Whenever I teach the second creation story to my undergraduates, some of them often express dismay over God’s “decision” to place the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil in the garden. For them the Tree represents an unnecessary test of Adam and Eve. God was setting them (and us) up to fail. He knew what was going to happen, but he put the Tree out there anyway. And the reasons go on… Their responses reveal, among other things, their inability... Read more
From much of the news and punditry that has followed the election of Pope Francis, both Catholic and secular, one can easily gather the impression that the future of the Church hangs on the pope’s choice of footwear. This is hardly an exaggeration, but looking beneath the surface, perhaps it’s not quite as absurd as it sounds: for many Catholics, fixation on stylistic minutiae is a projection of larger hopes and fears for a new pontificate (a phenomenon that certainly did not begin with Pope Francis). Among... Read more
A common criticism advanced against Catholics by secular society, and also by “liberal” Catholics against “conservatives” is that they are obsessively concerned with sexual morality. In my personal opinion I think there is a bit of truth to this, though like any demagoguery it is often overstated and lacks nuance. Today, however, I found a brief quote from Pope Francis that also seems to lean in this direction. Sandro Magister has published brief excerpts from the autobiography of Cardinal Bergoglio—more... Read more
There has, of course, been a good deal of controversy over Pope Francis’ decision to celebrate the Mass of the Last Supper at Casal del Marmo and to wash the feet of women and non-Christians. However, as with many things of this nature, much of the commentary has seemed to me to be knee-jerk reaction rather than keen analysis. I offer here excerpts from two differing takes which, I think, deserve further reflection: 1) Pontifex legibus solutus? Fr. Joe Komonchak... Read more
Today Pope Francis gave the traditional Urbi et Orbi address, “the the city and the world.” The full speech can be found, for instance, at Whispers in the Loggia. I found it beautiful in its simplicity, in its clarion call to all Christians to embrace the hope of the resurrection: So this is the invitation which I address to everyone: Let us accept the grace of Christ’s Resurrection! Let us be renewed by God’s mercy, let us be loved by... Read more
A couple of weeks ago, as I arrived at Gift of Love hospice where I go to volunteer each Saturday, I noticed that an ambulance was there. I walked inside and asked what was going on. Apparently a man who was being brought to Gift of Love, I’ll call him Martin, had died in transit. Everyone was looking for Sister Faustine to find out what she wanted them to do with the body. When she was found, she said to... Read more
The font is dry. The bells are silent. The tabernacle is bare. On the one day of the year that no Mass is celebrated, the abnormal absence of these tangible reminders of who we are, ironically, makes us sit up and take notice. Ordinarily, perhaps, we need Ordinary Time to hear the resplendent message of the Church’s highest solemnities, but today this seems to work in reverse. It’s the liturgical grandeur of Palm Sunday, of Maundy Thursday, even of the Mass itself,... Read more
Two of the twelve people whose feet Pope Francis washed today were women. Others were neither Catholic nor even Christian. An interesting precedent. Read more
On this beautiful day on which we remember the Last Supper of our Lord, I will offer some reflections about what that meal was. My hope and prayer is that, by doing so, you will be able more deeply to enter into the profound experience of this night. 1. The Last Supper was a reconfiguring of the Exodus and Return from Exile around the figure of Jesus himself. The Last Supper was a quasi-Passover meal (as I’ve discussed here),... Read more
In the last congregation meeting before the conclave, Cardinal Bergoglio made some impromptu remarks that apparently very much impressed the other cardinals. The Cardinal of Havana, Jaime Lucas Ortega y Alamino, asked Bergoglio if he spoke from a written text. He had not, but the next day Bergoglio gave him a set of handwritten notes which he said were his best attempt at reconstructing what he had said. With the new Pope’s permission, Lucas Ortega has made them public, and... Read more
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