Blog of the Archdiocese of Washington
One of the more difficult biblical concepts to understand is that of God hardening the hearts and minds of certain people. The most memorable case is that of Pharaoh: before sending Moses to him, God said that He would “harden Pharaoh’s heart” (Ex 4:21). And there are other instances in which biblical texts speak of …
Continue reading “What Does It Mean When Scripture Says That God Hardens Certain Human Hearts?”
The Gospel today portrays for us some disciplines that are important for disciples. They are portrayed in the life of Jesus, but are to be applied in our lives. Let’s look at each of them in turn. I. Purposefulness – The text says, When the days for Jesus’ being taken up were fulfilled, he resolutely …
Continue reading “Five Disciplines of Discipleship – A Homily for the 13th Sunday of the Year”
Following up on Sunday’s Gospel, I would like to propose the following reflection. There was a woman who was so moved by Jesus’ mercy that she wept for joy and showed extravagant, grateful love. Are we that way? Too often we are not. And as Jesus pointed out, a big reason for that is that …
Continue reading “If You Don’t Know the Bad News, the Good News Is No News”
If you ask me (and even if you don’t ask me) something in the video below is amiss. Twenty years ago a father would have filled the role depicted in it. Watch it and see what you think. In making my observation I am not blaming women/mothers. But if any video could demonstrate that we …
In the Gospel today (Tuesday of the 10th week) the Lord describes metaphorically what a Christian is and what He expects of us. You are the salt of the earth … You are the light of the World … But if salt goes flat it is good for nothing … No one lights a lamp …
When I gave a talk recently at the Institute of Catholic Culture on the subject of the Second Coming, I was I asked to describe what our resurrected bodies will be like. Here is an article I wrote a few years back that details some aspects of our resurrected bodies: St Paul writes to the …
Continue reading “What Will Our Resurrected Bodies Be Like?”
Here in the Western world, we live in a culture that tends to treat anger as taboo. A common tactic to unsettle an opponent today is to accuse him or her of being angry. It is amazing how easily humiliated and/or defensive an adversary can become in response to such an accusation. Yes, it is …
Continue reading “The Passion of Anger and the “Miserable Truce” of the Modern Age”
One of the more perplexing claims of the growing number of agnostics and atheists among us is that there is no evidence of an intelligent creator of the universe. But clearly the created universe manifests intelligibility and order from the farthest reaches of outer space down to our tiny planet and further down into the …
Continue reading “Of Mice and Men – Pondering the Strange Loss of Faith in an Age of Science”