My guess is that many of the people at St. James wonder what was God thinking when our beloved, old Church was torn down. Perhaps the answer can be found in the words of Jesus. “Unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains just a grain of wheat; but if… Read More »

“Amen, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will not enter the Kingdom of heaven.” How can we heed these words of Jesus? How can we “become like children?” When I think of how children are two things strike me. First, children receive gifts easily. They don’t feel guilty, they… Read More »

The prophet Ezekiel wrote at a critical time in the history of the Chosen People. Their identity had been woven into “the promised land.” Abraham was called into the promised land from Ur of the Chaldees, Moses led the people out of slavery into the promised land, Joshua and the judges wrested the promised land… Read More »

A line from the epistle to the Hebrews caught my attention: faith is evidence of things not seen. When you see a police procedural on TV, evidence consists of something tangible, something you can put on display — “peoples’ exhibit marked A.” How can “things not seen” produce evidence? I have been fascinated by the… Read More »

We’ve all had the experience of someone reporting on an event differently than you remember. Something similar can occur in comparing the way Matthew, Mark and Luke report the events of Jesus’ life. They each saw things from their own point of view. In this way the inspiration of the Holy Spirit in each evangelist… Read More »

One of the twelve minor prophets in the Bible is Nahum. His Book is only used once in the lectionary of readings for the liturgy. He wrote sometime around the time of the fall of the Assyrian empire in 612 B.C. The prophecy asserts that Assyria got what he deserved. It was only right that… Read More »

St. Peter must have gotten whiplash. First, Jesus praises him as receiving divine revelation and as the rock on which the Church would be built. Then a few minutes later, Jesus is calling him Satan and telling him to get out of his sight. “You are not thinking as God thinks,” says the Lord. What… Read More »

Some scholars seek to name what the Jesus of history actually said and did as can be reliably stated according to scientific historiography. The scene of Jesus encounter with the Syro-Phoenician woman has the ring of an actual event according to historians since it doesn’t paint Jesus in a positive light according to their standards.… Read More »

Jeremiah rejects the Pollyanna view proposed by Hananiah. The actions of Israel will have consequences. Sin will work itself out. But Jeremiah is not all gloom and doom. He offers a message of hope as well. Even though there is some suffering to get through in order to chastise the people (the Biblical version of… Read More »

The Bible refers to both Hananiah and Jeremiah as prophets. Both claim to be speaking for God, but they are offering opposite points of view. How can you tell which is the authentic voice of God? According to the Bible the only sure measure is to wait to see how things turn out and then… Read More »