But if you would offer me burnt offerings, then let justice surge like water, and goodness like an unfailing stream (Amos 5:24).
A paraphrase of these words is inscribed on the Civil Rights Monument of Birmingham, Alabama. The paraphrase is a quotation from Dr. Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream” speech. The monument features a cascade of water running down an...
All three of the readings for the day, responsorial psalm included, confront the hypocritical worshiper. Of course the danger in labeling anyone a hypocrite is it might come back to haunt the person who uses the taunt first. All of us are sinners and, at some time or another, fail to live up to our own standards, let alone those of God.
The first reading from...
As we celebrate the Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul, the Scriptures for the Eucharist point us away from them and toward the Lord. This is only as it should be.
The passage from the Acts of the Apostles is very detailed, even going so far as to illustrate the practice used in guarding an important prisoner. The text also bears the distinctive trait of paralleling...
As we might expect, the Gospel reading for the Solemnity of the Nativity of St. John tells the story of his birth. However I would like to draw your attention to a passage from St. John’s Gospel:
After this, Jesus and his disciples went into the region of Judea, where he spent some time with them baptizing. John was also baptizing in Aenon near Salim, because...
None of us is perfect; we are sinners all. One of the most noticed qualities of Pope Francis is that he refers to himself as a sinner from time to time. If you are a devotee of the lives of the saints, you will no doubt notice that the saints are constantly referring to themselves as the most abject of sinners. While we might read this as a sign of great humility, there...