The Book of Sirach, from which we will be reading for the next two weeks at our celebration of the Eucharist, was written approximately 200 years before Christ. It was written by a scribe in Jerusalem in Hebrew. However, it was translated into Greek shortly thereafter. Because the Hebrew manuscript was not available when the Jewish canon was formed, this book was omitted from the Hebrew...
As we come to the end of the Easter Season with our celebration of Pentecost, we would do well to remember that we are not celebrating an historical event. By that I mean that Pentecost, like the Incarnation itself, is not an event that began and ended one day in our history. The Incarnation is still unfolding. Pentecost continues to happen in our day to day lives each and every time that...
Only two week days left before we reach the end of Paschaltide or Easter Season. By Monday of next week, we will have left the "alleluias" of our prayer. Perhaps they will continue to echo in our souls as we return to Ordinary Time. The end of the Easter Season presents us with one last chance to reflect on chapter twenty-one of the Gospel of St. John. Scripture scholars have accepted that...
As I have mentioned before in these blogs, St. John's Gospel was written so much later than the synoptic Gospels. As a result, the material covered by St. John reflects the thinking and reflection of a later Christian community, a community which has had the luxury of time during which it has reflected on the birth, life, ministry, passion, death and resurrection of Jesus. By the time this...