Both St. Matthew and St. Luke report Jesus telling the parable of the talents. St. Luke has a “backstory” to the parable. The person bestowing the talents petitions the emperor to be named king. “His fellow citizens, however, despised him and sent a delegation after him to announce, ‘We do not want this man to… Read More »

The Books of Maccabees report a revolt of the Jewish people against their Greek overlords in 160 B.C. The Greeks sought to create unity in their empire by promoting a common religion. This was, of course, anathema to the Jews who held onto their ancient faith. Even though these books did not make it into… Read More »

There is a poignant exchange between Jesus and the blind beggar on the road to Jericho. Jesus asked him, “What do you want me to do for you?” He replied, “Lord, please let me see.” You can understand the request that the blind man made. I can’t help but wonder what would have happened if… Read More »

What is time? On the one hand time is self-evident. This happens and that that happens and then the next thing happens. We are moving through time. However, physicists say that time only exists on the psychological level, not in reality. Philosophers have been wrestling with the meaning of time without any resolution for thousands… Read More »

The Book of Wisdom talks about finding God. The first place to look is in nature. When you see something beautiful you want to know who made it. So with creation, the beauty of creation causes us to look for the creator, to find God. Another avenue for finding God according to the author of… Read More »

There is a show entitled “How the Universe Works.” It explains big issues about the cosmos. One topic that comes up frequently is the Big Bang, the current best explanation about the origins of the universe. Scientists explain what they can about the Big Bang but they don’t seem curious about why the Big Bang… Read More »

“The Kingdom of God is among you.” Translating this saying of Jesus is open to interpretation. There is a famous book by Leo Tolstoy entitled The Kingdom of God is within You. In it he argues that a personal conversion to Christ will lead to a peaceful and just world. (This book was a major… Read More »

The Book of Wisdom is a very late book of the Old Testament, written in Greek, probably in Egypt, somewhere around 100 B.C. (It is not included in the Hebrew scriptures and, hence, the Protestant Bible.) The author writes to encourage the Jewish people who are living in an environment hostile to the values that… Read More »

In a business book, Good to Great Jim Collins gives suggestions on how to make your company great. The first step is to get and keep the right people — and you do so by incentivizing them with high salaries and bonuses. He was challenged by those in the non-profit sector that those incentives don’t… Read More »

If he wrongs you seven times in one day and returns to you seven times saying, ‘I am sorry,’ you should forgive him.” And the Apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith.” At first glance this exchange between Jesus and his disciples seems like a non-sequitur. What does an increase in faith have to… Read More »