Zacchaeus in Tap Shoes

(For the audio version of this blog, please visit: ) In Christ’s day, tax collectors were to sin what prophets were to virtue. In the succeeding 2000 years, several professions have been added to both sides of that moral balance.…

Claim Your Own Holy Grail

(For the audio version of this blog, please visit: ) Zen masters, philosophers and even clergy compare their search for wisdom to a desire for “The Holy Grail.” In fact Parsifal may be one of their heroes. This is the…

Screen Your Biopic for God

(For the audio version of this blog, please visit: ) There’s a phenomenon known to science geeks that not only helps us to see movies, but also helps us understand how God wants to view our life stories. It involves…

Saving Grace from Our Rot

(For the audio version of this blog, please visit: ) A preacher recently encouraged his congregation to adopt a spirit of service. How do you do that? Easy. Discernment. Through discernment, he explained, the Holy Spirit draws us into service…

Maintain your faith. It’s standard equipment.

(For the audio version of this blog, please visit: ) Power steering is one of the automotive industry’s greatest contributions to global productivity. It made it easier for us beasts of burden to not only carry this world’s heavy loads,…

Our Greed for Innocence

(For the audio version of this blog, please visit: ) Movie and TV courtroom dramas involving premeditated murder usually climax with a prosecutor summarizing the defendant’s guilt. It highlights the means, motive and opportunity the suspect had to kill the…

Godfather: A New Beginning

(For the audio version of this blog, please visit: ) Humanity’s worst vice has always been envy of God’s power. That desire not only never ends well, it never ends. That’s the moral of the cinema’s classic Godfather saga. Michael…

The Power of a Shouldered Sheep

(For the audio version of this blog, please visit: ) The Christian model of a good shepherd doesn’t make much sense to the casual reader. In this Sunday’s gospel reading (Lk 15:1-32), Jesus asks, “What man among you having a…

The Dictionary Makes a Lousy Bible

(For the audio version of this blog, please visit: ) Look up the name Onesimus in the dictionary and you’ll see it means “useful,” “helpful,” or “profitable.” Look it up in the Bible and, according to St. Paul, it means ‘slave.’ In…

The Tarnished Side of God’s Coin

(For the audio version of this blog, please visit: ) Theologian Thomas Merton wrote, “Pride makes us artificial and humility makes us real.” But some biblical accounts make it seem like pride and humility are two sides of the same…