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Articles
Laughter and Weeping, Riches and Wealth
Occasionally, in hearing confessions, I encounter a penitent who has been away from the sacraments for a number of years. When it comes time to assign a penance, I pause, for “Say ten Hail...
Articles
Banishing Envy
The final words of today’s second reading, from Saint Paul’s letter to the Colossians, like their parallel in Galatians, are much resorted today:
Here there cannot be Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian,...
Articles
Ascension, Bishops and the Church
When was the Church founded? Many would say that it emerged from the opened side of Jesus on the cross, like a new Eve from the new Adam. Others point to Pentecost when, with...
Nota in Brevis
Saint John and The Person of Christ
The Gospel of Saint John is different from those of Matthew, Mark and Luke, which all begin with the man Jesus, who by his mighty deeds and compelling words led his disciples to discern...
Articles
The Good Shepherd Never Leaves His Flock
Has any one of you been a shepherd? or even seen one? Do shepherds exist in contemporary North America? Nevertheless, we know instinctively that when Jesus refers to himself as the good shepherd, he...
Articles
The Seven Penitential Psalms
When you are old—as I am—a single word or event can release a flood of memories. That happened to me when I noticed that today’s responsorial psalm is number 102. For this psalm is...
Articles
Senses of Scripture in the Prodigal Son
In 1861, John William Burgon, the (Anglican) dean of Chichester cathedral, preached a sermon in Christ Church cathedral, Oxford, that included the following statement:
THE BIBLE is none other than the voice of Him that...
Articles
A Meditation for Lent
Jewish rabbis have a useful word to describe the attitude of a believer to Sacred Scripture. The word is mashal, and it is used of a short, witty statement, often a proverb, such as:
A...
