For along the way the disciples had been discussing among themselves who is the greatest. And Jesus sat down and called the Twelve and said to them: “If anyone wishes to be first, he shall be last of all and servant of all.” And he took a child, stood him in their midst, embraced him,…[read more]
“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites. You lock the Kingdom of heaven before people. You do not enter yourselves, nor do you allow entrance to those trying to enter.” Matthew 23: 13-14 From our perspective, the seeming malevolence of the scribes and Pharisees, at least as presented in the gospels, is more than…[read more]
When the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?” On hearing this, Jesus said, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I have not come to call…[read more]
“When the Advocate comes whom I will send you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, he will testify to me. And you also testify, because you have been with me from the beginning.” John 15: 26-27 Adrian van Kaam would say that “we are tradition through and through.” By…[read more]
On this Ash Wednesday, we are at first summoned by the words of Joel to “return to me with your whole heart.” When I was a boy, my mother would on every Ash Wednesday repeat the words of one of her colleagues at work. “Oh, this is the day that all the Catholics come to work with dirty faces.” Unless the word “return” strikes us to the core of our being, all today is is the one on which we walk around with dirty faces.…[read more]
For along the way the disciples had been discussing among themselves who is the greatest. And Jesus sat down and called the Twelve and said to them: “If anyone wishes to be first, he shall be last of all and servant of all.” And he took a child, stood him in their midst, embraced him,…[read more]
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