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 […]
Saint Anthony of the Desert
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, […]
Saint Hilary of Poitiers
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 […]
Thursday of the 3rd Week of Advent
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 […]
Feast of Saint Francis Xavier
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 […]
Saint Teresa of Jesus
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 […]
Wednesday of the 27th Week
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 […]
Saint Jerome
According to Saint Jerome, ignorance of the scriptures, is ignorance of Christ. It is worth noting that he said ignorance of Christ and not ignorance of his teachings or philosophy. We need to remember this in our lectio divina and that the sacred text is the privileged medium through which Christ reveals himself to us. […]
Friday of the 21st Week
Unlike yesterday’s parable about the need to stay awake, all ten virgins (the wise and the foolish) do actually fall asleep. However, this is not what excludes the foolish ones from the wedding feast, but the fact that by not bringing extra oil they were not there to greet the arrival of the bridegroom. Perhaps […]
Saint Jane Frances de Chantal
I suspect that we have all experienced shame for some of the things we have done in our lives. Shame, like embarrassment, is to be distinguished from guilt or sorrow for sin. Shame is primarily self-focused, whereas guilt typically incorporates those we have sinned against. And although shame and embarrassment seem to be the opposite […]