The last book in the Bible, the Book of Revelation, uses bizarre images purported to be about the future to comment on the state of the Church in the present. The book begins with letters to seven churches in what is now Turkey urging them in the Christian life. I heard the Lord saying to me:… Read More »

One of the anthems of the civil rights movement was sung by the legendary Sam Cooke, “A change is gonna come” released in 1965. The song resonates with the gospel for today-  no matter how things seem to be going right now, in the end God will triumph. “It’s been a long, a long time… Read More »

The third epistle of St. John is very short. It contains this provocative comment: you are faithful in all you do for the brothers and sisters, especially for strangers… Please help them in a way worthy of God to continue their journey. While we are not exactly sure who the “strangers” are it is fascinating… Read More »

The second epistle of St. John is a short admonition sent to deal with a particular problem in a local Church. It seems that certain perhaps more philosophical types couldn’t believe that God could assume a human nature, they do not acknowledge Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh. For them, Jesus was not truly… Read More »

No doubt St. Paul wrote many personal letters. Only one has come down to us, the one to his friend Philemon. It was saved in the Bible and recognized as Sacred Scripture because the themes in the letter are universal. Some background: Onesimus was a runaway slave who at some point encountered St. Paul and… Read More »

Today in the Catholic Church we remember the dedication of the Archbasilica of St. John Lateran in Rome. This is the Cathedral Church of Rome (St. Peter’s is in Vatican City which is technically another country) and, hence, the seat (cathedra) for the Bishop of Rome, the Pope. The Emperor Constantine gave the Lateran Palace… Read More »

I used to say Mass at a Sisters convent. Afterwards the Sisters would come forward and say, “Thank you, Father, for the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.” I never knew how to respond to that. Why should I be thanking for doing what I was supposed to do? Now, as pastor, I am called upon… Read More »

St. Paul’s letter to Titus is one of the “pastoral” letters since it concerns itself with how to be a pastor in a rapidly developing church. I left you in Crete so that you might set right what remains to be done and appoint presbyters in every town. Instead of  the itinerant ministry that St.… Read More »

Jesus ends the controversy over the resurrection by saying God “is not God of the dead, but of the living, for to him all are alive.” As human beings we are time bound. There is the past, the present and the future. We remember our loved ones for what we shared in the past; we… Read More »

No servant can serve two masters. You cannot serve God and mammon. Mammon is kind of a funny word. The only time I’ve ever heard it used is in this saying of Jesus. The dictionary definition is “wealth regarded as an evil influence.” As St. Paul puts it in another place, “the love of money… Read More »