Our life on earth, our temporal existence, should be seen as a kind of pilgrimage. The temporal order is transitory, even if what is in it and comes from it will be eternalized thanks to God’s deifying grace. That is, we know we will find ourselves coming to a new mode of being as we transition from temporality into eternity. That transition shows that we will be migrating, as it were, into the kingdom of God. This is why, as... Read more
I cannot believe how much things have changed in my lifetime, and how much they have changed for the worse. When I was young, when I was growing up, it seemed as if we were moving to a more just society. It seemed that human dignity was being respected all around. It seemed that racism was on the decline. No, things were not perfect, nor would they ever be perfect, but more people understood the progress we had made in... Read more
Miracles surround the events which lead to the birth of Christ. On both sides of his family lineage, that is on Joseph’s side, as well as on Mary’s side, we find many who have had miraculous experiences, showing us that God was at work with them, preparing his family tree for the coming of Christ. Certainly, Mary was conceived and born with the help of God. When her mother, Anne, conceived, it was in her old age. Anne and her... Read more
St. Ambrose was an exceptional, and in many ways, unique saint. This can be seen in the way he became a bishop. While a believer, he wasn’t even baptized when the people said they wanted him to become the next bishop of Milan. They saw in him a man of integrity, a man of character, and believed that if he were their bishop, that he would be a good pastor. Within a week of being chosen, he was baptized, ordained,... Read more
When we read a text, we bring with us all kinds of assumptions, assumptions which establish the hermeneutical lens we use to interpret it. This is especially true with Scripture. Our present living situation is quite different from the writers of Scripture; this is why we should know that our engagement of their texts will not be different from theirs. This is not a bad thing. This is how a text is made to be a living text: we must... Read more
By our nature, we are persons, and as persons, we are relational and therefore communal beings. We might fight against it, trying to cut ourselves off from everyone else and become totally independent individuals, but we cannot. We exist in relation to others, starting with our parents, showing that our very existence has us dependent upon others. We can’t do everything all by ourselves. Sadly, we have been led to believe otherwise. Individualism tells us everything lies on our own... Read more
Lying is an intrinsic evil. “Lying lips are an abomination to the LORD, but those who act faithfully are his delight” (Prov. 12:22 RSV). Because of the ontological connection between truth and goodness, when we lie, we attack and hurt that which is good. This is why lying is classified as an intrinsic evil, for when we lie, we always denigrate the good which lies behind the truth that is being falsified. Therefore, we should not be surprised that the... Read more
Today, we remember St. Andrew the Apostle. While tradition tells us some things about him, including the way he died, we should not neglect what we can learn about him from Scripture. He was the brother of Peter, and, even when Peter was married, it seems as if they lived in the same house (cf. Mk. 1:29). They were fishermen by trade, though they also appear to be religious, with Andrew having become a disciple of St. John the Baptist... Read more
Bede Griffiths says many of us have been accustomed to either look to the past for some golden age which we would like the reestablish or to the future hoping that we can create in it the utopia which we desire. He says, however, that neither the past nor the future will provide what we seek, because what we want, what will satisfy is, is only found in and with the eternal kingdom of God. This is not to say... Read more
I have long observed the way many who say that the King James Bible is the only legitimate translation of the Bible into English, if not the only proper Bible available today, try to prove their claim: they take passages from the King James translation and put them side by side with other translations, note the difference, and say that proves other translations are wrong. That is, they think the fact that others translate various difficult passages differently prove that... Read more
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