St. Paul begins his letter to the church in Colossae with a word of affirmation. “We always give thanks to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you.” The Apostle praises their faith, the love that they have and their hope. Of course further on in the letter he “corrects,… Read More »
SEPTEMBER32019
Jesus centered his ministry at the village on the Sea of Galilee named Capernaum. St. Luke showed Jesus as having the power to drive out the unclean spirits. The Bible portrays the demons as knowing about God. “I know who you are -– the Holy One of God!” Which tells us, that knowing about God… Read More »
SEPTEMBER22019
From now until Advent the daily gospel will be taken from St. Luke’s Gospel. Today we hear the story of Jesus inaugurating his ministry at his home town of Nazareth. He read from the prophet Isaiah: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me …” He concluded with a personal word: “Today this Scripture passage… Read More »
SEPTEMBER12019
Humility is not saying, “I’m wretched, I’m no good, I can’t do it, I’m pretty useless.” Look at the epistle reading for today. The author writes: “you have not drawn near to an untouchable mountain and gloomy darkness.” If we truly were no good that would be how God would deal with us — we’d… Read More »
AUGUST312019
“On the subject of fraternal charity you have no need for anyone to write you, for you yourselves have been taught by God to love one another.” But he did write! St. Paul can’t resist giving advice. But this advice did not come because he was a first century version of Dear Abby. As the… Read More »
AUGUST302019
When I was in the seminary there were earnest messages posted on the walls meant to encourage us. One was a quote from St. Paul’s first letter to the Thessalonians: “This is the will of God, your holiness.” I wondered how to get that holiness: more prayers? more time in church? more fasting? more charity?… Read More »
AUGUST292019
In the Oscar Wilde play, Salome, John the Baptist is portrayed as feeling like a failure. His efforts to get people to repent seem to have fallen on deaf ears. In addition, he is not sure what to make of Jesus. The gospels portray him as asking “are you the one who is to come… Read More »
AUGUST282019
“Woe to you, scribes and pharisees…” The gospels are clear that Jesus fussed at the pharisees. He didn’t fuss with the sinners but instead welcomed them. He didn’t fuss with the Sadducees, another of the movements in first century Judaism, even though they were aloof from the people and collaborated with the Romans. The pharisees… Read More »
AUGUST272019
When St. Paul entered Europe his missionary method adapted to the culture of Greece. “We were determined to share with you not only the Gospel of God, but our very selves as well.” Instead of merely preaching and teaching the Apostle entered into a relationship with the people of Thessalonica and shared his life with… Read More »
AUGUST262019
For the past few months the Bible readings have been taken from the first eight books of the Old Testament, the story of Israel’s beginnings. For the next few months the readings will be taken from the epistles of St. Paul which document the beginnings of the Christian Church. The first epistle to the Thessalonians… Read More »
- « Previous Page
- 1
- …
- 168
- 169
- 170
- 171
- 172
- …
- 298
- Next Page »