When Gorbachev and Reagan were negotiating the end of the Cold War the Soviet premier is supposed to have said: “I am doing something terrible to you. I am robbing you of your enemy.” The human tendency is to divide the world into friends and enemies, who is in and who is out. St. John’s… Read More »

The encounter between Jesus and his first disciples ends with an invitation to “come and see” where he lives. This illustrates one of the profound human truths — that we respond best to genuine experience, not description. Remember an old song from My Fair Lady called “Show me?” “Don’t talk of love lasting through time.… Read More »

Comparing the way the different gospel writers report the same incident can be very instructive. For example, when St. Mark reports on the baptism of Jesus by John the Baptist it is Jesus himself who sees the dove and hears the voice. When Matthew and Luke report on the same incident the crowd hears the… Read More »

The Church remembers two of the towering figures in its history today — St. Basil the Great and St. Gregory of Nazianzen. They, along with Basil’s brother Gregory of Nyssa, provided the intellectual, philosophical and theological foundation to explain biblical faith. From the beginning Christians have believed that Jesus was truly the Son of God… Read More »

“The shepherds went in haste to Bethlehem.” Of course they went in haste. They were on lunch break and had to go see the baby wrapped in swaddling clothes and then get back to work watching the sheep. How fitting for us as we are winding up our days off for Christmas. As nice as… Read More »

True story: a man approached his pastor (who will remain anonymous) with a theological question. What does it mean, he asked, when we say in the Apostles’ Creed that Jesus “descended into hell?” The pastor, in all of his wisdom, explained that when the Creed says “hell” it means that Jesus went to the realm… Read More »

Waiting is not prized in our culture. It feels like wasted time to wait. Where is that bus? Why does the person in the check out line take so long? Another flight delay! The story of Simeon and Anna told by St. Luke demonstrates that waiting is a Biblical value. There are certain things you… Read More »

From now until the Feast of the Epiphany the first reading is taken First Epistle of St. John. The epistle starts with a reminder that the writer is talking about something real — someone he has seen and heard and touched. After that opening St. John keeps insisting that those who claim to be followers… Read More »

The ancient Jewish and Roman sources were not reluctant to criticize Herod. His many atrocities gave him a reputation as a cruel tyrant. However, only St. Matthew’s gospel reports of the slaughter of the innocents making scholars question the incidents historicity. St. Matthew had a theological intention in telling the story which colored his presentation.… Read More »

The custom of celebrating the feast of St. John the Apostle on December 27 goes back to the early days of the Church. This is somewhat surprising since the fourth evangelist does not give any hint of the events surrounding the birth of Jesus at Bethlehem in his Gospel. Instead the Fourth Gospel opens up… Read More »