There aren’t many things scarier than seeing fear in the eyes of our leaders. Franklin Roosevelt knew this, which is why history remembers him best for what he said in his first inaugural address in 1933—at the depth of the…
There must be something wrong with me. Why, after reading this Sunday’s gospel passage from Matthew about John the Baptist chastising the Pharisees and Sadducees, did I think of Groucho Marx? I can explain it, but it doesn’t make me…
With “Brown Thursday” seemingly replacing Thanksgiving as a holiday, one can only surmise that people have given up on giving thanks on the fourth Thursday of every November. Instead, they head straight to Walmart at 6 a.m., waiting in line…
“King of the Universe” is a big title for a poor carpenter. But God never chose obvious leaders. This Sunday’s first reading profiles another of God’s chosen leaders—David, a poor shepherd. It was he, the youngest and smallest of Jesse’s…
When you’re born into Christianity, you’re told to act more Godlike. Telling a kid to act more Godlike is like expecting someone to learn a foreign language in a classroom. It’s hard. It’s easier to learn another language if you…
They’ve been spending most their lives Living in a pastime paradise They’ve been spending most their lives Living in a pastime paradise They’ve been wasting most their lives Glorifying days long gone behind They’ve been wasting most their days In…
This Sunday’s readings remind us—as if we needed reminding—of how small we are in relation to the divine. The first reading from the book of Wisdom sets the tone: “Before the LORD the whole universe is as a grain from…
“O God, I thank you that I am not like the rest of humanity — greedy, dishonest, adulterous — or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week, and I pay tithes on my whole income.’ Two-thousand years…
Today’s readings have some of the raw materials of every great James Bond story. Bond’s success depends on his meetings with Q, who equips 007 with the tools he’ll need to accomplish his mission. “Equips” is the key word here…
Those weren’t lepers in today’s readings. They were sightless—blind as Helen Keller. But by God’s grace, some were given visibility of who they were in relation to God—and to their neighbors. And like Helen Keller, their breakthrough moment was the…