Readings for Sunday, September 4, 2016 the 23rd Sunday, Year C When I was a kid, I got the distinct impression there existed a two-track system in Catholicism. Some really decided to go for it. They became priests, nuns, and…
A Gospel to Make you Squirm
Why Humility Opens Doors
Readings for Sunday, August 28, 2016 the 22nd Sunday of Ordinary Time, Cycle C “Nice guys finish last,” says the world. “The last will be first,” replies Jesus. My guess is that the Lord of creation knows best who really…
Not Peace but the Sword
Sunday Readings for August 14, 2016 the 20th Sunday in Ordinary Time One of the themes of Pope Francis at World Youth Day 2013 was to “shake things up.” This is quite different from the advice I was given as…
The Root of All Evil?
Sunday Readings for July 31, 2016 the 18th Sunday of the Year In his space trilogy, C.S. Lewis called him ‘the Bent one.” That is really an apt name for the one the Bible is calls “Satan” or the Accuser….
Martha and Mary
Readings for July 17, 2016, the 16th Sunday in Ordinary Time I once got a harsh letter from a Baptist lady protesting that she could not find the word “Catholic” anywhere in the Bible. True, the earliest occurrence of the…
The Good Samaritan
Sunday Readings for July 10, 2016, the 15th Sunday of the Year To this day, the road from Jericho to Jerusalem is long, winding, and desolate. The two travelers could have been heading back home after weeks on temple duty….
The Fourth of July and a Revolutionary Approach to the Bible:
In the days when states were still “the colonies” and men wore powdered wigs, a new way of thinking captured the intelligentsia of the western world. “The miracle stories in the Bible and the lives of the saints may be…
Restore and Reactivate
Sunday Readings for July 3, 2016 the 14th Sunday of the Year To some, being Italian-American means overindulging in pasta and joking about tough guys. But being Italian means being heir to a rich tradition stretching back before the Caesars….
The Flesh
Readings for the 13th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C Spirituality is really about the soul and the things of the soul. The body and its needs do not matter. In fact, the body is the soul’s prison. Salvation is…
The Messianic Secret
Readings for the 12th Sunday in Ordinary Time Jesus asks a simple question. “Who do the crowds say that I am?” (Luke 9:18) All volunteer an answer, because describing other people’s opinions requires no personal commitment whatsoever. But then Jesus…