There are times in our lives when, with the best of intentions, we foolishly reassure a suffering friend that we understand his/her pain and misery even though we have had no similar experience. And when the cause of a friend’s suffering is extremely traumatic or bears no similarity to anything we have undergone, we have […]

Jesus’ quoting of the “Golden Rule” according to which we are to do to others as we would have them do to us, is usually the opposite of what we are inclined to do—that is, treat others as they treat us. Thus, a strike on the cheek, is reciprocated in kind, and a curse is […]

Coming to deeper self-knowledge and a truer sense of our sinfulness, typically occurs in stages—from being more superficial to becoming more profound. In today’s gospel, Peter comes to an awareness of his sinful condition—depart from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man. However, this acknowledgment—though sincere—is still only superficial. This becomes clear in that […]

The long, arduous, and, at times, seemingly impossible, quest to attain true inner silence is, nevertheless, the only way our hearts become that rich soil—receptive to God’s Word, and thus bearing the hundredfold. It is only when we have acquired this inner silence—and quelled the inner chatter of our restless minds and stilled the insidious […]