There was a scene in the TV series West Wing where the president’s advisers suggested to him all the reasons it would be best to replace the current vice-president in the run for a second term. The president disagreed. Why, they insisted. What does he add to the ticket? The president answered: Why? because i… Read More »

The first, most basic, and perhaps most difficult step in the spiritual life is to experience the love that God has for us. Nothing we do earns that love. Nothing we can do can make us lose that love. St. John in his first epistle states it bluntly: God first loved us. We imagine we… Read More »

The current movie, The Two Popes, imagines a conversation between Pope Benedict and Cardinal Bergoglio, who would succeed Pope Benedict in the papacy. The Pope is chastising the Cardinal for his pastoral practices in Buenos Aires, where he is bishop. He says something like, you are overturning traditions that have lasted for hundreds of years.… Read More »

The Church, and many parents, are concerned about the rise of the “nones.” Among millennials and “gen z” more than half of those polled claim no religious affiliation. Where will those we care about find the spiritual nourishment that every human being requires if not in a religious context? To assuage that concern a bit… Read More »

When Jesus heard that John had been arrested, he left Nazareth and went to live in Capernaum by the sea… From that time on, Jesus began to preach and say, “Repent, for the Kingdom of heaven is at hand.” St. Matthew suggests that what got Jesus out of his ordinary life in Nazareth and into… Read More »

If you want to see a star you have to go into the dark. Staying warm and comfortable in a well-lit room won’t enable you to see a star. Go into the darkness — and the best star-viewing occurs when it is cold, when the humidity has been squeezed from the air. The magi saw… Read More »

Since it was written in 1987 I guess it’s a “golden oldie” but the U2 song still raises today’s question: what are you looking for? Jesus asked that of his first disciples and it resonates in our hearts now. However, according to the song: “You broke the bonds and you loosened chains carried the cross… Read More »

See what love the Father bestowed upon us that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! St. John states as a fact, an indicative in grammar, that we already are the children of God. Too often in the church we put the imperative ahead of the indicative — we… Read More »

By happy coincidence (providence!) on this day when we remember Sts Basil and Gregory the reading chosen is from the first epistle of St. John. The saints used this epistle to refute the erroneous idea that Jesus was a holy man and a good teacher but could not be called the son of God. How… Read More »

Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. Mary had some dramatic experiences. She found that God had a plan for her, that her son had a special calling, that a hostile world was out to get him, that strangers would be attracted to him. In order to understand what all… Read More »