“Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, ‘Your sins are forgiven, ‘or to say, ‘Rise, pick up your mat and walk’?” For Jesus, pronouncing forgiveness is harder! That reminds us of the challenge we face in coming to forgiveness. There is a story of a woman who told her priest that God was speaking… Read More »
JANUARY172019
If you asked an early first century Palestinian if they heard about Jesus of Nazareth I have no doubt that most would answer, “You mean that guy who heals people.” But the Gospel of Mark suggests that Jesus resisted that reputation. The healing of the leper is typical in that it ends with Jesus saying, “See… Read More »
JANUARY162019
In ordinary time we read the books of the Bible chapter by chapter. The gospels leading up to Lent the year are from the Gospel of Mark. The epistle for the next month is the Letter to the Hebrews. We don’t know the origin or the author of this document. Examining its content suggests that… Read More »
JANUARY152019
From now until Lent we will be reading from the Gospel of St. Mark chapter by chapter. The gospel begins with the “good news” that the “kingdom is at hand” and with the call of the first disciples. Jesus is then portrayed as an authoritative teacher and as someone with power of the evil spirits.… Read More »
JANUARY142019
Ordinary Time. After the Advent and Christmas seasons we spend the next few weeks leading up to Lent in Ordinary Time. Does anyone remember Sexagesima Sunday? The scripture readings in ordinary time are done as a lectio continua, going through the books of the Bible chapter by chapter. The gospel during these days is from… Read More »
JANUARY132019
Being filled with expectation can be a mixed bag. We happily wait in expectation for the baby to be born. We anxiously wait in expectation for the test results from the hospital to come back. We resignedly wait in expectation for the light to change. We warily wait in expectation for the other shoe to… Read More »
JANUARY122019
In a movie about Gale Sayers (the prototypical male weepie) the great Chicago Bear said: “God is first. My family and friends are second. I am third.” That is not the typical value system in our culture. We are told to “look out for #1.” The contemporary psychological emphasis on self-actualization makes the individual the… Read More »
JANUARY112019
“So there are three who testify, the Spirit, the water, and the Blood, and the three are of one accord.” This passage from the first epistle of St. John has been commented on and wrestled with throughout the ages. During the times in which the epistle was written there was a great controversy over the incarnation… Read More »
JANUARY102019
The number of young adults leaving the Church has become a flood — perhaps as high as 85% both Catholic and Protestant no longer practice the faith. In a recent report on this phenomenon entitled Going, Going, Gone one of the authors, Robert McCarty, observed that many of these young adults have a greater sense of responsibility… Read More »
JANUARY92019
The Bible does not look at things in the same way we do. For example, in the Bible the opposite of faith is not doubt but certainty. Faith and doubt are two sides of the same coin but certainty is something altogether different. In the first epistle of St. John we are given another set… Read More »
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