Scholars wonder if St. Matthew knew the writings of St. Paul. The First Gospel was written twenty or so years after Paul’s second letter to the Church at Corinth (written about 57 A.D.) Did St. Matthew quote the words of Jesus, “not the smallest letter or the smallest part of a letter will pass from… Read More »

Back in the olden days when I was a music minister I introduced the song with the refrain: “You are the light of the world, let your light shine before all (actually in those days we said ‘men’) that they may see the good that you do and give glory to God.” The priest in… Read More »

The liturgical readings for the next few weeks (2 Corinthians) and months (Matthew’s Gospel) will call us to make the Christian life concrete in our everyday lives. St. Paul addresses very specific issues that have risen in the local Church at Corinth. He applies gospel principles to real life situations. We start reading from Matthew’s… Read More »

God is love, the Bible says. Christians have come to understand the love that God is as referring to the Trinity, as the relationship of divine persons. The love of God cannot be found in a king sitting on the throne above it all. Rather, God’s love is dynamic and alive, in the giving and… Read More »

In ordinary time the daily readings are a lectio continuo, a continuous reading of a particular book of the Bible. For the past nine weeks the gospel has been from the Gospel of Mark, going through it chapter by chapter. (On Monday we will begin to read from St. Matthew.) The series of readings end with… Read More »

The Book of Tobit is found in the Catholic Bible. Its origins are somewhat murky but the best guess is that it was written sometime before the year 200 B.C. The book offers an image of fidelity to God by the Jewish people who were being scattered from their original homeland in Palestine and settling… Read More »

In the Gospels we find “the Great Commandment” of Jesus — love God and love neighbor. But St. Mark tells the story by quoting from the beginning of the pericope, Deutronomy 4:6. “Hear, O Israel: the LORD is our God, the LORD is One.” The imperative, therefore, is not to love but to hear. Love… Read More »

The last prayer of the day in the Liturgy of the Hours, the official prayer book of the Church, reads: May almighty God grant us a restful night and a peaceful death. Not every death is peaceful. We read in the Book of Tobit how both Tobit and his future daughter-in-law, Sarah, prayed for death… Read More »

The Campus Crusade for Christ, a non-denominational Protestant college program, loved to recruit Catholics. When I was at LSU they challenged me to a debate. I could answer them “chapter and verse” and so the argument went forward. But in the end it was an exercise in futility. No minds and hearts were changed. Contrast… Read More »

Ordinary time. After the forty days of Lent and the fifty days of Easter we are back in ordinary time in the Church’s calendar. Ordinary time is significant in the individual spiritual life because it is in the ordinary that we meet God. Oh, there probably are those mountain-top-knocked-off-your-horse moments but they are not the… Read More »