Imitating Jesus
The Christian Life can be summed up in two words: “Imitate Jesus.” Of course, we are to imitate Jesus as we live out our day-to-day lives. But we can also imitate him in death, as did St Stephen. In today’s first reading from Mass, we hear, as St Stephen is being executed: ‘As they were [more]
Biblical Allusions
Classical literature is filled with biblical allusions. Moby Dick, by Herman Melville, begins with the famous words “Call me Ishmael.” The obvious reference to the biblical character Ishmael, whose younger brother Isaac was favored. Another example of a biblical allusion in classical literature is found in Hamlet. On Thursday, April 8, at Mass, the Responsorial [more]
A Week of Weeks
Yes, Easter was a number of days ago. And, yet, Easter — the Resurrection of Our Lord and Savior — is too big an event to be encompassed in a single day. All week long, during Mass, we recite or sing the Gloria, even on weekdays, because we are still celebrating Easter. Easter week concludes [more]
God Finally Chose His Son To Do It
As we hear in today’s first reading at Mass, God had a plan for how he was going to straighten things out among his chosen people who were not united. We find this to be a recurring theme throughout the Old Testament. From shortly after creation, when Adam and Eve went astray and introduced original [more]
Why a Symbol of Snake on Ambulances?
Why do some ambulances have a symbol of a snake on them? In the first reading in today’s Mass, we hear the following experience of Moses and the People of Israel as they wander through the desert and are bitten by deadly snakes and scorpions referred to as serpents and saraphs: “The people of Israel [more]
Mother and Son
One of the beautiful aspects of our liturgical calendar is its parallel couplings. Yesterday and today, we remember Saint Monica and Saint Augustine, mother and son. Less than a month from now, we honor another Mother and Son — the Mother and Son — Our Lady of Sorrows and Jesus in the Triumph of the [more]
Yeast and Leaven
In today’s Gospel reading, we hear Jesus speak about the power of a little bit of yeast to leaven a large amount of flour: “The Kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed with three measures of wheat flour until the whole batch was leavened.” In Jesus’ time and place, people [more]
Sermon on the Mount
Whenever a new political entity, social organization, or some other institution begins, it usually puts forth a mission statement, charter, or constitution. God gave such a constitution to the People of Israel in the time of Moses, in the form of the Law: 600+ laws, rules, and regulations, the first ten of which are the [more]
The Trinity
Most – if not all – of us have certainly heard the story of how George Washington admitted that he did indeed chop down the cherry tree. Now, Washington’s biographer, Mason Weems, in his book entitled “THE LIFE OF WASHINGTON,” said that this MYTH was created as a way to show Washington’s honesty. Regardless of [more]
Connecting the Old and the New
The first reading at daily Masses has lately been marching through the Acts of the Apostles. At today’s Mass, we hear St. Paul make the connection between the events of the Old Testament and Jesus. In our day and age, when Hollywood puts out numerous films that have sequels and prequels, we can see that [more]
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