Responding to a revelatory dream, St. Paul sailed to Europe, to Greece. The first place he entered was Philippi, “a Roman colony,” that is an enclave for retired soldiers. Apparently there was no synagogue in city so he went outside the city to find “a place of prayer.” There he met and converted Lydia, “a… Read More »
MAY62018
We who are gathered in this Church today know what is what — it’s there in our epistle. “God is love and love is of God.” We know that. But things in this old crazy world are working to make us doubt what we know. The crazy world tells us all those wants and needs… Read More »
MAY52018
Paul had a vision during which he heard, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.” In the list of cities Paul visited in the Acts of the Apostles this might seem just another. Actually, this indicates a major shift in the emphasis of the Jesus movement — entry into Europe. What drove the missionary zeal… Read More »
MAY42018
Acts 15 describes what some scholars call the Council of Jerusalem. Those early leaders in the Jesus movement had to decide if Gentiles, non-Jews, could be full members of the nascent Church. Inspired by the Holy Spirit they determined “not to place on you any burden beyond the necessities.” In other words, the Mosaic Law… Read More »
MAY32018
St. Paul wrote to the Corinthians: “I handed on to you as of first importance what I also received.” Paul was famous for insisting that he had direct revelation from Jesus. Yet even Paul understood that what was “of first importance” was what he received, what we call tradition. Our own life of faith should… Read More »
MAY22018
About the year 50 A.D. — twenty or so years after the death of Jesus — the first generation of Christians faced a choice. On the one side were those who thought it was necessary for the followers of Jesus to follow Jewish practices. After all, Jesus and all of his apostles were Jews. Why… Read More »
MAY12018
In 1955 Pope Pius XII designated May 1 as the Feast of St. Joseph the Worker. This is the “May Day” of the communists and the Holy Father wanted workers to know that Catholic Social Teaching respects and honors workers. After all, Jesus was a working man and the son of a working man. This… Read More »
APRIL302018
The apostle “Judas, not the Iscariot” that we usually refer today as Jude Thaddeus asked Jesus: “Master, then what happened that you will reveal yourself to us and not to the world?” This question occurs in the extended “Last Supper Discourse” that we find in St. John’s Gospel. In it the Lord speaks frankly to… Read More »
APRIL292018
What makes a Catholic a Catholic is not so much the pope and bishops, the creeds and catechisms. What makes a Catholic a Catholic is the Holy Eucharist. The gospel for today provides exactly the right image of the closeness, the intimacy, the familiarity to which Jesus invites us as we eat his body and… Read More »
APRIL282018
The apostle Philip said to Jesus, “Master, show us the Father, and that will be enough for us.” Philip seemed to imagine that knowing God was some kind of out of body, extraordinary experience. Jesus taught that is was the very human encounter with him that revealed God. “Whoever has seen me has seen the Father.” To… Read More »
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