You have to read this admonition of St. Paul carefully: work out your salvation with fear and trembling. The Apostle does NOT mean that we earn our salvation by working hard at saying prayers and doing good deeds. The real work is not adding more spiritual activities in our lives but in subtraction — which… Read More »

Have among yourselves the same attitude that is in Christ Jesus, Who did not regard equality with God something to be grasped. Rather, he emptied himself. These words of St. Paul, apparently quoting from a Christian hymn, give a succinct way of evaluating how we are doing. Are we about grasping, Adam-like, looking out for… Read More »

Hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out into our hearts through the holy Spirit that has been given to us. These words of St. Paul seem the perfect commentary on “the commemoration of all the faithful departed,” better known as All Souls’ Day. Though death lies in front of us… Read More »

For to me life is Christ, and death is gain… I long to depart this life and be with Christ, says St. Paul. St. Ignatius said in following God’s will we should not prefer life to death. While I’m not there yet I hope one day to be. After all,  the whole point of this life… Read More »

We begin reading from Paul’s Epistle to the Philippians today. Philippi was his first community in Europe and had a special place in his heart. He writes to them because they are separated and he misses them. His letter provides a model on how to deal with our pandemic isolation from one another. He starts by… Read More »

St. Paul urges us to stand firm against the tactics of the Devil. To understand the tactics of the devil you only need to look at word itself. Devil has at its roots two Greek words: dia, meaning across (think diameter) and ballein, to throw.  You can see the root clearly in the English word… Read More »

Jesus went up to the mountain to pray ,and he spent the night in prayer to God. Jesus had a big decision to make. Who were going to be on his team? No doubt he did a careful analysis and due diligence in searching out their qualifications. But before he made the decision he needed to… Read More »

Jesus said that the kingdom of God is like a mustard seed that a man took and planted in the garden. That reminds me of the time I visited my friend, Fred, at his farm in Iowa. It was planting time and half dozen tractors were racing around the field — plowing, harrowing, sowing, and… Read More »

Be imitators of God, says St. Paul. Behave like God, is the Psalm refrain. How are supposed to do that? We can create like God or redeem like God or save like God. What can we possibly do which imitates God. St. Paul tells us: forgive one another as God has forgiven you in Christ. Forgiving is… Read More »

Three stories; The first concerns the great sixteenth century Spanish saint, Teresa of Avila. She was traveling to visit one of her convents when she almost died trying to cross a a rain-swollen river. Dripping wet and muddy she raised her arms and said, “No wonder, God you have so few friends. You treat the… Read More »