“What, then, will this child be?” That question can be asked not only of John the Baptist but of every child. When you see a child you see potential, some new thing that God is doing. It is incumbent on society to provide every child the opportunity to live up to that potential. That is… Read More »

In 721BC the northern kingdom of Israel fell to the Assyrians. Apparently a number of the priests and other officials fled to Jerusalem with some of their treasures. One hundred years later in 622BC while looking for something of value among these treasures they found a book.  The high priest Hilkiah informed the scribe Shaphan,… Read More »

We know of the siege of Jerusalem in 701BC not only from the Bible but also from Assyrian sources. Historians speculate that two factors contributed to the successful (from Jerusalem’s perspective) outcome. First, the Jewish king paid a tribute to the Assyrians so they could chalk it up as a “win.” Second, some kind of… Read More »

Another of the Jesus commandments: “Thou shalt not judge.” Since human beings judging machines, unpacking what this means becomes important.  Think, for example, of how the Bible talks about the destruction of the kingdom of Israel: The LORD warned Israel and Judah by every prophet and seer. The prophets and seers were judging that Israel… Read More »

St. James is not a filling station.  You know what a filling station is: when I need some gas, you go in and fill up. (I’m old enough to remember when my Dad would get a fill up with $2 worth of gas. Back in the day…) We are tempted to treat the Church like… Read More »

When we think of the commandments, the ten given on Mount Sinai come readily to mind. However, when Jesus gave the Sermon on the Mount he left us some commandments as well. For example, “Thou shalt not worry.” Jesus who was son of a working man no doubt knew what is was like to wonder… Read More »

“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth… But store up treasures in heaven.” This saying of Jesus might lead one to imagine that I must work harder to pile up heavenly treasures. I remember growing up the Sisters would have us create “spiritual bouquet” for special events, like Mothers’ Day. We would offer… Read More »

Forgiveness was important to Jesus. He included forgiveness when he taught us to pray the “Lord’s Prayer” in the Sermon on the Mount.  Then to make sure that we got the point he appends to the prayer: “If you forgive others their transgressions, your heavenly Father will forgive you.” In the next chapter of the… Read More »

We tend to look with nostalgia at some of the giants of the past with admiration in a way that diminishes our sense of our times. Where is the Newton and Einstein today, the Rembrandt and Van Gogh, the Beethoven and Mozart, the Washington and Jefferson, the Rahner and Barth? Today’s artists, thinkers and leaders… Read More »

Jesus tells us to love our enemies. The conflict between King Ahab and the prophet Elijah provides an interesting perspective on the unexpected results of loving enemies. The king had acted in an unjust manner and the prophet confronted him. Ahab said to Elijah, “Have you found me out, my enemy?” Elijah proceeded to provide… Read More »