A priest, a minister and a rabbi are trying to decide how much to give to charity. So the priest says, we’ll draw a circle on the ground, we’ll throw the money way up in the air and whatever lands inside the circle, we give to charity. The minister says “no”, we’ll draw a circle… Read More »

The prophet Isaiah is so important both in Jewish and Christian thinking that he is frequently referred to as the capital “P” Prophet. The account of his call to become a prophet reminds us that no one chooses to a prophetic vocation but that God chooses them. Isaiah’s call came from two sources: first, his… Read More »

Israel had the misfortune of lying between the two superpowers of the time — Egypt and Assyria. With so much of the region being desert, the only invasion route with adequate water and resources went through Israel. The kings of Israel tried to play one off against the other in a game of realpolitik. The… Read More »

“When Israel was a child I loved him,  out of Egypt I called my son. The more I called them, the farther they went from me.” The relentless care of God for Israel is a constant theme in the prophets. When I was in Jersey City a group of mothers formed who called themselves: “These… Read More »

Jesus sent out these Twelve after instructing them: As you go, make this proclamation: ‘The Kingdom of heaven is at hand.” The founder of my religious congregation, Fr. Judge, used to say “every Catholic is called to be an apostle.” Most of us find that prospect a little daunting — I’m just an ordinary bloke.… Read More »

Actions have consequences. Or as the Bible puts it: When they sow the wind,  they shall reap the whirlwind. When you are sowing hatred, prejudice, racism, entitlement, victimhood you reap the whirlwind of violence that we saw displayed in all of its ugliness at Highland Park yesterday. Contrast that with the attitude of Jesus: At… Read More »

There might be a special providence that on the day when we as a nation celebrate our independence, the daily reading is taken from the prophet Hosea. Hosea spoke to his country of the need to reform. They were acting in ways contrary to God — oppressing the poor, warring with other nations, acting without… Read More »

A recent visitor to St. James asked if we were a Catholic Church. She was confused because the cross behind the altar did not have a corpus (the body of Jesus) on it as is customary in Catholic churches. (Our processional cross does have a corpus to honor liturgical tradition.) Our custom as a Missionary… Read More »

One description of the role of a prophet is to “comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable.” Amos certainly practiced the latter of those two tasks in the first eight chapters of the book that bears his name. He threatened, he cajoled, he condemned the society which was built on exploiting the poor and weak,… Read More »

In the early days of the ecumenical movement there was a saying, “Doctrine divides, service unites.” That saying is not exactly true. It is the doctrine of the incarnation — the Word becoming flesh in Jesus — that motivates our loving service to every human being.  But, as the prophet Amos protests, a lack of… Read More »