I haven't been blogging much of late. There have been several reasons for my absence from the world of cyber journaling. First of all, I have been visited of late by an old friend – a pinched nerve in my neck. It is causing me to refrain from too much sitting. I can recline and I can stand. Sitting, however, is painful. Last week I started returning to the physical therapist for help with...
Last week we heard several stories from the Book of Maccabees that highlighted the faithfulness of the people living under the oppressive reign of Antiochus Epiphanes. Rather than eat food proscribed by the Jewish dietary laws, they sacrificed their lives.
Today we begin reading from the Book of the Prophet Daniel. He and his fellow exiles lived under the oppressive regime of King...
Today's first reading comes to us from the Second Book of Maccabees. The Books of Maccabees do not appear in the Jewish Bible or Old Testament. Consequently, they also don't appear in Protestant Bibles. They are among the books that are labeled apocryphal (by Protestant Christians) or deutero-canonical (by Orthodox Christians), but they are accepted writings for those who are Roman...
The four verses immediately preceding the story of the blind beggar of Jericho (today's Gospel passage) contain one more "prediction" of the passion. This particular prediction is so detailed (He will be handed over to the Gentiles and he will be mocked and insulted and spat upon; and after they have scourged him they will kill him . . .[Luke 18:32-33]) that it is almost certainly a...