On a recent visit to a parishioner in a nursing home it struck me that there were many people who lived there. While I was able to visit one I had neither the time nor the energy to visit them all. My prayer that evening was that whoever was supposed to visit those other sick… Read More »
FEBRUARY262023
The devil has no imagination. Every temptation is some variation on the first one in the Garden of Eden. We heard in the Book of Genesis that the snake said to Adam and Eve: “You will be like gods.” They thought that was a good idea so they succumbed to the temptation. Jesus, on the… Read More »
FEBRUARY252023
My doctor is very kind. Each time I see him he offers several suggestions on things I should do to stay healthy. When I return and haven’t done these things the doctor does not yell at me, does not tell me to stay away until I have become healthy. No, he gently points out things… Read More »
FEBRUARY242023
There is a fundamental misconception about sin for most modern Americans. We imagine sin as something like the breaking of a rule. Driving 56 miles an hour would be something like a sin in this understanding. Repenting from sin would involve following the rule! But sin in the Bible is about a relationship, a relationship… Read More »
FEBRUARY232023
During Lent the two readings assigned for a given day are specifically chosen to complement each other. (By contrast, in Ordinary Time the readings are “continuous,” i.e. pick a book of the Bible and read it chapter by chapter.) In today’s gospel reading Jesus says: “If anyone wishes to come after me, he must deny… Read More »
FEBRUARY222023
There was a theme in late Medieval and early modern western Civilization that went by the Latin term: Memento Mori. In art and literature thinking about, reflecting on, contemplating death was a common subject. Take a painting by De la Tour entitled “The Repentant Madgalene.” The picture is only illuminated by a single candle and… Read More »
FEBRUARY212023
The first reading is taken from the Book of Sirach. Ben Sira wrote down these “wisdom” saying around the year 200BC. His grandson translated them into Greek probably in 115BC and from there they made it into the Greek Bible (the Septuagint.) The Hebrew original was, apparently, lost so the book is not part of… Read More »
FEBRUARY20203
At one time or another most of us have probably echoed the words of the father of the epileptic boy in our prayer: “I do believe, help my unbelief!” I do believe that God has a plan for this world but when I see war, poverty, racism, hatred I need God’s grace to help me… Read More »
FEBRUARY192023
Today at St. Josaphat’s Church in Kyiv, Ukraine a preacher is wrestling with the gospel for today – “love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you” — in the midst of a bombed out city with rockets and shells still raining down on them. Today at a Church in West Lawndale a preacher… Read More »
FEBRUARY182023
There are ecstatic moments in our lives — the happiness of a wedding, the birth of a child, graduation from college. We want the glow of feelings at those moments to last. We are like St. Peter who on the mountain of Transfiguration said: “Rabbi, it is good that we are here!” But those mountain… Read More »
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