Sometimes it seems that the concept of neighbors and neighborhoods has been lost. In years past homes would have front porches that would enable neighbors to interact with each other on a regular...
Beginning this Monday just past and continuing until August 21st, with the exception of some solemnities, feast days and memorial celebrations, our first reading is from the Prophet Ezekiel. It is a...
To understand Clare and also Francis, we must look at the Middle Ages – from the fall of the Roman Empire in 476 to the 1300s. During the Middle Ages, along with most of the rest of society, the...
Today is the Feast of St. Lawrence of Rome, one of the early martyrs of the Church who died during the persecution of the Emperor Valerian in 258 AD. Lawrence was one of the seven deacons of Rome,...
In the gospel, the disciples ask Jesus, “Who is the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven?” Jesus uses the example of a child. Why a child? Jesus sees three qualities in a child that a disciple...
Today’s Gospel sounds like an incredible fish story. Peter drops a hook into the sea and catches a fish with a coin worth twice the temple tax. Just enough for Jesus and Peter to pay the temple...
The Gospel today contains three powerful challenges. The followers of Jesus must deny themselves. When we think of denying oneself, we think of giving up something we like doing without some...
In today’s Gospel Matthew continues to tell the story of the disciples’ journey of faith. The story once again centers on Peter. In Tuesday’s Gospel Peter showed himself to be a person of faith,...
The daily readings are never meant to be a Bible Study per se, but unless one has a sense of the book or scroll from which it is taken, I think people unfamiliar with, e.g., the prophet Jeremiah,...
Today’s Gospel seems to be a “Ghost Story.” At least that is what the disciples think when they see Jesus walking on the water! They cry out terrified: “It is a ghost!” In fact, it is Jesus...
St. Alphonsus is the patron saint of moral theologians. In his day, Alphonsus strove to free the Church from a moral theology that was ever more influenced by something called Jansenism. What is...
In this book Passion for Pilgrimage: Meditations on the Easter Mystery, Episcopal priest and dean emeritus of San Francisco’s Grace Cathedral Alan Jones reflects on the practice of Gospel-centered...