St. Barnabas is the only one the church calls an apostle outside of the Twelve and St. Paul. But really, every Catholic is called to be an apostle, as the founder of my religious congregation, Fr. Thomas Judge, C.M., used to say. In Barnabas we see three of the characteristics of apostles. First, he brings… Read More »

On Mount Horeb Elijah does not find God in the hurricane, in the earthquake, in the volcano. No, God is present in the “tiny whispering sound.” This is a cautionary tale for all believers. When the hurricane of a health emergency occurs, when the earthquake of a family crisis threatens, when the volcano of a… Read More »

The Beatitudes are the introduction to the Sermon on the Mount. Jesus continues the instruction with, what scholars call, the six antitheses. The pattern is: “you have heard it said… but I say to you.” It is important to understand that Jesus is not replacing the “old law” with a new. “Do not think that… Read More »

Elijah is one of the great characters of the Bible. In his confrontation with the prophets of Baal he proposes that his God, the God of Israel, is the God who answers with fire. When this proves true the people profess faith. But ultimately this profession doesn’t last — Elijah continues to chide the people… Read More »

When I was a young priest there was a song popular in church with the refrain: “You are the light of the world. Let you light shine before all. So they may see the good that you do and give glory to God.” Someone in the parish objected to the song. He wanted to substitute… Read More »

Someone asked me on Sunday, “why poor in spirit? Don’t we want to be rich in Spirit, to be full of Spirit?” Since the first of the Beatitudes of Jesus proclaims a blessing in being poor in spirit the question is an important one. I was reminded of the story Jesus told of the Pharisee… Read More »

The Gospel of Luke was written in Greek and sometimes the English translation does not capture the intensity of the story the way St. Luke told it. The story of the widow of Nain is an example. The ordinary English translation says something like: “When the Lord saw her, he was moved with pity for… Read More »

I am not a big fan of most movies which depict Bible stories. But one very positive effect of the current batch of movies is to humanize the characters. They are shown walking through real streets with all of the chaos of society and they speak in contemporary idiom instead of lofty “Biblical” language. When… Read More »

The scripture readings assigned for today’s feast of the Sacred Heart use the image of a shepherd as the model of mercy. People in Bible times knew what shepherds were like, and could relate to that image. Me, I grew up in a row home in Baltimore. What did I know about shepherds? Recently I… Read More »

Everyone learns in catechism that that “great commandment” of Jesus is to love God and love neighbor. I’m always struck by the fact that, at least the way St. Mark tells the story, the commandment is not to love but to hear. “Which is the first of all the commandments?” Jesus replied, “The first is… Read More »