Blog of the Archdiocese of Washington
The first reading from Mass for Tuesday of the First Week of the Year is from the Letter to the Hebrews. It sets forth the total victory of Christ and that the Father has subjected all things to Christ. Yet the text also shows how the outworking of this subjugation is paradoxical. Note first the …
Continue reading “Christ’s Victory Is Total, but Often in Surprising Ways”
This Sunday’s Feast of the Baptism of the Lord is a time to reflect on not only the Lord’s Baptism but our own. In an extended sense, when Christ is baptized, so are we, for we are members of His Body. As Christ enters the water, He makes holy the water that will baptize us. …
The commercial below illustrates an important principle about side effects. When faced with a problem, we often wish for an easy cure, one without any personal costs or side effects. However, in general, the bigger the problem, the more drastic the cure and the larger the side effects. In my experiences with deliverance ministry and …
Continue reading “There Are Few Easy Cures, as Seen in a Commercial”
Note: This is the second of a two-part series. Part one is available here. At its root, anthropology considers what human beings are and how they have interacted with one another and the world around them over time. While many think of anthropology as a secular study of cultures from ancient to modern day, I …
Anthropology is, most simply, the science or study of human beings through time and space. Different specialties focus on the analysis of biological/physiological characteristics and the examination of societies/cultures. In the religious sense, anthropology deals with the origin, nature, and destiny of human beings. In our times there are many moral issues emerging from viewpoints …
Continue reading “Basics of Christian Anthropology (part 1 of 2)”
At Christmas we celebrate the Word becoming Flesh, but what does this mean for us today? Fundamentally, it means that our faith is about things that are tangible. As human beings, we have bodies. We have a soul that is spiritual, but it is joined with a body that is physical and material. Hence, it …
I open our New Year’s Eve late night Mass (11:15 PM) with the observation that we begin Mass in one year and end in the next. New Year’s Eve highlights the mysterious passage between years. In a way I suppose it is no more mysterious than the passage from Thursday to Friday or from 10:00 …
Continue reading “Does Anybody Really Know What Time It Is? A Meditation on the Mystery of Time”
The weather in Washington, D.C. was dismal on Saturday: more than two inches of rain. 2018 has now surpassed 1889 to become the wettest year since records have been kept. So far, more than 62 inches of rain have fallen this year; the annual average is only about 40 inches. On this cold, rainy December …
Continue reading “Of Weather and Warnings: A Pro-Life Meditation”