Many Who Are Last Shall Be First: A Meditation on the Great Reversal Declared in Scripture

One of the strong traditions of Scripture is of the great reversal that will one day come for many. I have been sobered by it when I consider how blessed I have been in this life; I have been consoled by it when I struggle to understand why some people seem to suffer so much …

While Earth Rolls Onward into Light – A Beautiful Meditation on Time from an Old Hymn

My blog is usually posted in the evening at about 21:00 (9:00 PM) U.S. Eastern Time. But in Sydney, Australia, it is 1:00 in the afternoon of the following day. As I prepare for bed, they are eating lunch on a day that has not even begun for me. And proceeding farther west from there, …

Are These the Last Days? Pondering a Text of St. Paul’s

Are these the last days? In some sense the planets are aligning. But hold your horses; let’s speak carefully of these matters. Last week in the Breviary we read First and Second Thessalonians, which are important source texts for such considerations. I’d like to look at a critical passage from Second Thessalonians, which lays out …

The Mystery of Iniquity – A Meditation on the Mystery of Rebelliousness

There is a phrase in the Scriptures that, while speaking of mystery, is itself a bit mysterious and is debated among scholars: the “mystery of iniquity.” St. Paul mentions it in Second Thessalonians and ties it to an equally mysterious “man of iniquity” who will appear before the Second Coming of Jesus. Many modern translations …

Defining Ministry or Muddling It? A Reflection on an Article “Assigned” to Me

Recently one of my readers sent me a collection of sayings or proverbs on the topic of ministry. The collection is entitled Defining Ministry. The reader, who apparently does not think I follow modern trends very well, scolded me for being out-of-touch and recommended that I review the list. That reader apparently believes that those …

Who or What is the Antichrist? A reflection on the Biblical teaching.

There is much lore about the antichrist, especially among certain Evangelicals that is often out of proportion to the attention scripture pays to the concept, and more importantly is at possible variance from what is actually and certainly taught. It easily becomes the stuff of movies and novels wherein the antichrist figure steps on the …