“This is the will of God, your holiness.” These words of St. Paul struck me because the idea of being holy is not my normal aspiration. I want to be a good person, to act decently. But holiness seems to be meant for someone else, for those who smell faintly of incense. St. Paul is… Read More »

The Church has borrowed from the world of business the practice of developing five year plans, setting strategic goals, laying out long term priorities. While this is all to the good we should never forget the “present tense” reality that underlies the Bible. Jesus says, “Stay awake,” “Be alert,” “Watch.” Not what is happening at… Read More »

St. Paul’s first letter to the church in Thessalonica is the oldest part of the New Testament — written about 51 A.D., twenty or so years after the death of Jesus. Although we use the fancy term “epistle” to refer to Paul’s correspondence they are recognizable as letters, as communication to people that he knew… Read More »

John the Baptist was one of the pivotal figures in the history of salvation. (He is also revered in Islam.) In the gospel of John, for example, the Baptist points out Jesus as “the Lamb of God.” The synoptic gospels (Matthew, Mark and Luke) seem a little truer to the actual history in portraying John… Read More »

It was not very pious but in the seminary we would have a “sweetest Jesus” contest. When Christmas cards came in we would compare them and decide which one was the “sweetest,” the most sentimental of the lot. The Jesus of the gospels was not sweet at all. He was a hard-nosed realist. When he… Read More »

That really is the question, isn’t it? “But who do you say that I am?” The reason we are here on this Sunday is because we found here the answer to that question or else we have an instinct that this is the place where we will find the answer to that question. Who do… Read More »

If Boaz had said to Ruth, “I believe in Judea first. You are an immigrant and taking those gleaning jobs away of natives. I can’t help you” there would have been no Obed, no Jesse, no King David. If when St. Joseph brought the Holy Family to Egypt he was told, “I believe in Egypt… Read More »

Even though there is a kinship memory of the Moabites to the Israelites (through Abraham’s nephew, Lot) Moses decreed that the Hebrew children should have nothing to do with the Moabites since they did not help the Chosen People as they journeyed through the desert. But Ruth, the Moabite woman, insisted that the bond of… Read More »

Ours is an apostolic faith. The Book of Revelation talks about the foundation stones of the City of God bearing the name of the apostles. In our creeds we confess our faith as “one, holy, catholic and apostolic.” In fact, we only know about Jesus because of the apostles. He left us no testimony except… Read More »

God is not fair. At least in the way we ordinarily think, God is not fair. We imagine that if we put this much effort in, we should get this much out. Thus, if I just pray a little harder, then I will get what I want. We try to browbeat God with our prayers.… Read More »