Jesus was a brilliant teacher because he didn’t give people answers but let them figure things out for themselves. Telling parables was an invitation for his listeners (and us!) to come up with our own understanding instead of being given a pre-digested meal. Rather than responding to the question “who is my neighbor” by giving… Read More »

How long, O LORD?  I cry for help but you do not listen! We can relate to the frustration felt by the prophet Habakkuk. If God is in charge why are things going to hell in a handbasket: war in Ukraine, endemic racism, income disparity, global warming, violence in the streets, cancer, mistreatment of immigrants,… Read More »

No one knows who the Son is except the Father, and who the Father is except the Son. My scripture professor called this passage “a Johannine lightning bolt.” He meant that Jesus speaking about the relationship of the Father and the Son was much more typical of St. John’s gospel (hence, the word “Johaninne”) than… Read More »

The LORD addressed Job out of the storm and said: Have you ever in your lifetime commanded the morning and shown the dawn its place… Tell me, if you know all: Which is the way to the dwelling place of light, and where is the abode of darkness.  According to the Book of Job, after… Read More »

The Bible talks about angels as messengers between God and the world. When Jesus c he envisioned a different kind of messenger — an apostle who will bring the good news into a hurting world. On this day when we remember those angels named in the Bible — Michael, Gabriel, Raphael — the gospel is… Read More »

As Job confronts his woes (and those who challenge him) he says, How can a man be justified before God? who can say him nay? Who can say to him, “What are you doing?  One of the characteristics of modernity is that, unlike Job,  people do question God. Faust is portrayed as a hero. Zorba… Read More »

Jesus resolutely determined to journey to Jerusalem. In St. Luke’s telling, this is the turing point of the gospel. Jesus has had some success in his ministry in Galilee but the heart of Jesus life was in Jerusalem so Jesus needed to bring his message of God’s love there. He has no illusion that this… Read More »

“Naked I came forth from my mother’s womb, and naked shall I go back again. The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD!” The Book of Job deals with the perennial problem of innocent suffering. How quickly we say “the Lord is blessing me” when we win… Read More »

In 1986 the US Bishops published a pastoral letter entitled “Economic Justice for all.” They were criticized for doing so. They should be worried about religious matters, not the economy, said their critics. To which the bishops responded: look to the scriptures. Again and again the Bible addresses issues related to the economy. The prophet… Read More »

Before the silver cord is snapped and the golden bowl is broken and the dust returns to the earth as it once was, and the life breath returns to God who gave it. One puzzlement of our current age of unbelief is how  people confront our mortality. Ecclesiastes wants us to look death squarely in… Read More »