When a friend became a pastor of a parish in Texas he found that the church was chock-a-block full of statues of various saints to the point that the altar seemed like an afterthought. There was an unused balcony in the back of the Church so he arranged a ceremony where a selection from Hebrews… Read More »

The Bible is mostly just a series of stories. This is in constrast to much of religious literature. The Quran, the Vedas, the Sutras are mostly exhortations, instructions, descriptions, explanations. The Bible tells the stories of people. When the author of the Epistle to the Hebrews wants to explain what it means to have faith… Read More »

We call Jesus the Lord, the Christ so there is a natural tendency to place him on a pedestal, to think of his feet as never quite touching the ground. The author of the Letter to the Hebrews warns us against such thinking.  In order to save us, Jesus “had to become like his brothers… Read More »

“Teacher, do you not care?” These words the apostles addressed to Jesus have probably been on our lips a time or two. Do you not care about the wars, global warming, refugee crisis around the world? Do you not care that our nation and Church seem hopelessly divided? Do you not care about my family… Read More »

The parable of the sprouting seed and the parable of the mustard seed are typical of Jesus’ preaching style. With many such parables he spoke the word to them as they were able to understand it. Jesus simply presents the parable, the image without introduction or explanation. He lets his listeners figure it out for… Read More »

Let us hold unwaveringly to our confession that gives us hope, for he who made the promise is trustworthy. We must consider how to rouse one another to love and good works. We should not stay away from our assembly. When we see the wars, poverty, wide-spread disease; when we see the divisions, hostility, even… Read More »

The parable of the sower is one of the few occasions when an explanation is provided for a parable. This makes contemporary scholars a little skeptical that the explanation came from Jesus. Did St. Mark or someone in the early Church provide the explanation? Certainly there is a different emphasis in each telling. As Jesus… Read More »

“For whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother.” Doing the will of God is one of the focal points for Jesus and, really, for all of the Bible. The prophet Isaiah, Psalm 40, the letter to the Hebrews all speak of doing the will of God. However, a priest… Read More »