Believing is seeing

(For the audio version of this blog, please visit: ) For the original disciples, the distinctions between Jesus and “The Christ” were as stark as the differences between the priesthood and prophecy for many modern Christians. This Sunday we contemplate…

God Rises from Our Tomb of Ignorance

(For the audio version of this blog, please visit: ) Jesus told his disciples at least THREE times while he was with them of his impending execution—and why it MUST happen. NONE of those times did they understand what he…

The Torture of “Have I Done Enough?”

(For the audio version of this blog, please visit: ) As Lent closes with Christ’s passion, we join Jesus’ disciples as they witness their master at his most vulnerable. He faces his own death, but the thorn that digs deepest…

Get Past Your Past

(For the audio version of this blog, please visit: ) Whatever courage we take from Scripture comes from people who abandoned their past and welcomed God’s spirit into their hearts. This “living in the presence” gave the saints and prophets…

Will Our Family Tree Give a Fig?

(For the audio version of this blog, please visit: ) Jesus must have loved figs. One day he was so hungry for them that when he saw a fig tree, he approached it for a snack (Mat 21:18-22). It had…

Play Your Get-Out-Of-Jail-Free Card

(For the audio version of this blog, please visit: ) The account of Christ’s transfiguration, which we contemplate this Sunday, is also about our own transfiguration. Lent is a golden opportunity to find and ignite that divine spark imprisoned in…

Let Your Soul Grow Fat on This Food

(For the audio version of this blog, please visit: ) As we enter Lent, we are called to reexamine our diets—maybe by cutting down or eliminating empty calories. But there’s one food for which we are invited to be gluttons.…

Who’s Rewarding Whom?

(For the audio version of this blog, please visit: ) A recent newspaper article attempting to explain why Catholics are being drawn to Pentecostal churches cites the “theology of prosperity,” which holds that God’s grace is reflected in material wealth.…

How to Feel Like God

(For the audio version of this blog, please visit: ) Twenty-first century movie screens can often be windows into some of humanity’s worst depravities. By contrast, in the early 1930s, censors couldn’t abide—and therefore they cut—this one blasphemous line from…