In the minds of some Scripture scholars, today's Gospel passage is one that has often been misunderstood. Many have mistakenly assumed that both "paragraphs" of the passage refer to children. (The English translation is divided into paragraphs while the original Greek used no such conventions.) Instead there is some possibility that Jesus is not talking about children at all. Rather he is...
Today's Gospel passage presents us with an interchange between Peter and Jesus about taxes. Taxes were as popular in the time of Jesus as they are today. Nothing has changed in that regard. However, this passage is not really about taxes at all. It is about sensitivity to the thoughts and feelings of others. Jesus chooses to pay the Temple tax even though he could argue that no one,...
The Gospel for this Friday reminds us once again of the role of redemptive suffering in the life of the Church and in the life of every member of that assembled body. The image of Jesus hanging on the cross reminds each and every one of us that this life is not "about us." Our lives are about something far greater and far more important than my needs, my wants, or my desires. We are...
(This former blog entry has been reedited for 2013.) There are no fewer than four feast days in the Roman-Franciscan calendar this week (Transfiguration, St. Dominic, St. Lawrence and St. Clare of Assisi). Today's observance is classified as a Memorial; however, it is intimately tied to the Feast we celebrate on Friday, that of St. Lawrence. According to the sixth chapter of the Acts of...
St. Luke's account of the Transfiguration is my personal favorite. In the course of relating this event, which is also told in the Gospels of St. Matthew and St. Mark, St. Luke adds two details that always remind me of what this event means in my own personal life.
The first thing that St. Luke tells us is that this took place in the context of prayer. Jesus had gone to the mountain...