Embracing Imperfection: A Path To True Purity

Last updated on: January 9, 2025 at 3:13 am By Henry Karlson

While holiness, which includes moral and spiritual purity, is important, we must never assume the qualifications we make concerning moral and spiritual purity properly represents such holiness. We often get things wrong. One of the ways we do so is assume holiness is something individualistic, something which we achieve all by ourselves. While some might agree, this is wrong, because it tends towards the Pelagian heresy, they still tend to be individualistic, as they ignore the community aspect of holiness.... Read more

Thinking About The Jubilee Year

Last updated on: January 8, 2025 at 3:15 am By Henry Karlson

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Since the new Jubilee Year, Jubilee 2025, began, I have found myself thinking about two different things. The first relates to the Jubilee Year itself, its meaning in the present, but also what it originally meant when it was established in the Torah. The Jubilee is all about liberation, freeing people (such as slaves) from what oppressed them, especially all the debts they might have accumulated since the last Jubilee year. Jubilees especially helped the poor, as they were the... Read more

Jesus’ Baptism Unveils The Mystery Of The Trinity

Last updated on: January 6, 2025 at 3:32 am By Henry Karlson

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Each of the persons of the Trinity reveal themselves at Jesus’ baptism. God the Son, the incarnate Logos, was baptized, not because he needed to be baptized by John, but because the world needed his baptism. “For the Word was not baptized stripped of a body, but received baptism having truly become flesh; the Word was baptized for the sake of us men, in order that, having purified our nature and the waters, He might make our salvation perfect.”[1] The... Read more

John The Baptist: The Last Prophet

Last updated on: January 5, 2025 at 3:15 am By Henry Karlson

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St. John the Baptist was. in some respects, the last of the prophets (even if prophecy would not end with him), because Christians see in him the end of the preparatory stage of human history and the way God worked in and with prophets in Israel (and around the world) to prepare for the incarnation. He became the living embodiment of that tradition, that is, his mission was to be the sign that the eschatological kingdom of God was at... Read more

The Little Drummer Boy: A Symbol of Love and Acceptance

Last updated on: January 3, 2025 at 3:13 am By Henry Karlson

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I have long held a strong affection for the story of the Magi, the story of the Wise Men from the East (Zoroastrians), who, thanks to their astrological studies, learned of the birth of Jesus and made a long journey to Bethlehem. They believed there was something special about him and his birth, and so they wanted to render him the honor they believed he was due. Tradition says that they became devoted followers of Christ, adoring him throughout their... Read more

God’s Commitment To The Material Universe

Last updated on: January 2, 2025 at 3:10 am By Henry Karlson

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Christianity teaches us that the world (that is, universe) we live in is good because it was created by God, and God is good. The world might be defiled and covered up by our sin, making it difficult for us to see its goodness, but its inherent goodness remains, however difficult it might be for us to find it (just like a gold statue completely covered by trash might lead people to think the statue is worthless). Eschatologically, God will... Read more

Government Is Not A Business

Last updated on: December 31, 2024 at 3:16 am By Henry Karlson

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Government is meant to work for and promote the common good. It is not intended to be used for private interest, especially for the exclusive interest of the rich and powerful seeking to make a greater profit for themselves at the expense of the poor and needy. Government is meant to promote justice, justice which includes providing services to promote the common good. To provide those services, government will have to spend money; they are not meant to be sold... Read more

The Difference Between Paul And Herod: Zeal Vs Ambition

Last updated on: December 29, 2024 at 3:29 am By Henry Karlson

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Christianity has always had people who wanted to stamp it out. Some, like St. Paul, thinking Christianity was an abomination for teaching blasphemy, had good intentions behind their attacks against the Christian faith. Those intentions can be the source of transformation, as they were for Paul, because the reason why he attacked the Christian faith (and Christ), was due to a misunderstanding, not only of what the new Christian community was teaching, but also of what God wanted for humanity.... Read more

Embracing Evolution: A Catholic Perspective On Creation

Last updated on: December 26, 2024 at 4:08 am By Henry Karlson

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Before I became Catholic, I was extremely literalistic in the way I read and understood Scripture. This should not be surprising, because I was nominally raised in a fundamentalistic tradition, that is, as a Southern Baptist. I did not realize Scripture was written with various genres and styles, and that its creation story (or stories) were better understood as myth than history. This is not to say such myth had no element of history associated with it, as history often... Read more

From Manger To Mission: Living Christ’s Love

Last updated on: December 25, 2024 at 3:19 am By Henry Karlson

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Christ is Born! Glorify Him! How can we glorify Christ if we keep our eyes closed to the horrors of the world, to the ways we, as a society, are making things worse for those in need? How can we say we love the poor boy in the manger if we deny bread to the poor, deny a place to stay to those who have no place of their own? How can we glorify the God who, having been born... Read more