In all of the lists, the first followers of Jesus are two sets of brothers: Peter and Andrew, James and John. In St. John’s Gospel Andrew is portrayed as a follower of John the Baptist who brought his brother, Peter, to meet Jesus. For that reason in the Greek Church he is known as Protocletos,… Read More »

In the coded language of the Book of Revelation, “Babylon” refers to the Roman Empire. When the Book was written the Empire was at the height of its power — political, economic, military. The known world was subject to Roman authority. Yet the Book foresees the day when one will proclaim: “Fallen, fallen is Babylon the… Read More »

Jesus teaches us how to act before dealing with suffering, difficulty, trouble. Basically, he says, hang in there. “By your perseverance you will secure your lives.” The Book of Revelation talks about what happens after a time of trial. After the assured victory over “the beast” we will lift our voices in prayers of praise. The… Read More »

Some noisy children playing outside a man’s house were disturbing his nap. To shut them up he yelled out the window, “You’d better hurry. There’s a dragon by the river.” The children excitedly ran off and the man started to doze. Soon a new hubbub woke him. The whole town was running toward the river.… Read More »

The Book of Revelation can be daunting to the casual Bible reader. It uses symbolic language that requires some research to understand. For example, we read in Chapter 14: “There was the Lamb standing on Mount Zion, and with him a hundred and forty-four thousand.” The Lamb is, of course, Jesus who became the Pascal… Read More »

Hunger no longer exists in America.   Oh, there are still 33 million people who don’t have enough to eat.  The lines for the food pantry isn’t growing any shorter. St. James provided 1000 families with groceries this month.  Many children cry themselves to sleep because there is an ache in their belly.  Too many elderly… Read More »

One modern genre of fiction is time travel.  The idea: wouldn’t it be great if we could go into the past and see why things happened the way they did or go into the future to see what will be? How about going back in time to meet Jesus! The Bible would dismiss this notion… Read More »

Any pastor cringes a bit when he hears Jesus’ words when he drove out those who were “selling things in the temple area:” “It is written, My house shall be a house of prayer.” The realities of running a modern parish requires attention to the raising and prudent use of money. While this is necessary and can be… Read More »

For Catholics, giving thanks is at the heart of our worship of God.  The word Eucharist, which is the term for our worship service, is a Greek word meaning “thanksgiving.”  In other words, we are a thanksgiving people.  We have to give thanks because we have a God who has given us the sun to… Read More »

The Book of Revelation is written during a time of persecution — probably the persecution under the Emperor Domitian about the year 85AD or maybe during the persecution of Trajan after 100AD. The intention of the author, John the Seer, is to encourage Christians in the time of trial. He offers a glorious vision of… Read More »