If your hand, your foot, your eye “causes you to sin, cut it off.” You see in both real and fictional court rooms all sorts of excuses for what causes someone to commit a crime — I was on drugs, my boy friend bullied me, the internet confused me, Slenderman told me to do it,… Read More »

The prophet Zechariah came through the experience of exile with an even greater confidence in God. Instead of disillusionment at the destruction of the nation and the disappointment during the restoration, the prophet felt the presence of God in an even more profound way.  See, I am coming to dwell among you, says the LORD.… Read More »

When the Jewish people returned from exile they were disappointed that things we not as rosy as they remembered them. Who is left among you that saw this house in its former glory? And how do you see it now? Does it not seem like nothing in your eyes? The prophet Haggai was concerned that… Read More »

So often in life when we anticipate something we can build it up in our mind so that the actual reality can’t possibly meet our expectations. Something like that happened to the Jewish people as they returned from exile. The Holy Land had been part of their dreams for almost 50 years and when they… Read More »

Some years ago a book was published: After Auschwitz by Richard Rubenstein.  The author argued that after the Holocaust no Jew could believe in a God who was all good and all powerful.  How to deal with catastrophic loss and undeserved pain is a perennial issue for all believers and has been since Biblical times.… Read More »

While [Matthew] was at table in his house, many tax collectors and sinners came and sat with Jesus and his disciples. The call of Jesus to Matthew that he “follow me” impacted not just Matthew but those around him, his family, friends, co-workers, associates. If the likes of Matthew, who they knew to be as… Read More »

The Old Testament lessons for this week all deal with the return of the Jewish people from their exile in Babylon. A new empire, the Persians, had conquered the Babylonians and reversed the policy of deporting people from their homeland. The decree went out: Whoever among you belongs to any part of his people, let… Read More »

Jesus liked kids. He spent time with children and thought about children. He responded quickly when parents would plead with him for their child – the little girl, Talitha, whom he raised from the dead; the possessed boy he liberated from epilepsy. He liked having children around him. Let the little children come to me… Read More »

The parable of the sower is a rich source for meditation. We look at how we receive the word of God. Are we easily led astray? Are we rootless, not doing what is necessary to sustain the word? Are we distracted by the anxieties and pleasures of life? But those questions arise from the explanation… Read More »

Accompanying him were the Twelve and some women: Mary, called Magdalene, Joanna, Susanna, and many others who provided for them out of their resources. You hear a great deal about the Twelve who accompanied Jesus. Not so much about the women except for Mary Magdalene. Yet, St. Luke implies that it was because they shared… Read More »