If we want to experience the kingdom of God, we must not close ourselves from it by being self-absorbed, closing in on ourselves instead of being open to God and God’s grace. We certainly must not think it is something we can attain all by ourselves, that on our own, we can do what it takes to become perfect. We can’t. Perfection is impossible without union with God, for God is good, the source and foundation of all that is... Read more
There are various occasions in our life where we might find ourselves doing actions which lead to our own suffering, and we are willing, indeed, see the need to do them despite such suffering. Due to this, though we might not want to suffer, we still embrace it, realizing that it is necessary for our goal. A prime example of this is if we see a loved one under attack: most of us would immediately put ourselves between them and... Read more
While many had their attention diverted by the Olympics, and made-up outrage after made-up outrage concerning what was happening there, Jim Jordan and Thomas Massie, leading the House Judiciary Committee, were conducting an assault on businesses and faith-based groups which take environmental concerns seriously. They claimed that there is a “ESG Cartel” which needs to be stopped, a cartel which has as its goal a desire to protect the environment, and with it, the future of humanity. Why do they... Read more
The Transfiguration is a special event in world history. God reveals to us in the Transfiguration of Christ that the glory of God can and will be shared with material creation, meaning, matter itself can participate in God’s glory and be transfigured by it. This is why some consider the Transfiguration to be an eschatological revelation because it revealed to us the truth of the immanent eschaton, that is, God is with us in Jesus. At the Transfiguration we are... Read more
Several times during his ministry Jesus made it clear that we are not to go out into the world looking for people to judge and condemn. That is not what we have been tasked to do. We should not let a spirit of condemnation rule over us. If we do so, we find ourselves leaving the path of salvation ourselves, thereby risking being the ones who are condemned. Instead, we are expected to follow the way of love and mercy,... Read more
By nature, if we are to use such a term for God, God is perfect. In accordance to that perfection, God is incapable of suffering. If God suffered, then, with such suffering, there would be something less than perfect about God. This is why there is nothing we can do to make God suffer. Indeed, God is eternal and in that eternity, unchangeable, and since God is by nature perfect and without suffering, there can be no change which would... Read more
When I was in first grade, we had a teacher’s aide who came from Hawaii. At the end of her term, which I recall was not at the end of the year but sometime before then, perhaps at the end of the first semester, she told us she was going back to Hawaii. We had a farewell party for her at which she shared with us some Hawaiian candy as well as a story which she said she had heard... Read more
Christianity is a religion about God, God’s love for creation, and the mercy and grace God is willing to give to those who welcome it. All that is good and true can and will find itself embraced by God insofar as it is good and true; in that embrace, God will bring them together, uniting them so that together they can be led to and directed towards even greater and greater goods, until, at least, they embrace not only that... Read more
Paul talks about how he and the rest of the apostles had become spectacles for the world, not only to watch, but to ridicule. This was due to the fact that they radically followed the teachings of Christ, teachings which often went against the hopes and dreams of the elite. The apostles, indeed, Christians, were drawn to the very people society despised, the poor, the social outcasts, and showed them love. In doing this, the apostles were in solidarity with... Read more
We are to be good neighbors, helping each other with each other’s needs. This is true, not only in relation to material needs, such as food (often represented in Scripture as bread), but also for spiritual needs, which St. Antony the Great also represented as bread: Abba Antony said, ‘A person went to his neighbour in the Gospel in the middle of the night and said to him, “Loan me three loaves of bread because a friend of mine on... Read more
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