There was a popular song by Boston a few years ago (50!) with the lyric: “Don’t look back a new day is breakin’ It’s been too long since I felt this way I don’t mind where I get taken The road is callin’, today is the day.” Looking back is a constant temptation for human… Read More »

One term that occurs all too often in modern news stories is “collateral damage.” When the military launches a strike, innocent bystanders pay the price for being too close to the target. The military justifies this because they took out the guilty party. This is the exact opposite of the Biblical challenge of Abraham toward… Read More »

Jesus asked Peter and the Apostles: Who do you say that I am? After Paul was struck down on the road to Damascus he asked, “Who are you, Lord?” Elie Wiesel speculates that after God blew the breath of life into the Adam he formed out the dust the first question was not, “Who are… Read More »

Sarah laughed. And this was not a belly laugh full of amusement or a nervous giggle. No, this was a snicker, a sneer, which had an “as if” behind it. Sarah laughed at the promise of God.  She was challenged: Is anything too marvelous for the LORD to do? That is the question that confronts… Read More »

In the seventeenth century Christianity, both Catholic and Protestant, began to look on God as a wrathful and punishing deity. The most famous sermon delivered in what is now the United States was delivered by Jonathan Edwards entitled “Sinners in the hand of an angry God.” Devotion to the Sacred Heart developed at this time… Read More »

For the past few weeks the daily reading has been taken from the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7).  The Sermon concludes: When Jesus finished these words, the crowds were astonished at his teaching, for he taught them as one having authority. In other words, Jesus’ teaching was not his opinion but words which should… Read More »

 Every good tree bears good fruit, and a rotten tree bears bad fruit. What are the good fruits? Kindness, unity, compassion, generosity, forgiveness, community. What are bad fruits? Dissension, division, hatred, resentment, selfishness. One of the great curiosities of the current political scene in the United States, and around the world as well, is how… Read More »

Most often we remember the saints on the day of their death, the day then enter into glory. There are three times we remember a birth: for Jesus, Mary and John the Baptist. The fact that the Baptist is mentioned in the same breath as Jesus and Mary tells us how important he is in… Read More »

In ordinary time the first reading alternates betweent the Old and New Testaments. Last week we read from St. Paul. Today we start the Book of Genesis, particularly the Abraham cycle which begins with chapter 12. Abraham is considered the father the three faiths: Judaism, Christianity and Islam. With such an august father why have… Read More »

Do you like presents? We like Christmas and birthdays because on those days we get presents. People get presents on anniversaries and retirements, on Mothers’ Day and Fathers’ Day, at graduation and for a promotion. You might get a present at the birth of a child or for a wedding. You might even get a… Read More »