I have never worn the uniform, been to war, been wounded or scared in a battle. I have never left my family for months or years to travel across the world to fight for and defend my country. I have never eaten a MRE, carried a sea bag, put on combat boots, shot at an […]
Veteran’s Day – “Thank You.” Two words. Eight letters. Read More »
In our gospel today (Luke 17:1-6), we have three teachings that are also found, in slightly different settings, in Matthew’s gospel. The first is on the inevitability of scandals. Scandals are those actions or words that literally cause people to trip and fall. Here they refer to words or actions which become obstacles, preventing
Scandal And Forgiveness – Forgive Unconditionally And Frequently Read More »
The Book of Kings, from which our First Reading is taken (1 Kings 17:10‑16), tells of the adventures of the prophet Elijah. Earlier in the chapter, Elijah foretells the coming of a drought that will descend upon his agricultural nation. We hear that he is sent by God into a foreign nation where God
Two Widows – The Flour And Oil Do Not Run Out Read More »
The Culture of Death suffered a sound defeat in the United States elections held this week. Praise be to God! Praise also to the American people for seeing through the immoral and unjust policies thrust upon them by immoral and unjust politicians and rejecting those policies at the polls. In the run-up to this year’s
Human Dignity At The End Of Life Read More »
Today we conclude our reading from Paul’s Letter to the Philippians. Paul continues to warn the Philippians about not being led astray in the living of their Christian faith, and he urges them to follow Paul’s own example (Philippians 3:17‑4:1). This might sound arrogant, but Paul, who had been himself such a devout and observant
Philippians Concludes – We Are On Our Way To A Better Home Read More »
In our previous readings from Paul’s letters, he has already mentioned divisions and arguing among the various Christian communities. Today (Philippians 3:3‑8) he indicates that one source of the problem was the agitation of the Judaizers, those who believed that Levitical Law should be binding on Christians as well. We saw this issue before when reading
Law vs Love – You Are My Disciples, If You Have Love For One Another Read More »
In our previous readings from Paul’s letters, he has already mentioned divisions and arguing among the various Christian communities. Today (Philippians 3:3‑8) he indicates that one source of the problem was the agitation of the Judaizers, those who believed that Levitical Law should be binding on Christians as well. We saw this issue before when reading
Philippians Concludes – We Are On Our Way To A Better Home Read More »
Today’s First Reading (Philippians 2:12‑18) follows immediately on yesterday’s hymn about the “mind of Christ”, depicted in his ‘self-emptying’ as his way to glory. Paul now exhorts the Philippians to follow the teaching he has given them, which is none other than the teaching of Jesus and the Gospel. They did follow his teaching when he
Convincing Witness – An Invisible Christian Is A Contradiction In Termss Read More »
Yesterday we saw Paul urging the Philippians to greater unity and he gave them some motivating reasons to help bring it about. Today (Philippians 2:5-11) he gives what is the strongest motivation of all: the example shown to us by Jesus. Paul begins by asking the Philippians to assimilate into the very core of
Paul’s Great Hymn – A Real Man Who Suffered And Died Read More »
In today’s First Reading (Philippians 2:1-4), Paul makes an eloquent appeal for unity among the Christians of the church at Philippi. As he writes from prison, the encouragement and comfort he wishes most from them is that they, “…be of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord …”. As will become
Resolving Our Differences – We, Too, Need To Be More United Read More »