Summer time and the livin’ is easy, according to the song. We might be tempted to think that applies to the spiritual life as well. After the discipline of Lent, the triumph of Easter, the intensity of Pentecost you might think that we’re due a break, a time for a little less drama. Can’t we… Read More »

You can imagine that Mary experienced three days of profound anxiety and abject fear as she was searching for the teen-age Jesus. This was, no doubt, followed by immense relief on finding him and then, even though she had an immaculate heart, a flash of anger. “Son, why have you done this to us?” She… Read More »

Devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus became very popular because the liturgy and practice of the Church from the seventeenth century up to Vatican II did not sufficiently convey a sense of the personal love that God has for us. For one thing, the Mass was in Latin which only a few highly educated… Read More »

“What, then, will this child be?” That question can be asked not only of John the Baptist but of every child. When you see a child you see potential, some new thing that God is doing. It is incumbent on society to provide every child the opportunity to live up to that potential. That is… Read More »

In 721BC the northern kingdom of Israel fell to the Assyrians. Apparently a number of the priests and other officials fled to Jerusalem with some of their treasures. One hundred years later in 622BC while looking for something of value among these treasures they found a book.  The high priest Hilkiah informed the scribe Shaphan,… Read More »

We know of the siege of Jerusalem in 701BC not only from the Bible but also from Assyrian sources. Historians speculate that two factors contributed to the successful (from Jerusalem’s perspective) outcome. First, the Jewish king paid a tribute to the Assyrians so they could chalk it up as a “win.” Second, some kind of… Read More »

Another of the Jesus commandments: “Thou shalt not judge.” Since human beings judging machines, unpacking what this means becomes important.  Think, for example, of how the Bible talks about the destruction of the kingdom of Israel: The LORD warned Israel and Judah by every prophet and seer. The prophets and seers were judging that Israel… Read More »

St. James is not a filling station.  You know what a filling station is: when I need some gas, you go in and fill up. (I’m old enough to remember when my Dad would get a fill up with $2 worth of gas. Back in the day…) We are tempted to treat the Church like… Read More »

When we think of the commandments, the ten given on Mount Sinai come readily to mind. However, when Jesus gave the Sermon on the Mount he left us some commandments as well. For example, “Thou shalt not worry.” Jesus who was son of a working man no doubt knew what is was like to wonder… Read More »

“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth… But store up treasures in heaven.” This saying of Jesus might lead one to imagine that I must work harder to pile up heavenly treasures. I remember growing up the Sisters would have us create “spiritual bouquet” for special events, like Mothers’ Day. We would offer… Read More »