The season of Advent begins with a reminder that everyone belongs in the kingdom of God. The prophet Isaiah has a vision: The mountain of the LORD’s house shall be established as the highest mountain … All nations shall stream toward it. Jesus observes that “many will come from the east and the west, and… Read More »

There are times when the ugliness of the world, the cruelty of people, the violence pervading society seems too much. It’s enough to make you want to crawl into a cave and become a hermit. (Which actually has been the responce of many Christians over the ages!) On the other hand we have the promise… Read More »

The founder of my religious congregation, Fr. Thomas Judge, CM, had has his (and hence, our) motto “Every Catholic is called to be an apostle.” In our day and age with the rise of the “nones,” those without any religious belief, the apostolic vocation that we all share is more important than ever. The reading… Read More »

In one sense God is beyond time  and all that we can do is be in awe at the presence of the divine. On the other hand, since God shares human life with us in the person of Jesus we are given access into the divine nature and how God is present in the world.… Read More »

Once upon a time there was a farmer who thought the price of feed was getting too high.  He decided to do something about it.  One of his neighbors asked him how it was going.  “Well,” the farmer said, “I just about had trained my horse not to eat anything when he up and died… Read More »

One of the most heinous of crimes for a Christian is anti-semitism. Hatred of Jews is hatred of Jesus, Mary, Peter and Paul. St. John (himself Jewish) has been accused of anti-semitism because of lines in the fourth gospel like “Jesus was delivered up to the Jews.” Obviously, in context, John meant delivered up to… Read More »

So the angel swung his sickle over the earth and cut the earth’s vintage. He threw it into the great wine press of God’s fury. Or, as the song puts it, “the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored.” Probably the most famous sermon ever delivered in what is now the United States was… Read More »

Last week I made a quick trip to New Orleans for a reunion with those who were involved in campus ministry at LSU forty-five years ago! Since I hadn’t seen most of them in the interim it was like meeting strangers … until we started singing. As we went through our repetoire (yes, all the… Read More »

The Pontius Pilates of the world seem to be winning. Jesus is clear about his mission as Christ the King: “For this I was born and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth.” Pilate’s mission is clear too – impose his will on others. Pilate scoffs at the notion of… Read More »

In our creeds we confess belief in “life everlasting” — getting to heaven is part of our story. What the Bible is most concerned about is how human life is being lived in the world. When the Sadducees try to score some points getting Jesus to speculate about life after death Jesus responds that God… Read More »