“So near and yet so far,” is an expression sometimes used to describe a situation in which the attainment of a desired goal seems very close, yet just out of reach. Perhaps this describes the Scribe (in today’s gospel) whom Jesus assures is not far from the Kingdom of God. Like us he knows what […]

Ezekiel 18:21 – 28 & Matthew 5:20 – 26 The theme of our first reading evokes some of the controversies implicated in the Protestant Reformation concerning faith and good works. Unlike some retirement fund that allows one to stop working and enjoy the fruit of one’s labors, virtues and good works cannot be similarly accumulated […]

We are so used to considering faith primarily as that by which we believe what we cannot yet see or touch. As such, faith relates to something intangible and out of our grasp. However, the Letter to the Hebrews suggests that this perception needs to be qualified. Faith is the realization of what is hoped […]

Investing money in a business you know is doomed to fail, makes no economic sense. Similarly, donating money to a charity known to misappropriate its funds is foolhardy. Yet, that is what God seems to do with us when it comes to his love, grace, and choice. Given God’s foreknowledge, we may wonder why Judas […]

There is a world of difference between allowing an exception to an otherwise reasonable divine law, rule, or religious practice for a good reason, and doing so with a casual, negligent, or indolent disregard for such a law or religious practice. For, although the Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath, […]

The author of the Letter to the Hebrews seems to betray a rather sketchy knowledge of scripture with his vague comment that God has spoken somewhere about the seventh day in this manner, namely that God rested on the seventh day from all his works. Identifying this quote from Genesis along with the ability to […]

Isaiah’s images of the barren, deserted, and childless wife, and the wife who has both a husband and children, can be understood as images reflecting the work of grace in the case of the former, and unaided human effort in the case of the latter. However, the now more numerous children of the formerly barren […]

Christ’s call to follow him implies walking behind him and tracing his footsteps—as it were. However, while this is surely true in the early stages of discipleship, a verse from our first reading suggests that this initial following becomes a “walking with” Jesus, rather than following on behind him. For in assuring us that our […]

Blaspheming against the Holy Spirit is an extreme version of our constant thwarting or quenching the Holy Spirit—something Saint Paul warned against. And whereas blaspheming against the Holy Spirit almost has to be conscious, our quenching or thwarting the Holy Spirit is often unconscious. Our struggle towards that seemingly elusive goal of continuous prayer, is […]

Given his triple denial of Christ and his apparent moral cowardice—as exemplified in today’s first reading—Peter seems an unlikely candidate for sainthood. However, there is one thing that explains why he became Saint Peter: And that is that he was able to accept correction and reproof without making excuses for his behavior or trying to […]