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“Christ the High Priest,” an icon at the Romanian church in Jerusalem (photo: someone10x / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY 2.0)

Homily for the 29th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Deacon Steven D. Greydanus, EWTN News, October 18, 2021

Deacon Steven D. GreydanusOf all feast days and holy days of the year, which one day is the holiest … to Jews?

Hopefully, before I said “to Jews,” you were thinking of Easter, which, for us, is the solemnity of solemnities, the climax or pinnacle of the whole liturgical year. It’s because of Easter that we’re here today, on the first day of the week, the Lord’s Day, when Christ defeated death and evil and sin.

But which day of the year do Jews celebrate above all?

Maybe you’re wondering why I’m asking this. We all know that understanding our faith is important. But why am I asking about Jewish holy days? Isn’t it enough to know the basics of our own faith? Ah, but here’s the thing: Without at least some understanding of the Jewish world to which Jesus came, and from which the Church was born, we’ll have blind spots regarding our own beliefs and practices, including what happens here in the Mass and what God is saying to us in the readings of his holy word that the Church has chosen to be proclaimed to us today. …

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