Our faith teaches us that we shall live forever, that this life that we are currently living is but a prelude to eternal life with God. That tenet of our faith is not something that our ancestors came to understand until long after the human family had begun to inhabit this earth. Witness the characters of Tobit and Sarah in today's first reading from the Book of Tobit. Neither of them had...
The Gospel records that Jesus told the Pharisees to "render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's" when questioned about the morality of paying taxes. This particular episode is often used to bolster the argument of the separation of Church and State, a principle held dear by politicians and others who think the ministers of the Gospel should stick to the spiritual realm and eschew the...
Today's feast and today's readings started my meditative juices flowing this morning. The Book of Tobit is one of those "Catholic" books of the Hebrew Scriptures or Old Testament. Since it wasn't written in Hebrew, it didn't qualify for inclusion in the Hebrew canon. However, the story it tells is, I believe, endearing and fascinating.
Today's selection tells about Tobit's willingness...
It is the last day of May, and we are once again celebrating the Feast of the Visitation, the commemoration of Mary's visit to Elizabeth, her kinswoman. Both women find themselves in an "impossible" situation. Both women, one beyond the age of childbearing and the other a virgin, are pregnant. This is a story about something that should not be happening. Nonetheless, God has intervened in...