32nd Sunday in Ordinary Time: God Asks Only One Thing of Us

The reading from the Letter to the Hebrews, our Second Reading for this Sunday, continues the reflection on the sacrifice of Christ on the Cross. To understand the crucifixion more fully, we need to look back deep into Israelite history. The patriarchs of Israel moved to the land of Egypt, where the Israelites became a large and prosperous ethnic group. However, the Egyptian Pharaoh became jealous of their success and decided to enslave them. He then sought to destroy the Israelites by having every male child killed right after birth.

In response to their suffering, God sent Moses to free the Israelites form bondage. Moses sought to prevail upon Pharaoh to let the Israelites go, but Pharaoh would not listen. As a result, God performed 10 signs, also known as the 10 plagues, through Moses in order to persuade Pharaoh to set the captives free. The last of the signs was the angel of death flying over Egypt and striking down the firstborn male in every household. The Israelites themselves could avoid this punishment by each family gathering together to sacrifice and eat a lamb and marking their doorframes with the lamb’s blood. When the angel of death would see the blood upon the doorframe, it would pass over the house without causing harm.

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31st Sunday in Ordinary Time: Loving with God's Love

The scribe's question in this Sunday's Gospel passage may seem like a simple theological inquiry, but if we consider the larger context of the Gospel narrative, we can see that the scribe was trying to set a trap against Jesus. The passage takes place in Jerusalem, where many Jewish people have gathered for the Passover, the greatest feast of Judaism, celebrating the liberation of the Israelites from captivity in Egypt. However, the celebration is bittersweet, because by the time of Jesus, the Jewish people had been living under foreign occupation for hundreds of years. Just imagine a scenario where the United States has been conquered by a hostile country. What would it be like to celebrate the 4th of July while enemy tanks are patrolling the streets?

The celebration of the Passover was a highly charged time in Jerusalem, with the possibility of an uprising breaking out in order to overthrow the Romans, the current occupiers of the Holy Land. The atmosphere was especially tense at the time of Jesus because the prophecies of The Book of Daniel pointed to what we now call the first century AD as the time when the Messiah would arrive. The assumption was that the Messiah would be a military king who would defeat the Romans with divine help. As the city was preparing for the Passover, the celebration of the liberation of the Israelites, even small disturbances would have been enough for the crowds to rise up against their oppressors.

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30th Sunday in Ordinary Time: Leaving Everything Behind

In biblical times, healing was a sign of the coming of the Messiah. In The Book of Isaiah, we read: "Say to the fearful of heart: Be strong, do not fear! Here is your God, he comes with vindication; With divine recompense he comes to save you. Then the eyes of the blind shall see, and the ears of the deaf be opened; Then the lame shall leap like a stag, and the mute tongue sing for joy" (Isaiah 35:4-6). All four Gospels relate many miraculous healings performed by Jesus in fulfillment of this prophecy. One of those instances is the curing of the blind man in this Sunday's Gospel passage.

As the passage begins, Jesus is on his way from Jericho to Jerusalem. Today, a modern highway connects the two cities. In biblical times, the road was much less developed, but it was already a major thoroughfare, and one which had a bad reputation. The parable of the Good Samaritan also takes place along this road, highlighting the dangers of being alone in this area. But the blind man sits at the side of this dangerous road, begging. On the one hand, the busyness of the road can help him get more money from generous travelers. On the other hand, the roughness of the area puts him at risk of being robbed of whatever he is able to collect from benefactors. When Jesus passes by, he takes a leap of faith.

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29th Sunday in Ordinary Time: What Is the Role of the Messiah?

The request that the sons of Zebedee make of Jesus in today's Gospel passage is shaped by the long history of ancient Israel and the contemporary understanding of the role of the Messiah. The Israelite monarchy was established by Saul in the 11th century B.C. His successor, David, expanded the territory of the kingdom, making Jerusalem the capital. The glory days of the monarchy came during the reign of his son Solomon, who transformed the kingdom into a small empire, with even more expanded borders. But right after Solomon the land was split in two, the Kingdom of Israel in the north and the Kingdom of Judah in the south. In time, both areas were overrun by conquerors, and the Israelites came to live under the oppression of a series of foreign occupies - the Assyrians, the Babylonians, the Persians, the Greens, and the Romans, the last of whom held sway at the time of Jesus.

In the midst of their oppression, the Israelites received prophecies that God would send a Messiah who would liberate them. Their understanding of the coming of the Messiah was that he would be a military conqueror who would overthrown the occupiers and would rebuild the great kingdom of the past, making it even more glorious. That is how the disciples also saw Jesus, as the king who would usher in the new golden age. Hence the request of the sons of Zebedee. Their hope was that once Jesus became the king of the new monarchy, they could be the top officials in his court, enjoying all the power, wealth, and glory that would come with such positions.

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28th Sunday in Ordinary Time: Christianity and Wealth

The Gospel passage for this Sunday includes a very famous line: "It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for one who is rich to enter the kingdom of God" (Mark 10:25). Our initial thought might be to think of a sewing needle and try to imagine a camel squeezing through that tiny hole, which would clearly imply that a wealthy person has no chance of entering the Kingdom of God. But in the culture of Jesus, the phrase "eye of a needle" had another meaning too. The phrase was used to describe a small door that opened in one of the large panes of a grand gate, like a city gate. Such gates would be opened in the morning and would stay open for the day to allow for the daily coming and going of the inhabitants and visitors. Then in the evening, the gates would be closed and locked for the night.

But the small door called the eye of a needle could still be opened as needed during the night hours, which kept the city safer than having to open up the gates after sundown. The eye of a needle door was narrow and short so as to make it easier to defend in case of an attack. Since camels tend to be taller than grown adults and would typically be carrying packages too, getting a camel through the eye of a needle was quite a task. The packages would need to be removed and the camel would need to almost crawl in order to pass. While having a camel enter this way was not easy, it was not impossible either. Returning to the Gospel passage for this Sunday, according to the analogy Jesus uses, entering the Kingdom of Heaven would not be impossible for a rich person, but it would certainly be tough. Only with God's grace would it be possible.

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27th Sunday in Ordinary Time: Marriage Is the Height of God’s Creative Work on Earth

The Bible starts with two accounts of the creation of the world by God. The first one (Genesis 1:1-2:3) details the order in which God created the world and life on earth. At each stage, the narrator tells us that God looked at his work and saw that it was good. The final stage is the creation of human beings: "God created mankind in his image; in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them" (Genesis 1:27). God then blesses humankind, tells them to multiply and fill the earth, and gives them dominion over the rest of creation. After the creation of human beings, God looks at his work and considers it very good. Up until now, everything was called good, but now that human beings have been created, creation is described as very good. Humanity is shown to be the pinnacle of God's creative work, the height of the order of creation on the earth.

The second account of the creation of the world (Genesis 2:4-25) focuses on the nature of humanity. We see from the account that neither man nor woman is whole independently on a natural level, but that they are meant to complement each other and form one whole through the union of marriage. In the Gospel passage for this Sunday, Jesus states: "from the beginning of creation, God made them male and female. For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh. So they are no longer two but one flesh" (Mark 10:6-8). The first account of creation shows that human beings are the greatest of God's creative work on earth. The second account shows that our nature is designed for man and woman to complete each other on a natural level through marriage. Thus, taken together, the two accounts of creation that open the Bible tell us that the marriage of man and woman is the height of the natural order God created in our world.

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26th Sunday in Ordinary Time: You Can’t Take It With You

Throughout the Gospels, Jesus often engages in a verbal technique called hyperbole, the use of deliberate exaggeration to make a point. In contemporary American culture, hyperbole tends to be used by teens and young adults, but not so much by older generations. But in some other cultures, hyperbole is very much a part of daily interaction.

Such was the case in the culture of Jesus, and we must account for his use of hyperbole when we seek to interpret his words. When Jesus tells us to cut off our foot or hand or pluck out our eye if each leads us to sin, he is clearly making use of hyperbole. However, we should not take his words lightly because he is exaggerating. Jesus is highlighting a central aspect of our faith, that God must be central in our lives.

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25th Sunday in Ordinary Time: Embracing the Cross Is the Path to Joy

In this Sunday's Gospel passage, Jesus states: “Whoever receives one child such as this in my name, receives me; and whoever receives me, receives not me but the One who sent me” (Mark 9:37). Later in the Gospel of Mark, Jesus adds: "Amen, I say to you, whoever does not accept the kingdom of God like a child will not enter it" (Mark 10:15). To understand the words of Jesus more fully, we need to consider the different status of children in the society of his time. In today's culture, children tend to be the focal point of the life of a family, with lots of time, energy, and resources invested into their development, education, entertainment, and overall well-being. Much of a family's decision-making revolves around considerations involving the children.

Children were important to ancient families too, but they did not get nearly the same amount of attention as children do today. In the ancient world, children were very much at the bottom of the bottom of the social hierarchy and families made much fewer decisions on the basis of what would be best for their children. We have to bear in mind this cultural difference when we seek to understand the meaning of the words of Jesus.

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24th Sunday in Ordinary Time: Christ Before Everything

Caesarea Philippi is located in the Golan Heights, which is the northeastern part of the modern state of Israel. Today, the area is a beautiful park, visited by many nature lovers. Within the park stands a group of ancient Roman ruins, the remnants of temples dedicated to various gods revered in Greco-Roman culture. Among these temples was one honoring the Emperor Augustus, who had founded the Roman Empire and was worshipped as divine.

At the time of Christ, the Jewish people, like many other nations, lived under Roman occupation. Throughout the New Testament, we see a contrast between the reign of Christ and Roman imperial power. The Gospel of Mark starts with the words "The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God" (Mark 1:1). At first sight, we might gloss over this sentence as just a chapter heading. But, as we shall see, each word is full of deep meaning. The use of the word "beginning" invokes the first words of Genesis, "In the beginning" (Genesis 1:1), the words that introduce the account of creation. Mark is subtly implying that what we are about to read, the coming of Christ among us, is as important as God's act of creation. In the New Testament, the life-giving order created by Christ is set in contrast with the oppressive order brought about by the Roman Empire.

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23rd Sunday in Ordinary Time: Finding the Creator Through Creation

In understanding the role of the physical world in human life, we have seen two extremes in human history. One perspective is materialistic hedonism, which sees the overindulgent enjoyment of the physical as the goal of life, with no reference to a higher cause or state of being. On the other extreme, we see schools of thought like Gnosticism, which view the material world as inherently evil and consider the goal of life to be the escape from the physical toward the spiritual. Catholicism rejects both of these perspectives.

The Church teaches that the material world was created inherently good. The physical world has been marred by the consequence of sin, but the physical is not evil. We are allowed to enjoy the goodness of the physical world, as long as we have the right perspective. We must always remember that the material world is God’s creation. The physical is never an end in and of itself, but something that speaks of the glory of God, the creator of the universe. Thus, if we approach the world correctly, our engagement with the physical will always lift our soul to God. In the Gospel reading for this Sunday, we see the curing of a man who is deaf and has a speech impediment. As soon as he is cured, he can hear the words of Jesus. He is also able to speak of Jesus to others. His situation is an image of how the physical can lift us up to the spiritual.

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Twisters Is a Cute and Uplifting Movie

I never thought I'd use the adjectives cute and sweet to refer to a movie about tornados, but both those words are apt to describe Twisters. Nor would I have had any interest in a Hollywood storm disaster flick, but the positive word of mouth from people whose opinion on movies I generally trust drew me in, and I am so glad I gave Twisters a chance, for several reasons.

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22nd Sunday in Ordinary Time: Why We Must Flee From Even Small Sins

The ancient Israelites lived according to the Torah, also known as the Mosaic Law, the law that they received from God through Moses during their long journey in the desert. The Mosaic Law encompassed every aspect of life, from fundamentals to dietary codes and smaller matters too. For the ancient Israelites, there was no distinction between a secular and a religious sphere. Everything was viewed through the lens of their faith. Thus, the Mosaic Law governed not only one's individual relationship with God but the whole organization of society.

By observing the Mosaic Law, the Israelites truly lived as God's own chosen people. But they were chosen not for their own glory but to be a light to the other nations. A major part of their calling was to show to the rest of the world how to live in right relationship with God. The observance of the Mosaic Law deliberately set them apart from other cultures, so that they would not blend in with the surrounding tribes but would be the shining light that would call them to repentance.

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21th Sunday in Ordinary Time: What Is the Pauline Image of the Ideal Husband?

In this week's reflection, we will consider three topics from the Sunday readings. The first topic is taken from the second reading, the question of subordination. The long form of the reading says: "Wives should be subordinate to their husbands as to the Lord. For the husband is head of his wife just as Christ is head of the church, he himself the savior of the body. As the church is subordinate to Christ, so wives should be subordinate to their husbands in everything" (Ephesians 5:22-24). Needless to say, this passage has been controversial in the last few decades. Many would rather avoid discussing it, as if it were not even in the Bible. In fact, once I heard a priest say in his homily that the Apostle Paul did not write this passage, but that it was added later to reflect Roman social customs. On the flip side, some will interpret this passage as a sort of caveman caricature, giving license to men to be domineering tyrants over their wives.

What is often overlooked in the discussion is the context of the lines quoted. Right before the passage in question, we read: "Be subordinate to one another out of reverence for Christ" (Ephesians 5:21). Right after speaking about wives being subordinate, the Apostle Paul then continues: "Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ loved the church and handed himself over for her" (Ephesians 5:25). Let us ponder for a moment what this statement means. How did Christ love the Church? He did so to the point of allowing himself to be crucified for her. In the Pauline vision, the central image of the ideal husband is that of Christ submitting even to crucifixion. So if we are going to talk about a wife being subordinate to her husband, we should also discuss the husband loving his wife even to the point of being willing to be crucified for her. That would give us a more complete picture.

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20th Sunday in Ordinary Time: The Literal Meaning of the Words of Jesus

Every three years, over the course of four weeks, the Church focuses on Chapter 6 of the Gospel of John, with readings covering the passage called the Bread of Life Discourse (John 6:22-71). The words of Jesus in this passage are at the heart of Catholic belief in the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist, the teaching that through the words of Consecration spoken by the priest at Mass, the bread and wine become the Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity of the Risen Christ. In the passage, Jesus also emphasizes the necessity of our eating and drinking his Body and Blood in order to have spiritual life.

However, Christian fundamentalist, who claim to read the Bible completely literally, assert that the words of Jesus in this passage are to be taken figuratively. After all, they say, Jesus uses various metaphors in the Gospels. For example, he calls himself a vine, a gate, and a shepherd. But he is not literally any of those. So, the fundamentalist argument goes, when Jesus says "my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink" (John 6:55), he is speaking metaphorically.

However, even a cursory examination of the Bread of Life Discourse would show the opposite.

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19th Sunday in Ordinary Time: What is Eternal Life?

As we consider the question of eternal life, let us begin with two works of fiction. In the British classic Gulliver's Travels by Jonathan Swift, the main character visits various strange lands. Among these is the country of Luggnagg, where live the Struldbruggs, a group of people who are immortal. Though Struldbruggs do not die, they still experience aging and disease, which makes their condition well-nigh unbearable after some time. They have the gift of immortality without the gift of eternal youth.

In another fictional universe, the vampire novels of Anne Rice, we see a different kind of immortality. Here the vampires can live indefinitely in our world, unless they are killed by sunlight or fire. They do not age, nor are they subject to illness. However, these vampires are atheists and have no belief in anything greater than themselves. In time, an existential boredom sets in, which causes a deep, restless angst. In one of the books, The Vampire Lestat, one vampire in fact commits suicide by jumping into fire because he cannot endure endless days without meaning. The message, whether intentional or not, is clear. Endless life without meaning is not a gift but a burden.

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August 9, 1945: The Death of the Rome of Japan, the Heart of Catholicism in East Asia

Nagasaki was historically the center of Catholicism in Japan. In fact, the city was once known as the Rome of Japan and was seen as the center from which East Asia could be evangelized. St. Mary's Cathedral in the Urakami district of Nagasaki was the largest Catholic Church in East Asia. Until, that is, the second atomic bomb dropped by the United States on Japan exploded over the city of Nagasaki on August 9, 1945. The targeted area was just five hundred meters away from the cathedral. The cathedral, along with the entire district, was destroyed, as was the center of Catholicism in Japan.

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18th Sunday in Ordinary Time: Breaking the Bondage of Sin

The Israelites were slaves in Egypt for generations, for about 400 years. Not only are they oppressed during this time, but at the end of this period, Pharaoh seeks to destroy them altogether by having all new born males be killed. However, in this dark moment, God intervenes and raises up Moses and Aaron to lead the Israelites out of Egypt.

After a series of powerful signs and a spectacular showdown with Pharaoh's army, God leads the Israelites out of their slavery in Egypt. He initially leads them into the desert. He does so in order to teach them to rely on him in all things completely.

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17th Sunday in Ordinary Time: The Cosmic Significance of the Multiplication of the Loaves

The Book of Daniel in the Old Testament contains a somewhat cryptic prophecy foretelling the timeframe of the coming of the Messiah. When the prophecy was deciphered, the timeframe pointed to the first century AD, exactly the time when Christ came among humanity. Thus, at the time of Jesus, there was a great deal of expectation that the Messiah would soon arrive.

The Jewish expectation was that a great leader anointed by God would come forward to lead the people out from under the oppression of the Romans. He would then establish the Reign of God, forging a great kingdom, greater than that of Solomon, which would be filled with abundant blessings. The people living at the time of Jesus eagerly looked for the signs indicating the arrival of the Messiah.

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16th Sunday in Ordinary Time: Jesus Shows Us What a True Shepherd Is Like

Bt. Augustine of Hippo was one of the foundational thinkers of Western Civilization. He was also a bishop in North Africa, in the waning years of the Roman Empire, when more and more of the administrative responsibility for the running of society fell to the Church authorities. As bishop, he had to serve as a judge as well, overseeing a variety of cases.

St. Augustine did not enjoy exercising authority over others. He felt that human beings ruling over each other was a necessary element of our fallen nature, but that in Heaven, we will be equal before the throne of Christ. He saw good leadership as servant leadership. The servant leader exercises authority not for his own gain or self-aggrandizement but for serving others, seeking to ensure their well-being.

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15th Sunday in Ordinary Time: How Can We All Proclaim Christ to All the World?

Jesus sends out the apostles on a trial mission, with very specific instructions. To begin, they are to travel two by two. Having a companion adds a sense of protection and support, but also adds an element of accountability. The disciples are also not to take with them food, money, or other supplies. In our contemporary cultural context, travelling so lightly might seem irresponsible. But the disciples are to rely on the hospitality code of their culture, whereby people were expected to receive travelers into their homes and provide for their needs.

Not traveling with money and possessions also puts the apostles into the lowest social hierarchy of their society, which ensures that they are to be received not because of their status or their resources but because of what Christ had entrusted them to share -- the Good News of the Gospel and his healing grace. They can offer no payment or material gift to their hosts. But they preach repentance, helping people turn away from their sins and experience the transforming forgiveness of God.

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14th Sunday in Ordinary Time: Finding God's Grace in Our Weakness

Every year, thousands upon thousands of Americans and visitors from many other parts of the world tour the beautiful churches of Europe. Pilgrims and tourists alike show admiration for the sacred buildings they had travelled so far to see. The only ones who tend not to be impressed by those amazing sites are the locals who live around them. They just don't care. They do not appreciate the invaluable treasures that are their heritage. Familiarity, as the saying goes, breeds contempt, or sometimes just plain indifference. Or perhaps the problem is the lack of true familiarity.

The people who are so uninterested in the wonders surrounding them have, for the most part, lost touch with the true value and deep history of it all. American pilgrim groups will travel thousands of miles to experience sites that the locals will not walk a few blocks to see.

But we should examine our own lives as well. Do we, like those indifferent Europeans and the residents of the home village of Jesus in this Sunday's Gospel, fail to see the grace of God in our midst? A personal story comes to mind.

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13th Sunday in Ordinary Time: God Resolves Our Impossible Situations

The Gospel reading for this Sunday deals with two seemingly impossible situation. The woman afflicted with hemorrhages has struggled with her condition for twelve years. She has given all her money to doctors, who have not only not helped her, but her illness has gotten worse. In the context of Israelite culture, her situation would also result in social isolation. Israelites were very cautious when the membrane between the body and the external world was compromised or when people had discharges of blood or uncontrolled flow of bodily fluids. In those situations, the Mosaic Law would require that the person suffering from the condition be considered ritually impure and the person in question would have to isolate from the community for certain periods of time.

Since the woman in today’s Gospel passage has had the condition for twelve years, she has not had any respite from her social seclusion. Nevertheless, she braves going among people despite the rules in order to find healing. She believes that if she could at least touch even the garment of Jesus, she would be cured. Her decision to touch Jesus is, in her cultural context, a very bold choice. She is considered ritually unclean, and by touching Jesus, she would make him ritually unclean too, just when he is on the way to the house of the synagogue official to tend to his sick daughter. If her action were to be found out and Jesus would share in her ritual uncleanness, he would, according to the law, not be allowed to enter the house of the official himself.

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12th Sunday in Ordinary Time: What Today's Faithful Might Miss About the Calming of the Storm

When Jesus preforms miracles involving water in the New Testament, today's audiences are likely to miss the true import of his acts. We need the context of the Old Testament to get a more complete picture. As God revealed himself more and more throughout Old Testament history, the Israelites came to a deeper and deeper understanding of who God is and how he interacts with his creation.

One such development was the question of how God created the world. Early on, the Israelites conceptualized the creation of the world as God subduing the forces of chaos, which were represented by water. In this understanding, God defeated chaos and pushed back the waters to make room for the dry land. Only much later, toward the end of the Old Testament period, did the Israelites come to the full understanding that God created the world out of nothing.

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11th Sunday in Ordinary Time: How Our Labors Come to Fruition

In the Middle Ages, some cathedrals took centuries to build. Most of the people who worked on them never saw the completed edifice. But they labored on tirelessly to do their part. So must we keep working as we build the Kingdom of God.

As Catholics, we believe that Christ founded the Church and sent the Holy Spirit to empower the members of the Church to continue his mission. The Church exits to share the Gospel of Christ with all of humanity, both geographically and generationally. Our task is to take the Good News to every single person in the world.

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10th Sunday in Ordinary Time: The Spiritual Trap of Self-Sufficiency

Once when I was a young adult, I told my father that I wanted to be self-sufficient. He responded rather harshly: "That is the blasphemy against the Holy Spirit that will not be forgiven in this life or the next." Needless to say, I was taken aback. But after reflecting on his response, I came to appreciate the wisdom of his words.

At the heart of Catholic theology is the concept that God is love and that he created us out of love in order to share his love with us. As human beings, we are fundamentally incomplete on our own. We have an inner hunger that nothing and no one in the created realm can fully satisfy. The deep spiritual hunger that is in all of us can only be satisfied by God's infinite, eternal love. Only when we accept God's love for us and give ourselves in love to him can we find true peace and fulfillment.

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Corpus Christi: What Is the Eucharist?

Trinity Sunday: Who Is the Holy Trinity?

The Holy Trinity is the most difficult subject in Catholic theology. According to an ancient story, St. Augustine, one of the greatest theologians of Church history, was one day walking along the shore of the Mediterranean Sea contemplating the question of the Holy Trinity, when he saw a child playing on the seashore. The boy had dug a hole in the sand and then was carrying buckets of water from the sea, pouring them into the hole. St. Augustine asked him what he was doing. The boy replied that he was going to put the sea into the hole. The saint replied that the boy would never be able to put the whole sea into that small hole. To which the boy replied, “Neither will you ever be able to understand the Trinity.”

Indeed, our finite minds can never fully comprehend the inscrutable mystery of the Holy Trinity, because we can never fully understand the infinite mystery of God. All we can do is formulate some thoughts that point toward the reality of who God is. But we have to bear in mind that all human thought is finite, and therefore no human words can capture the fullness of God. Anything we say about God, even if it is true, will fall short. Imagine going to a place of great natural beauty, like the Grand Canyon, Mt. Rainier, or the ocean. If you take a picture with your phone, then post it to social media, will your followers be able to experience through the pictures what you are experiencing in person? No, they will only get a small inkling of the grandeur of what you are beholding. Our words about God are similar. They only give us a small inkling of the inexpressible wonder of God’s being. Let us bear that in mind as we contemplate who the Holy Trinity is.

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Pentecost: The Holy Spirit Is the Animating Principle of the Church

After Jesus rose from the dead and revealed himself to his followers, the disciples came to believe. But they were still afraid. We see them hiding behind locked doors, afraid that they too might be arrested and killed, as the Lord had been. But after Pentecost, we see them out in public, preaching at the Temple, willing to risk arrest and execution in order to proclaim the Good News of Jesus Christ. Indeed, eleven out of the twelves apostles were martyred for their faith. What made the difference in their disposition?

The difference was the Holy Spirit. At Pentecost, the Holy Spirit was poured out upon the disciples. Before receiving the Holy Spirit, the disciples could do nothing. But once they were filled with the Holy Spirit, they were ready to go forth and undertake the work Christ had entrusted to them. The Holy Spirit is the animating principle that makes the Church live and thrive in the world. That is why we consider Pentecost, the day on which the Holy Spirit was given to us, the birthday of the Church.

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Ascension Sunday: The Ascension Is a Call To Evangelization

In other religions, the idea of a divine being taking on a human form is conceptualized very differently from Christianity. In other religions, gods might become human here and there, for short periods of time. Not so in Christianity.

In our faith, we believe that God became incarnate at a specific time in creation history. The Creed mentions Pontius Pilate, thereby highlighting the exact period in human history when God came among us. We believe that the Son, the Second Person of the Holy Trinity, took on a human nature when Christ was conceived in the womb of the Virgin Mary by the Holy Spirit.

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The very first Christian controversy revolved around who could be received into to the Church and how. The first Christians did not see themselves as belonging to a new religion. They were deeply religious Jews, who recognized Christ as the fulfillment of the Jewish tradition, both the Mosaic Law and the prophets. The first question was whether Gentiles, that is to say non-Jews, could be received into the fold.

We see in the reading from The Acts of the Apostles for this Sunday that Peter recognizes the power of the Holy Spirit working among Gentile believers as well, so he orders that they too be allowed to receive baptism, which is the first step of being initiated into the body of Christ. But as the New Testament narrative unfolds, we see that the question arising from this decision is not quite so easily solved. That question is whether and to what extent the Gentiles have to observe the Mosaic Law.

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Fifth Sunday of Easter: Christ Is the Way to True Life

The conversion of St. Paul is a pivotal event in the history of Christianity. Paul never encountered Jesus during his earthly ministry. By the time Paul starts to persecute Christians, Jesus has already died and risen from the dead. He has ascended into Heaven and has sent the Holy Spirit at Pentecost.

Nevertheless, on the road to Damascus, Paul has a personal encounter with Christ. As a result, he abandons everything and changes his life completely. Christ becomes the organizing principle of his whole existence.

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Good Shepherd Sunday: Loving Others Means Calling Them to Christ

Christ using the image of a shepherd for himself was, in his cultural context, a profound act of humility. Shepherds were among the lowest ranking workers in the social hierarchy of the time. God humbled himself by becoming one of us through the incarnation. He further humbled himself by calling himself the shepherd of his flock.

But Jesus makes clear that he is not the usual type of shepherd, who is hired to watch over the sheep. The hired shepherds will flee when lethal danger appears, because they don't have a connection with their flock beyond their wages. But Christ, who is God, has an existential connection with us. God is our creator, our redeemer, our sanctifier.

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Third Sunday of Easter: What Is Sin?

All three readings this Sunday address the question of sin and call for repentance. But what is sin and why are we so concerned about it? Sin at its core is idolatry, worshipping something other than God. We know that many people are unbelievers, but no one is a non-worshipper. Worship is the centering of our being on someone or something, making that entity the organizing principle of our life. Everyone worships. If not God, then someone or something else.

God is love and he made the world out of love for us, to share his love with us. Deep in our essence is a fundamental yearning for his love. We can never find true fulfillment until we accept his love and give ourselves in love to him in return. As St. Augustine famously says at the beginning of his Confessions, “You have made us for Yourself, O Lord, and our heart is restless until it rests in You.” Centering our whole being on God gives us true joy, abiding peace, eternal fulfillment.

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Divine Mercy: Let Us Say With Thomas: My Lord and My God

All but one of the apostles abandoned Jesus as he was being tortured to death upon the cross. But now when he has risen from the dead and returns to see the disciples, he greets them with the words "Peace be with you!" If you were in a similar situation, would those be your first words to those who had abandoned you? I know I would struggle to be so gracious. But Jesus underwent his suffering out of love for all of us, offering his pain for the spiritual healing of all of humanity. He took our sins upon himself so that we can be cleansed.

The outpouring of God's Mercy is what we celebrate in a special way on Divine Mercy Sunday. Christians have often envisioned God as angry, eager to mete out punishment. But what Christ teaches us through the Gospels and what the Divine Mercy devotion highlights is that God is always ready to fill our lives with his Mercy, eager to cleanse us and heal us. Sins are the things that separate us from God's love and therefore bring sorrow and misery into our lives. If we persist in sin, we suffer the consequences of being separated from God's goodness. But if we turn to God for his Mercy, he restores us and shares with us his eternal divine life, imbuing us with his infinite love.

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Holy Saturday: The Divine Plan to Re-Create the World

I think of the Easter Vigil Mass celebrated on Holy Saturday as the liturgical equivalent of a Thanksgiving meal. At Thanksgiving, we do not count calories. We indulge. At the Easter Vigil, we do not worry about time. We feast liturgically.

A part of that liturgical feasting is the proclamation of seven readings from the Old Testament and two from the New, plus eight responsorial psalm sections. The readings start with the account of creation and then highlight key moments of our salvation history. The culmination of the sequence is the proclamation of the resurrection of Christ in the Gospel reading.

As we see from the passage from Genesis, God created a good world. All that he made was good. Evil entered the world through human sin, which brought about the marring of God's creation. After this marring, the Fall, God undertakes the redemption of humanity. Over the course of centuries, he prepares the way for the Incarnation, his coming among us as one of us to take upon himself our own sins and thereby restore us to our original blessed state.

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Good Friday Reflection - Yearning for Paradise

Passage:

Now one of the criminals hanging there reviled Jesus, saying, "Are you not the Messiah? Save yourself and us." The other, however, rebuking him, said in reply, "Have you no fear of God, for you are subject to the same condemnation? And indeed, we have been condemned justly, for the sentence we received corresponds to our crimes, but this man has done nothing criminal." Then he said, "Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom." He replied to him, "Amen, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise." (Luke 25:39-43)

Reflection:

When I was about 12, I saw a raunchy Italian comedy, called Il Ladorne, depicting a fictional account of the life of the Good Thief. I remember very little of the story now, but I do recall the last scene. After various adventures and misadventures, the Thief gets sentenced to death by the Romans. At the end of the movie, he is hanging on a cross next to Jesus, who turns to him and says: "Today you will be with me in Paradise." The Thief responds, somewhat nonchalantly: "That’s okay. I can wait."

The Thief’s reply is, admittedly, a bit sacrilegious, and you might be wondering why I am quoting it now. But is this not very often our own response to Christ? When Christ tells us "Today you will be with me in Paradise," do we not say, "That’s okay. I can wait."

Isn’t death the greatest fear in our culture? Do we not almost worship youth, resisting, resenting the process of aging?

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Good Friday: Don't Leave Jesus Because of Judas

Books have been written on the Passion narrative proclaimed on Good Friday, so a short reflection can focus only on a small portion of the treasure-trove of meaning in the readings of this day. For this reflection, out of the many possible topics, I will focus on Judas.

The question of Judas has generated a vast array of interpretation throughout history. In Dante's Inferno, we see him in the innermost circle of Hell, right next to Satan, as a result of committing the supreme act of betrayal. By contrast, in the Gnostic Gospel of Judas, he is depicted as a friend of Jesus, in that, according to the Gnostics, he helped Jesus leave the chains of this earthly existence by facilitating his execution. Many other gradation of interpretation can also be found between these two.

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Holy Thursday: Service and Self-Sacrifice Are at the Heart of the Eucharist

On two occasions, Jesus rebukes Peter in the Gospels. The first time is when Jesus foretells his suffering and death but Peter objects. The second time is in the Gospel passage for today, when Jesus is about to serve the disciples by washing their feet but Peter tries to stop him.

In the synoptic Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke, the focal point of the Last Supper narrative is the institution of the Eucharist, through which Christ gives us his Body and Blood to eat and drink under the appearance of bread and wine.

In his Gospel, John puts the emphasis on Jesus washing the feet of his disciples, an act which, at the time of Jesus, would have been performed only by the lowliest of servants. Through this act of service, Jesus models servant leadership for the disciples. He also leads us more deeply into the mystery of the Eucharist.

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Palm Sunday: Let Us Welcome Jesus As the Crowds Did

In the first Gospel proclaimed today, Jesus rides into Jerusalem in advance of the Passover celebration. The feast of the Passover goes back to ancient Israelite history, which we see recounted in The Books of Genesis and Exodus. The patriarchs of Israel settle in Egypt, where the Israelites start to prosper greatly over several generations. But in time Pharaoh, the ruler of Egypt, turns against them and starts to oppress them to the point of enslaving them.

God then sends Moses and Aaron to tell Pharaoh to let the Israelites leave Egypt. Pharaoh refuses, so God punishes Egypt with ten plagues, the last of which involves the angel of death going through Egypt and striking down the firstborn male of every household. The Israelites can escape this punishment by sacrificing a lamb to be eaten and smearing its blood on the doorframe of their home. The angel of death will then see the blood and pass over the house, sparing that family from the punishment to be inflicted.

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Fifth Sunday of Lent (Cycle A): Jesus Offers Us Much More Than Endless Life

The famous Christian writer C.S. Lewis once suggested that Lazarus was the first Christian martyr. Why did he make this unusual claim? His contention was that Lazarus had already gone through the experience of death when Jesus called him back to life. Lazarus would then need to go through the process of dying again at a later time. By being brought back to life, Lazarus was, Lewis suggested, the first disciple who was called upon to commit to dying for Christ.

This take by Lewis might seem a bit strange, but it points to a deeper reality. Our physical life in this world is not our final end. It is not the ultimate life we hope for. As is often the case in The Gospel of John, there are two layers of meaning in the discussion in the passage.

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Fifth Sunday of Lent (Cycle B): Choosing the Ultimate Self-Sacrifice

Once and only once in my life, I did a celebrity stakeout. My wife and I spent hours in a Croatian hotel to see members of the band Duran Duran, who were known to be staying there. We managed to meet three of them briefly. I have to wonder if a sort of celebrity stakeout is happening at the beginning of today's Gospel passage too when some Greeks come to see Jesus and try to gain access to him through the disciples.

In the context of the passage, Jesus has just ridden triumphantly into Jerusalem. Many in the city expect him to claim the Messianic kingship. During the day, he is teaching in the city, accompanied by his disciples. By night, he is at a hidden location at the Mount Olives outside of the city, so he is not as easily accessible during these days as before. Are the Greeks hoping to see him for spiritual reasons or because he is widely regarded as the rising power of the political order?

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Fourth Sunday of Lent (Cycle A): Are We Blind to God's Graces?

Today's Gospel passage reminds me of an ironic time in my life. When acquaintances would ask about how things were going in my life and I would give them a brief overview, they would invariably tell me how happy they were that things were going so well for me. The irony was that I was feeling absolutely miserable about my life during this time. I was simply unable to see the blessings that had been given to me.

In today's passage, the leaders do not see the blessing that is so plainly before them. Ironically, the blind person regains his sight, but the people who have been able to see physically are not able to see spiritually and they disregard even the physical evidence before them.

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Fourth Sunday of Lent (Cycle B): How Is Our Sin Working for Us?

The Gospel passage for today alludes to an account in The Book of Numbers (21:4-9) where God punishes the Israelites for their sins by sending seraph serpents among them to bite them. After they repent, God instructs Moses to make a bronze serpent and to lift it up among the people. As long as they gaze upon the serpent, they are healed from the snake bites. They can escape the consequence of their sin by accepting the healing grace of God, given to them in the form of the bronze image.

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Third Sunday of Lent (Cycle A): Christianity Is a Proposal of Marriage

Back in the 90's, I saw a quote that has stayed with me over the years. The quote said: Christianity is not a religion. It is a proposal of marriage. In many ways, those few words capture the essence of our faith.

In the Old Testament, the relationship between God and Israel is often depicted as a marriage. Israel is the bride, many times unfaithful, and God is the aggrieved husband who keeps calling his beloved back to him. As Scripture scholar Brant Pitre expounds in his book Jesus the Bridegroom, the marriage metaphor continues in the New Testament.

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Third Sunday of Lent (Cycle B): The Grace of God Is Not Transactional

In today's Gospel passage, Jesus shows anger because the Temple leaders are taking advantage of the people. According to the Mosaic Law, the Israelites must travel to Jerusalem periodically and have various sacrifices offered on their behalf in the Temple, many of which involve animals.

However, the Temple leaders make a financial racket out of the necessary sacrifices.

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Second Sunday of Lent: The Gate of Heaven Is in the Shape of the Cross

Modern audiences are usually horrified by the account of the sacrifice of Isaac. How could, the objection goes, God be so cruel as to command Abraham to sacrifice his son, even just as a test of his willingness, even without requiring to go through with the sacrifice itself? But our objections are rooted in our own cultural setting. We need to see the situation from Abraham's perspective.

Child sacrifice was a common practice among the pagan religions at the time of Abraham. Many parents would offer the lives of their children in exchange for material blessings. For Abraham, the command to sacrifice Isaac would not have been shocking or unusual. The surprise would have been the command to stop the sacrifice. God was teaching Abraham that he did not need to perform such an evil act to curry favor with him. Quite the contrary.

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First Sunday of Lent: The Desert Helps Us Find Our True Treasure

Before he starts his ministry, Jesus goes out into the desert to pray and fast. We are called to do the same during this Lenten season. In Christian spirituality, the desert has always been a symbol of spiritual purification. We will most likely not spend time in an actual desert praying and fasting, as Jesus did, but we can enter into the desert experience by pushing aside the many things that distract us from our relationship with God.

What are the things we use for comfort? Do we go from one source of digital distraction to another? Do we reach for food or coffee or another source of pleasure when we are stressed? We should identify and name the crutches we use to deal with the ups and downs of daily life. Some of these crutches are deeply destructive, while others might be okay in moderation. But we need to examine the role they play in our lives.

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Ash Wednesday: What Is Our Recompense?

Prayer, fasting, and almsgiving have traditionally been the three pillars of Lent. Jesus warns us against engaging in these practices for show, for building up our public reputation. Instead, we are to pray, fast, and give alms in secret in order to receive our recompense from God. But what is it that we gain from these practices? What is our recompense?

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12 Ways to Make Lent a Life-changing Experience

As Catholics, one of the most counter-cultural things we can do is to observe the season of Lent. In our hyper-materialistic, instant grat culture, the idea of 40 days of deliberate self-denial is sure to be seen as crazy. But Lent is a profound opportunity for positive transformation.

The focus of Lent is fourfold:

- Preparing for the liturgical celebration of the death and resurrection of Christ, especially through the Triduum liturgies of Holy Week.

- Atoning for our sins through penitential practices.

- Becoming spiritually purified so that we can be more fully opened to the presence of Christ in our daily lives.

- Preparing ourselves and the world for the Second Coming of Christ.

In this article, I will explore 12 disciplines that can help us to set out on a path of life-giving transformation during the Lenten season. The first three of these, prayer, fasting, and almsgiving, are especially encouraged by the Church during this penitential season.

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14 Tips for a Catholic Celebration of St. Valentine's Day

Catholic reactions to Valentine's Day range from a whole-hearted embracing of the day with all of its commercialized dimensions, to utter disdain, wishing nothing more than that the day might be obliterated from our calendar. But I would propose an approach different from both of these. I would, instead, advocate for an intentionally Catholic celebration of the day. After all, whether Valentine's Day is a Christian holiday that was secularized, or a pagan holiday that was Christianized and then re-secularized, or simply a commercial holiday made up for the benefit of merchants, the day is tied to the date of a Catholic feast. As Catholics, let's claim, or reclaim, this day as St. Valentine's Day, and let's celebrate it as one of our special Catholic days.

Below are 14 tips for how we can do so (plus a bonus one at the end). These suggestions are intended for Catholic couples, but others might benefit from them as well.

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