Category: Scripture Reflection
Chris Jackson at the Substack Hiraeth in Exile has generated some controversy recently with a number of hot takes on Pope Leo; I’m focusing here on one in particular, because it epitomizes a way of understanding the Church and the world. I’ve noticed...
In the book of Leviticus, we read that priests were forbidden to touch a corpse; to do so rendered a person ritually unclean (Lev 21:1–3). The priest and the Levite in this parable, who may have regarded the victim as...
Today’s gospel reading raises some very important questions. And it gives us some very important answers. The questions are human, but the answers are divine. Here are the questions: “What must I do to inherit eternal life?” and “Who is...
Last week in my homily for the Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul, I said, “Life has meaning when we are willing to live and die for something bigger than ourselves.” I also said that at the end of our...
Today the Church celebrates the Solemnity of St. Peter and St. Paul. The general rule – even with Marian celebrations – is that a feast is moved to another weekday if it falls on a Sunday. But the importance of...
I read in a recent science magazine article that 99% of the deep ocean bed remains undiscovered. Oceans cover 71% percent of the earth’s surface and they house 99% of the earth’s biosphere. This means that many of our planet’s...
There is something about Pentecost that leaves me a little wanting. We hear about the dramatic happenings at that first Pentecost, and I want that for us today. I want all of it – the mighty wind, the tongues of...
Homily for the Solemnity of the Ascension of the Lord Recently I drove up to the cemetery to say a rosary and visit my mother’s grave site, as well as a number of other parishioners who are buried there. I...
With the death of Pope Francis and the election of Leo XIV, the Church finds itself in a phase of transition. While much has been revealed about Leo XIV’s priorities and the direction the Church will take under his leadership,...
Editor’s note: On Sunday, September 27, 2020 — at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic — Pope Leo XIV delivered the following homily on the 106th World Day of Migrants and Refugees. Given from the context of Peruvian culture, then-Bishop...
On the Sunday that we hear the words of Jesus in the Gospel, “My sheep hear my voice; I know them, and they follow me,” (Jn 10:27), we have a new Pope. Pope Leo XIV is the 267th Pope of...
Where was Thomas, anyway? Scripture doesn’t give us any clues, but his absence is not remarkable merely that he missed out on the first visit to the Upper Room by Jesus. Think about the first words of today’s Gospel: “On...
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