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Hear, O Israel
Episode 100
Our first reading for Mass this week contains the defining prayer of the Jewish tradition: the “Sh’ma.” In the Gospel, when asked which commandment is the greatest, Jesus, a pious Jew, recites this p…
Published on 7 years, 2 months ago
Coming Home from Exile
Episode 99
Our first reading from the prophet Jeremiah treats of a theme that is basic throughout the Bible: the motif of the return from exile. Like two great hinges on which the Old Testament turns are the st…
Published on 7 years, 2 months ago
Substitutionary Sacrifice
Episode 98
Friends, all three readings for this weekend center around a theme that was very familiar to the ancient audiences who first took them in but that is rather alien to us. I’m talking about the theme o…
Published on 7 years, 2 months ago
Riches and Wisdom
Episode 97
The first reading for this weekend and the Gospel, which are meant to be read in tandem, are very good examples of what I’ve called principles of spiritual physics. They lay out some ideas and relati…
Published on 7 years, 2 months ago
The Biblical View of Marriage
Episode 96
Our first reading for this weekend is of pivotal significance in the Bible, for it lays out some of the fundamentals of human anthropology and the Christian vision of marriage. It behooves us to take…
Published on 7 years, 3 months ago
Would That Everyone Could Be a Prophet
Episode 94
Our first reading from the Book of Numbers and the Gospel reading from Mark both highlight a very interesting spiritual predicament, one that is presented numerous times throughout the Bible. It migh…
Published on 7 years, 3 months ago
The Undoing of Original Sin
Episode 95
One of the most important doctrines of the Church is the doctrine of original sin, which asserts that something it off with us. We see the effects of it everywhere, and we also see many attempts to s…
Published on 7 years, 3 months ago
Faith Perfected by Love
Episode 93
Today's second reading from the letter of James discusses the relationship between faith and love. We need a strong faith, but faith without love is lifeless so we must respond to grace and faith wit…
Published on 7 years, 3 months ago
Ephphatha
Episode 92
In this week's Gospel, Jesus heals a man who is deaf and dumb. When we read this account at the spiritual level, we see that he cures those who are deaf to the Word of God and hence unable to speak i…
Published on 7 years, 4 months ago
Laws and Laws
Episode 91
All of today's readings pertain to law. We Americans are a fairly litigious society. Lawyers are thick on the ground and many of our Founding Fathers were students of law. We have a kind of love-hate…
Published on 7 years, 4 months ago