The book of Job resonates with the human experience. As people of faith we all can say: “But as for me, I know that my Vindicator lives.” (Cue the aria from Handel’s Messiah.) At the same time so often when we are going through grief or sorrow or loss we cry out: “Pity me, pity… Read More »
OCTOBER32018
We read in the ninth chapter of the book of Job, “Should God seize me forcibly, who can say him nay? Who can say to him, ‘What are you doing?’” The next thirty chapter of the book are Job asking that exact question! That is the story of faith, isn’t it? We know that God… Read More »
OCTOBER22018
Jesus inherited from his Jewish roots a belief in the presence of angels — a hierarchy of created, spiritual beings above humanity as diverse as the rest of creation below humanity . The feast of the Guardian Angels testifies to the Catholic understanding that God has assigned to each individual a special spiritual protection. In… Read More »
OCTOBER12018
The Book of Job is a cry of the heart. Job dared to challenge God. Why do good people suffer? Shouldn’t the innocent be rewarded and the evil punished? The book begins with the prose explanation to how Job found himself in such dire straights. The bulk of the book is poetry — eloquent explorations… Read More »
SEPTEMBER302018
“Would that all the people of the Lord were prophets!” Moses exclaims in the Old Testament book of Numbers. “Would that the Lord might bestow his spirit on them all!” That fervent prayer has been answered. At our baptism each Christian is anointed, is christened as a priest, prophet and king or queen. So the… Read More »
SEPTEMBER292018
The angels are mentioned frequently in the Bible. They serve as a reminder that God is at work in the world in ways beyond our ken. The word angel means “messenger” and we know about angels because they bring “the good news” of God’s presence and action. Since the word angel describes their function and… Read More »
SEPTEMBER282018
A folk song, “Turn, Turn, Turn,” popularized the theme from the book of Ecclesiastes that “there is a time for every purpose under heaven.” People instinctively relate to that. We understand that there is a time to be born and a time to die, a time to mourn and a time to dance. The challenge… Read More »
SEPTEMBER272018
The Book of Ecclesiastes was written around the year 300B.C. It reflects the reality of the Chosen People on the return from exile. With no nation, no king, and a sadly diminished temple the people seem to have lost their sense of common identity, their feeling of belonging to something larger than themselves. The author… Read More »
SEPTEMBER262018
Jesus sent the twelve out. The missionary impulse was not part of the Jewish experience. There were proselytes, converts to Judaism, but the inquirers had to find Jews. Jesus sent the twelve to seek out and to find the “lost sheep.” Jesus got this model not from his heritage but his relationship with God. God… Read More »
SEPTEMBER252018
In the Bible certain Biblical authors tend to stress coming to faith and others stress living out that faith. Jesus does not see these as two different things but as two aspects of a life in God. He proclaims that genuine followers are “those who hear the word of God and act on it.” Faith and… Read More »
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