The Fourth Gospel is carefully constructed. Therefore, when you see a sentence which seems to be random you can be sure that it is not. We are to find the inspired meaning behind what St. John writes. For example, in John 7 there is an argument about who Jesus was that involved the crowd, the… Read More »
APRIL52019
The book of Wisdom (or the Wisdom of Solomon) is included in the Catholic Bible. It was written in Greek, probably in Alexandria, Egypt, sometime in the first century before Christ. The book is meant as encouragement for Jews to hold onto the faith while confronting a hostile culture. The early followers of Jesus used… Read More »
APRIL42019
The sin of the people caused “God’s blazing wrath” to flare up. Moses convinces God not to “consume” the people by seeing their sin in a larger context. Moses tells God to remember all that he had done for the people and how their liberation proved his mighty power. In addition, Moses reminds God of… Read More »
APRIL32019
We all have images of God that are meaningful to us. Jesus’ favorite image of God was the Heavenly Father. Many people like to think of the Good Shepherd. In the Psalms God is variously described as a warrior, as a husband, as creator. We are all aware of the image of God as Judge.… Read More »
APRIL22019
At last year’s physical my doctor asked if I had any health goals for the year. “I’d like to lose a few pounds.” He inquired how I planned to go about doing so and when I said I did not have a plan he responded, “Well, good luck with that.” This came to mind in… Read More »
APRIL12019
Toward the end of the Book of Isaiah there is a vision of a “new heavens and a new earth.” According to this vision “there shall always be rejoicing and happiness.” Everyone lives a good, long life. “He dies a mere youth who reaches but a hundred years.” This idealized picture of the future concludes… Read More »
MARCH312019
Some characters in the movies are not really believable. No one is really like Iron Man or Wonder Woman. (Well, somebody might be sorta like Wonder Woman.) On the other hand, there are movie characters that you feel comfortable with. Atticus in To Kill a Mockingbird is someone you would like to know. There weren’t… Read More »
MARCH302019
Jesus quoted (Mt 9:13) from the prophet Hosea: “It is love that I desire, not sacrifice, and knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.” The prophetic word continues to call the people of God today to examine our lives. For example, the reality that vast numbers of the younger generation no longer attend church must… Read More »
MARCH292019
The catechism teaches that the Great Commandment of Jesus is “to love God and love your neighbor.” How striking that the original record of that commandment, St. Mark’s gospel, has a slightly different take! A scribe asked Jesus, “Which is the first of all the commandments?” Jesus replied, “The first is this: Hear, O Israel!… Read More »
MARCH282019
The prophet Jeremiah worked to bring “the word of the Lord” to Jerusalem. The people were suffering and were complaining about it. Why didn’t God take away their difficult? Jeremiah explained God’s complaint against them: “They walked turned their backs, not their faces, to me.” The remedy God had been applying up until then —… Read More »
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