The Bible might be the old, old story but it’s as fresh as today’s headline.  How maddening it is to see the candles, teddy bears, flowers left on the fence post in front of the place of the last shooting. People leaving these mementos mourn one of their own.  A tragedy, a waste.  We ask… Read More »

St. Paul wrote to the Romans: “The gifts and the call of God are irrevocable.” He is thinking of his own people, the Jews, who were chosen by God to bring the divine word into the world.  Even though they seemed to Paul to have missed the new revelation of God in Jesus, the Apostle… Read More »

William Faulkner  wrote: “The past is never dead. It’s not even past.” St. Paul would agree. He is deeply concerned about the children of Israel. They are the chosen people and God does not change. Their past includes “the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship, the promises, the patriarchs, and… Read More »

There was a book a few years ago called The Denial of Death by Ernst Becker that won numerous awards. The basic idea is that civilization is a construct that makes it possible to avoid the fact that we are all going to die. His contention is that attempting to replace a religious explanation of reality… Read More »

All Saints’ Day can best be understood as including the “already” and the “not yet.” The “already” are, of course, the saints in glory. They are our heroes in the faith and continue to support us from their place in glory. The “not yet” are us. We are not yet the saints we are made… Read More »

St. Luke goes out of his way to highlight the role of women in the mission of Jesus. To the story of a man planting a seed, he adds that of a woman making bread. When a shepherd goes looking for a lost sheep, a housewife goes looking for a lost coin. When he talks… Read More »

The memory of Jesus’ characteristic way of addressing God as “Abba” must have made a deep impression on the first followers. The word is an Aramaic way of speaking familiarly to one’s father (like Dad) that would have been common in Palestine. To address God in that way implied an intimacy which went beyond normal… Read More »

There are certain things which you can try to see if you like.  “Try it. You might like it.” Maybe you want to try tennis.  You get a racket and go to the court and hit the ball.  If you don’t like it you say, I want to stop and go home.  Other things you… Read More »

According to St. Paul we “are fellow citizens with the holy ones … built upon the foundation of the Apostles and prophets.” In our creeds we confess that our faith is “one, holy, catholic, apostolic.” The apostles named by Jesus called “the twelve” are, therefore, central. How ironic is it that we aren’t exactly sure who they… Read More »

  We can all relate to the words of St. Paul: “For I do not do the good I want, but I do the evil I do not want.” How often have I slapped my head and said, “Why did I do that.” So the Apostle would probably relate to 12-step spirituality. The first step… Read More »