Blog of the Archdiocese of Washington
The Gospel today says that Jesus was tempted by the Devil in the desert. Hebrews 4:15 also affirms: For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin. How exactly a divine person, with a sinless …
Continue reading “Tackle Tempation or Risk Ruination. A Sermon for the 1st Sunday of Lent”
It is late in the evening on the east coast of the United States: the 23rd hour of the day we call February 25th. But where my Uncle, Fr. George Pope, lives (he is a priest in Bangladesh), not only is it already February 26th, but it has been so for some time. It is 9:00 …
Many understandings of Original Sin, the sin committed by Adam and Eve, tend to describe the sin as the eating of a forbidden fruit. While this description is not inaccurate, it is incomplete and many rightly wonder as to how and why all this trouble came from the mere eating of a piece of fruit. …
It is a phrase in the Scriptures that, while speaking of mystery, is itself a bit mysterious and 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 translators (accurately) …
Continue reading “The Mystery of Iniquity – A Meditation on the Deep Mystery of Rebelliousness”
The Feast Yesterday of the Presentation of Jesus was a rich fare. In my homily I did not have time to cover all I wanted to. Frankly, the moment of the Presentation was one of the most dramatic in Biblical history, and yet almost no one noticed. Lets consider this astonishing moment. The first part …
Continue reading “A Dramatic Biblical Moment that almost Every one Missed”
In the ancient Church, and until rather recently, we genuflected at the two references to the incarnation in the Mass: at the Creed and at the Last Gospel (John 1). Why did we do this? It was explained to me that the mystery was so deep that one could only fall in silent reverence. There …
Continue reading “Some Paradoxes and Mysteries of the Incarnation”
I. The Paradox of this Night – In a way, we are too familiar with the Christmas story, and so many of its strange paradoxes and stunning “absurdities” fail to shock and amaze us. And yet it does not take long to consider that no human being would ever craft this sort of entrance of …
Continue reading “The Humility that Heals – A Homily for Christmas”
Maybe I’m just not listening to the news enough, but I haven’t heard a lot about the Christmas wars this year. These are the annual wars wherein a Christian seeks to put up some display of Christmas, be it a creche or Christmas tree, and soon various atheists or civil liberties groups lodge protests or …