Blog of the Archdiocese of Washington
It’s one of the stranger dialogs that occurs in the Gospel. We read it last week in daily Mass and it is difficult not to rejoice in the aplomb of Jesus has he says it. Some Pharisees, likely disingenuous in their motives, approach Jesus to warn him that he needs to leave immediately: Go away, …
Continue reading “A Word of Encouragement in one of Jesus’ Stranger Sayings”
The Gospel today is of the familiar and endearing story of Zacchaeus, a man too short to see Jesus, who climbs the tree (of the Cross), encounters Jesus, and is changed. The danger with familiar stories is that they are familiar and we can miss remarkable qualities. Perhaps it is well that we look afresh …
Continue reading “To Make a Long Story Short – A Homily for the 31st Sunday of the Year”
Men and Women, of course, are very different. Vive la différence! This difference also reaches our spiritual lives and even effects liturgical preferences. Without seeking to cause a firestorm of opinions, one of the critiques of modern liturgy is that it has tipped the balance decidedly toward a more feminine expression, especially in the area …
Continue reading “On Spiritual Gifts and Holy Attire as Seen in a Beer Commercial”
One of the things that most amazes me about the universe is its order. And its order is even more striking for its context of another widespread force: disorder, the tendency of things to fall apart. Let me explain. When we look at things we can observe that, left to themselves, things tend to fall …
Continue reading “Order! Order! A Meditation on how the mystery of order proclaims the glory of God”
The Washington Post recently published and article by Reza Aslan entitled Five Myths about Jesus. At one level the article is the “usual fare” from those who wish to discredit the Biblical text and make a little money in the process. Indeed our deconstructionist times love to heap scorn on our Sacred text. Almost no …
In the Gospel for today about the rich man and Lazarus the Lord gives us some important teachings on judgment and on hell. Now it is a fact that we live in times where many consider the teaching on Hell to be untenable. Many struggle to understand how a God described as loving, merciful and …
Continue reading “The Hell There Is – A Homily for the 26th Sunday of the Year”
One of the lesser known and lesser read works of CS Lewis is his correspondence with Rev. Fr. Don Giovanni Calabria. Few indeed have read them since they were written in Latin. And though an English translation was published in 1998, I know few who have ever heard of these letters. The full collection of …
In today’s Gospel Jesus defines four Demands of discipleship. We can look at them one by one. I. The CONTEXT of the discipleship. The text says that large crowds were following Jesus and so he turned to address them. Just about any time you find a mention of a large crowd fasten your seat belts …
Continue reading “Four Descriptions of Discipleship – A Sermon for the 23rd Sunday of the Year”