Marriage was important to Jesus because of its divine, not social, significance. He describes the ideal of a life-long, exclucive, committed relationship as his definition of marriage by citing the saying from the book of Genesis: “From the beginning of creation, God made them male and female.  For this reason a man shall leave his… Read More »

“All things have been handed over to me by my Father. No one knows who the Son is except the Father, and who the Father is except the Son and anyone to whom the Son wishes to reveal him.” These words of Jesus found in Luke’s Gospel (a similar passage can be found in St.… Read More »

Old timers might remember a well-known poem by Max Ehrmann called “Desiderata” that was set to music in the early 70s. “You are a child of the universe,” the poem says, “No doubt the universe is unfolding as it should.” That is similar to the message that God delivers to Job at the end of… Read More »

After all that he had been through — the death of his children, the loss of his wealth, the deterioration of his health, the disaffection of his wife — Job still holds on to his faith in God. As for me, I know that my Vindicator lives, and that he will at last stand forth… Read More »

There seems to be a current obsession about who is the GOAT — the greatest of all time. Who is the greatest football player, who was the greatest President, what is the greatest movie, what is the greatest book? Actually that seems to be not a current obsession but a perennial one: The disciples approached… Read More »

When the days for Jesus to be taken up were fulfilled, he resolutely determined to journey to Jerusalem. St. Luke uses geography to illustrate the plan of God. Jerusalem is the locus of salvation, the place where the salvific death and glorious resurrection of Jesus took place. Here at the mid-point of his gospel Luke… Read More »

The Book of Job is not about a historical character but something of a morality tale. The character of Satan in the book is not the embodiment of evil as in the New Testament but something like a prosecuting attorney. He accuses Job of not really loving God but rather loving the blessings which come… Read More »

More or less.  As human beings there are some things we want more of and some things we want less of.  There probably isn’t one of us who would complain if we had a little more money.  Many Americans would be better off carrying less weight around.  When we are young we imagine how great… Read More »

Qoheleth, the author of the Book of Ecclesiastes, might be thought of as the Eeyore of the Bible. Don’t worry, he seems to say, things will get worse. Remember your Creator in the days of your youth, before the evil days come. He says “all things are vanity,” all things of this life are passing… Read More »

A movie from a few (?) years ago called Good Will Hunting had a dramatic scene where the troubled young man who has been seeing a counselor has a melt down. He has been working for months with the counselor and is frustrated that he doesn’t feel better. At this point the counselor says to… Read More »