The czar of the Rus wanted to unite his people under one religion. He invited representatives from Judaism, Islam, Catholicism and Orthodoxy to convince him which would be the religion of his people. While he found much to admire in each expression of faith he decided on Orthodoxy because of the beauty of their liturgy:… Read More »

The prophet Zephaniah talked about “the remnant of Israel.” With the destruction of the nation it was going to be a “remnant,” a small, core group that kept faith alive and would revivify Israel. Pope Benedict seems to have had a similar approach to living in a post-Christian world. He wrote:  “Maybe Christianity will exist… Read More »

I am reading a book on argumentation. The author stresses that an argument requires a common basis to go forward. That is what Jesus is trying to establish in his argument with the chief priests and elders: “I shall ask you one question, and if you answer it for me, then I shall tell you… Read More »

There’s a TV show that has as its theme song: “Who are you?” sung by, of course, the group called THE WHO.  (As near as I can tell the show determines who you are only after you are dead by examining bodies with cool gadgets but let’s not go there.) It’s a good thing to… Read More »

Ten years after the conquest of Mexico by the Spanish the Virgin Mary appeared to a recent convert, Juan Diego Cuauhtlatoatzin, a Chichimec peasant. She spoke in his native language, Nahuatl, not in the Spanish of the missionaries. She dressed in the indigenous clothes he would be familiar with. She had the skin tones and… Read More »

Jesus pointed out that “this generation” was going to criticize you no matter what you did. Actually that was not limited to his generation — it seems to be the human condition. That tells us that we should not let criticism determine our actions. We need to do always those things we think are God’s… Read More »

The Kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and the violent are taking it by force. We don’t associate Jesus with violence so this saying seems a bit odd. Of course Jesus frequently used exaggeration to make a point. (E.g. “If you eye is your problem, pluck it out.”) My mother used to say, “Hyperbole added for… Read More »

One of the strange byproducts of the pandemic is a general feeling of being tired. Even though we aren’t moving around much we still feel overburdened. Hence, the invitation of Jesus to come to him when feeling overwhelmed couldn’t be more timely. Jesus proposes making a swap — our burdens which wear us down for… Read More »

Since today’s feast of the Immaculate Conception is not mentioned in Scripture the readings for today serve more as commentary, a reflection on the meaning of the feast. The key can be found in the epistle. In Christ we were also chosen, destined in accord with the purpose of the One who accomplishes all things… Read More »

Typically when Jesus has performed a miracle he says something like “Your faith has healed you.” There is a difference in the healing of the paralyzed man. It is not the faith of the one needing healing but the faith of his friends who brought him to Jesus that motivated the miracle. St. Luke is… Read More »