There’s a scene in Alice in Wonderland when Alice objects that you can’t believe in impossible things. The Red Queen responds: “I daresay you haven’t had much practice… Why sometimes I’ve believed in six impossible things before breakfast.” The angel in the story of the Annunciation invites Mary to believe in impossible things. Certainly that… Read More »

In chapter 4 of St. Luke’s gospel Jesus reads from the prophet Isaiah in the synagogue to describe his mission. Later, in a confrontation with the townspeople he invokes the memory of the prophets Elijah and Elisha. Jesus’ self-understanding was formed by the story of how God dealt with Israel which he had learned in… Read More »

Those of us of a certain age will remember when Pope John Paul II was the new, vigorous, dynamic embodiment of the papacy. He knew how to Pope. He set a remarkable standard for being pope with his world travels:129 countries in his twenty-seven years as the Holy Father. He had a custom, when he… Read More »

My scripture professor used to stress how blessed we were to have four gospels. Each of the evangelists tells the story of Jesus in his own way. Each evangelist writes not to provide us with information but to bring others to faith. In addition, not only do we hear what Jesus said and did in… Read More »

“Here comes that master dreamer! Come on, let us kill him and … we shall then see what comes of his dreams.” Whenever I read this passage from the Book of Genesis I think of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., who was the “master dreamer” of our time. What became of his dreams is captured… Read More »

When I was a young seminarian (sixty years ago!) they assigned me a spiritual director. He was to guide me in the ways of the spiritual life. One thing he kept stressing was “purity of intention.” I always felt like I wasn’t getting the message since my intentions, my motivations were always mixed. My dreams,… Read More »

St. Joseph believed in the dream that God had for him. He models for us the importance of trusting the dream. In our time Dr. King spoke about his dream of a more just and peaceful society. He believed that the God of justice was trustworthy and, though he didn’t get to see the fullness… Read More »

During forty-nine years of hearing confessions I have heard mostly from people who neglected to go to Church on Sunday, who did some kind of sexual transgression or who said something nasty about their neighbor. The point of confession is summed up well by the prophet Isaiah: Cease doing evil; learn to do good. What… Read More »

There is an Italian saying, to translate is to betray. (It sounds better in Italian.) The saying reminds us that when moving between languages you lose some nuance, some understanding that lay in the original. Jesus and his followers spoke Aramaic, a Hebrew dialect. His words were remembered by Aramaic speakers (since there was no… Read More »

My sister JoAnn was going to the prom. This is the sister who woke in the morning with curlers in her hair, whose skin peeled when she had a sun burn, whose hands and mouth were covered with Old Bay seasoning while eating crabs. But she was going to the prom so a visit to… Read More »