In today’s Gospel Jesus performs a prophetic action in the Jerusalem Temple. Jesus “entered the temple area and proceeded to drive out those who were selling things.” Why does he do this? He quotes the prophets Isaiah and Jeremiah: “It is written, My house shall be...
In today’s first reading the seer John has a heavenly vision. “I had a vision of an open door to heaven, and I heard the trumpetlike voice that had spoken to me before, saying, ‘Come up here and I will show you what must happen afterwards.’” (4:1). He sees the...
One of my favorite films is the 1994 drama, The Shawshank Redemption. It is a movie I think I may have seen 10 or more times. The film tells the story of Andy Dufresne, a banker who spends nearly two decades in Shawshank State Prison for the murder of his wife despite...
Zacchaeus was a notorious public sinner in Israel. He collaborated with the Romans by collecting tariffs and tolls. That made him a traitor to his own country in the eyes of all his neighbors. To make things worse, he was a chief tax collector, ostentatiously wealthy...
Today’s first reading is from the always mysterious, often misunderstood and frequently misinterpreted Book of Revelation. Perhaps the centerpiece of the book is the letter to the seven churches of Asia Minor from which we hear the letter to the community as Ephesus....
