The prophet Ezekiel encouraged the people in exile with an idealized vision of the future. They would be brought back to the land from wherever they were scattered; they would be one nation under one king, a descendant of King David; they would offer true worship in the restored sanctuary; they would live in peace.… Read More »

Are you glad the election season is over? The ads are so negative. The candidates don’t talk about their plans if elected but rather how terrible a person their opponent is. This tendency to criticize goes back to Cain and Abel. When you look at the Bible we find that Jeremiah was criticized in his… Read More »

The word “covenant” is woven throughout the Bible. It expresses the possibility of intimacy with God. God enters into a relationship with humanity which includes the divine promise of care and protection as long as the human partner remains faithful. The history of Israel (and we can add the subsequent history of the Church) can… Read More »

I once had a banner which contained the words of Jesus: “The Truth will set you free.” In small print under the picture were the words: “but first it will make you miserable.” The Catholic Church in the US experienced the bite of truth in confronting the clerical abuse scandal. An unwillingness to confront the… Read More »

When a speaker is introduced someone talks about her degrees, her accomplishments, her books, her awards. You can imagine someone introducing Jesus by talking about his education at Nazareth, the miracles he worked, the sermons he preached. But Our Lord thought that those things were not what defined him. It was only when he was… Read More »

“If you knew me, you would know my Father also.” Jesus said we find God not on some mountaintop but in human interaction. One of the Desert Fathers said something similar, “Show me the kind of person you are and I will show you your God.” This is somewhat counter-intuitive since God seems so far… Read More »

The Fourth Gospel is carefully constructed. Therefore, when you see a sentence which seems to be random you can be sure that it is not. We are to find the inspired meaning behind what St. John writes. For example, in John 7 there is an argument about who Jesus was that involved the crowd, the… Read More »

The book of Wisdom (or the Wisdom of Solomon) is included in the Catholic Bible. It was written in Greek, probably in Alexandria, Egypt, sometime in the first century before Christ. The book is meant as encouragement for Jews to hold onto the faith while confronting a hostile culture. The early followers of Jesus used… Read More »

The sin of the people caused “God’s blazing wrath” to flare up. Moses convinces God not to “consume” the people by seeing their sin in a larger context. Moses tells God to remember all that he had done for the people and how their liberation proved his mighty power. In addition, Moses reminds God of… Read More »

We all have images of God that are meaningful to us. Jesus’ favorite image of God was the Heavenly Father. Many people like to think of the Good Shepherd. In the Psalms God is variously described as a warrior, as a husband, as creator. We are all aware of the image of God as Judge.… Read More »