because the word has fallen on rocky soil, the battle requires conversion.
Got a Bible question? Send an email to logicalbiblestudy@gmail.com, and it will be answered in an upcoming episode!

Aug 6, 2024 • 24min
Wednesday of Week 18 in Ordinary Time - Matt 15: 21-28
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
Matthew 15: 21-28 - 'The Canaanite woman debates with Jesus and saves her daughter.'
Catechism of the Catholic Church Paragraphs:
- 439 (in 'Christ') - Many Jews and even certain Gentiles who shared their hope recognized in Jesus the fundamental attributes of the messianic "Son of David", promised by God to Israel. Jesus accepted his rightful title of Messiah, though with some reserve because it was understood by some of his contemporaries in too human a sense, as essentially political.
- 448 (in 'Lord') - Very often in the Gospels people address Jesus as "Lord". This title testifies to the respect and trust of those who approach him for help and healing (abbreviated).
- 2610 (in 'Jesus teaches us how to pray') - Jesus is as saddened by the "lack of faith" of his own neighbors and the "little faith" of his own disciples as he is struck with admiration at the great faith of the Roman centurion and the Canaanite woman (abbreviated).
Got a Bible question? Send an email to logicalbiblestudy@gmail.com, and it will be answered in an upcoming episode!

Aug 5, 2024 • 26min
The Feast of the Transfiguration of the Lord (Year B) - Mark 9: 2-10
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 9: 2-10 - 'This is my Son, the Beloved.'
Catechism of the Catholic Church Paragraphs:
- 552 (in 'The Keys of the Kingdom') - Simon Peter holds the first place in the college of the Twelve; Jesus entrusted a unique mission to him (abbreviated).
- 151 (in 'To Believe in Jesus Christ, the Son of God') - For a Christian, believing in God cannot be separated from believing in the One he sent, his "beloved Son", in whom the Father is "well pleased"; God tells us to listen to him. The Lord himself said to his disciples: "Believe in God, believe also in me." We can believe in Jesus Christ because he is himself God, the Word made flesh: "No one has ever seen God; the only Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, he has made him known." Because he "has seen the Father", Jesus Christ is the only one who knows him and can reveal him.
- 459 (in 'Why did the Word become Flesh?') - The Word became flesh to be our model of holiness: "Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me." "I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father, but by me." On the mountain of the Transfiguration, the Father commands: "Listen to him!"
- 649 (in 'The Resurrection - A Work of the Holy Trinity') - As for the Son, he effects his own Resurrection by virtue of his divine power. Jesus announces that the Son of man will have to suffer much, die, and then rise. Elsewhere he affirms explicitly: "I lay down my life, that I may take it again. . . I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again." "We believe that Jesus died and rose again."
Got a Bible question? Send an email to logicalbiblestudy@gmail.com, and it will be answered in an upcoming episode!

Aug 3, 2024 • 29min
18th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year B) - John 6: 24-35
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
John 6: 24-35 - 'It is my Father who gives you the bread from heaven; I am the bread of life.'
Catechism of the Catholic Church Paragraphs:
- 2835 (in 'Give us this day our daily bread') - This petition, with the responsibility it involves, also applies to another hunger from which men are perishing: "Man does not live by bread alone, but . . . by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God," that is, by the Word he speaks and the Spirit he breathes forth. Christians must make every effort "to proclaim the good news to the poor." There is a famine on earth, "not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the LORD." For this reason the specifically Christian sense of this fourth petition concerns the Bread of Life: the Word of God accepted in faith, the Body of Christ received in the Eucharist.
- 698 (in 'Symbols of the Holy Spirit') - The seal is a symbol close to that of anointing. "The Father has set his seal" on Christ and also seals us in him. Because this seal indicates the indelible effect of the anointing with the Holy Spirit in the sacraments of Baptism, Confirmation, and Holy Orders, the image of the seal (sphragis) has been used in some theological traditions to express the indelible "character" imprinted by these three unrepeatable sacraments.
- 1296 (in 'The Rite of Confirmation') - Christ himself declared that he was marked with his Father's seal. Christians are also marked with a seal: "It is God who establishes us with you in Christ and has commissioned us; he has put his seal on us and given us his Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee." This seal of the Holy Spirit marks our total belonging to Christ, our enrollment in his service for ever, as well as the promise of divine protection in the great eschatological trial.
- 1094 (in 'The Holy Spirit prepares for the reception of Christ') - It is on this harmony of the two Testaments that the Paschal catechesis of the Lord is built, and then, that of the Apostles and the Fathers of the Church. This catechesis unveils what lay hidden under the letter of the Old Testament: the mystery of Christ. It is called "typological" because it reveals the newness of Christ on the basis of the "figures" (types) which announce him in the deeds, words, and symbols of the first covenant. By this re-reading in the Spirit of Truth, starting from Christ, the figures are unveiled. Thus the flood and Noah's ark prefigured salvation by Baptism, as did the cloud and the crossing of the Red Sea. Water from the rock was the figure of the spiritual gifts of Christ, and manna in the desert prefigured the Eucharist, "the true bread from heaven."
- 423 (in 'The Good News: God has sent his Son') - We believe and confess that Jesus of Nazareth, born a Jew of a daughter of Israel at Bethlehem at the time of King Herod the Great and the emperor Caesar Augustus, a carpenter by trade, who died crucified in Jerusalem under the procurator Pontius Pilate during the reign of the emperor Tiberius, is the eternal Son of God made man. He 'came from God', 'descended from heaven', and 'came in the flesh'. For 'the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth; we have beheld his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father. . . and from his fullness have we all received, grace upon grace.'
- 728 (in 'Christ Jesus')
Got a Bible question? Send an email to logicalbiblestudy@gmail.com, and it will be answered in an upcoming episode!

Jul 29, 2024 • 33min
Tuesday of Week 17 in Ordinary Time - Matt 13: 24-30, 36-43
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
Matthew 10: 36-43 - 'As the darnel is gathered up and burnt, so it will be at the end of time.'
Catechism of the Catholic Church Paragraphs:
- 827 (in 'The Church is Holy') - "Christ, 'holy, innocent, and undefiled,' knew nothing of sin, but came only to expiate the sins of the people. the Church, however, clasping sinners to her bosom, at once holy and always in need of purification, follows constantly the path of penance and renewal." All members of the Church, including her ministers, must acknowledge that they are sinners. In everyone, the weeds of sin will still be mixed with the good wheat of the Gospel until the end of time. Hence the Church gathers sinners already caught up in Christ's salvation but still on the way to holiness:
The Church is therefore holy, though having sinners in her midst, because she herself has no other life but the life of grace. If they live her life, her members are sanctified; if they move away from her life, they fall into sins and disorders that prevent the radiation of her sanctity. This is why she suffers and does penance for those offenses, of the means of salvation" has been deposited. It is in her that "by the grace of God we acquire holiness."
- 1034 (in 'Hell') - Jesus often speaks of "Gehenna" of "the unquenchable fire" reserved for those who to the end of their lives refuse to believe and be converted, where both soul and body can be lost. Jesus solemnly proclaims that he "will send his angels, and they will gather . . . all evil doers, and throw them into the furnace of fire," and that he will pronounce the condemnation: "Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire!"
- 333 (in 'Christ with all his angels') - They will be present at Christ's return, which they will announce, to serve at his Judgement (abbreviated).
Got a Bible question? Send an email to logicalbiblestudy@gmail.com, and it will be answered in an upcoming episode!

Jul 27, 2024 • 19min
17th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year B) - John 6: 1-15
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
John 6: 1-15 - 'The feeding of the five thousand.'
Catechism of the Catholic Church Paragraphs:
- 439 (in 'Christ') - Many Jews and even certain Gentiles who shared their hope recognized in Jesus the fundamental attributes of the messianic "Son of David", promised by God to Israel. Jesus accepted his rightful title of Messiah, though with some reserve because it was understood by some of his contemporaries in too human a sense, as essentially political.
- 559 (in 'Jesus messianic entrance into Jerusalem') - How will Jerusalem welcome her Messiah? Although Jesus had always refused popular attempts to make him king, he chooses the time and prepares the details for his messianic entry into the city of "his father David" (abbreviated).
Got a Bible question? Send an email to logicalbiblestudy@gmail.com, and it will be answered in an upcoming episode!

Jul 25, 2024 • 27min
Friday of Week 16 in Ordinary Time - Matt 13: 1-9, 18-23
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
Matthew 13: 18-23 - 'The man who hears the word and understands it yields a rich harvest.'
Catechism of the Catholic Church Paragraphs:
- 546 (in 'The Proclamation of the Kingdom of God') - Jesus' invitation to enter his kingdom comes in the form of parables, a characteristic feature of his teaching. Through his parables he invites people to the feast of the kingdom, but he also asks for a radical choice: to gain the kingdom, one must give everything. Words are not enough, deeds are required. The parables are like mirrors for man: will he be hard soil or good earth for the word? What use has he made of the talents he has received?Jesus and the presence of the kingdom in this world are secretly at the heart of the parables. One must enter the kingdom, that is, become a disciple of Christ, in order to "know the secrets of the kingdom of heaven". For those who stay "outside", everything remains enigmatic.
- 29 (in 'The Desire for God') - But this "intimate and vital bond of man to God" (GS 19 # 1) can be forgotten, overlooked, or even explicitly rejected by man. Such attitudes can have different causes: revolt against evil in the world; religious ignorance or indifference; the cares and riches of this world; the scandal of bad example on the part of believers; currents of thought hostile to religion; finally, that attitude of sinful man which makes him hide from God out of fear and flee his call.
Got a Bible question? Send an email to logicalbiblestudy@gmail.com, and it will be answered in an upcoming episode!

Jul 22, 2024 • 21min
Tuesday of Week 16 in Ordinary Time - Matt 12: 46-50
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
Matthew 12: 46-50 - 'My mother and my brothers are anyone who does the will of my Father in heaven.'
Catechism of the Catholic Church Paragraphs:
- 764 (in 'The Church - instituted by Christ Jesus') - To welcome Jesus' word is to welcome "the Kingdom itself." The seed and beginning of the Kingdom are the "little flock" of those whom Jesus came to gather around him, the flock whose shepherd he is. They form Jesus' true family (abbreviated).
- 2233 (in 'The Family and the Kingdom') - Becoming a disciple of Jesus means accepting the invitation to belong to God's family, to live in conformity with His way of life: "For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother, and sister, and mother."
Parents should welcome and respect with joy and thanksgiving the Lord's call to one of their children to follow him in virginity for the sake of the Kingdom in the consecrated life or in priestly ministry.
Got a Bible question? Send an email to logicalbiblestudy@gmail.com, and it will be answered in an upcoming episode!

Jul 20, 2024 • 8min
16th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year B) - Mark 6: 30-34
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 6: 30-34 - 'They were like sheep without a shepherd.'
Got a Bible question? Send an email to logicalbiblestudy@gmail.com, and it will be answered in an upcoming episode!